Betty

Content Warning: This section mentions racism, colonialism, child sexual abuse and rape, incest, death, and murder.

The importance of memory manifests in positive and negative ways throughout the story. Landon remembers the wisdom of his mother and grandmother and passes it on to his children. In doing so, he keeps alive Cherokee traditions that the US government tried to eradicate. His generational memory is a means of preserving culture and an act of resistance against oppression. As the forces of colonialism sought to erase the collective memory of the Cherokee people—especially of those who remained in the East rather than participate in the forced relocation of their people Westward—sexual abusers in the novel seek to erase or silence the memories of those they abuse. Erasure of memory is a strategy used by oppressors to erase a person’s or community’s individuality and history, so holding onto one’s memory is an act of resistance.

When Landon teaches Betty about her heritage, which traces back to the Aniwodi clan of the Cherokee people, he tells her, “Our people are keepers of this knowledge. Remember this, Betty” (8). He shows her a strip of deerskin from his mother’s mother that reads, “Don’t forget who you are” (26), and explains that for a long time, they were not allowed to say that they were Cherokee because the Europeans would take their land.