Prairie Lotus

“I don’t blame them for fighting back […] It’s just not fair.”

Hanna’s desire to acknowledge and support fairness and justice is a key component to her characterization, and the author brings this idea out early in the narrative with this line of dialogue. Hanna speaks here about the Indigenous people who lost their land to development and takeover despite the US Government’s promise to leave set-aside reservation land untouched. Papa clearly feels the land should go to whomever will use it for progress like farming and businesses, but Hanna shows a refined sense of empathy and justice for those who have lived there longer.

“You questioning my decision?”

The author reveals Papa’s true character indirectly in the first several chapters. He is unsympathetic toward Hanna and keeps any exuberant or loving emotions under check, choosing instead to speak in gruff, bitter, brief phrases and sentences to her. He is quick to snap at her in this moment when she asks about the lot he purchased (as opposed to renting the way they did in the past on their long three-year sojourn). In his efforts to secure a place for his family to live in safety, he takes Hanna’s questions personally, though she does not mean them that way.