A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
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| A Yellow Raft in Blue Water | |
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| Author | Michael Dorris |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Henry Holt & Co |
| Publication date | May 1987 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 343 pp (hardback edition) & 372 p. (paperback edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-8050-0045-3 (hardback edition) & ISBN 0-446-38787-8 (paperback edition) |
A Yellow Raft in Blue Water is a novel written by Michael Dorris and published in 1987. It is written from the viewpoints of three people, Rayona, Christine, and Ida, exchanging viewpoints between different sections of the book. The book is divided explicitly into three sections, titled Rayona, Christine, and Ida, respectively.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
[edit] Rayona
From the start, the reader is given evidence that the protagonists of this novel are not involved in what we would consider a typical, contented American family. Christine and Rayona foster a relationship which contains definitive signs of dependency and bonding between the two of them, though this is largely offset by Christine's neglectful and erratic tendencies toward Rayona. Christine is a chronic alcoholic and frequently abuses an amalgam of other drugs, including Percocet (a highly addictive painkiller).
The book opens in the Indian Health Service hospital in Seattle, during a card game between Rayona and Christine. Rayona knows that Christine is cheating, and Christine expectedly wins the game. Pressed for another round, Christine declines.
In an article from the Alan Review, Frances Nadeau notes, "In other novels, the mother is absent emotionally, often as a result of alcohol or drug dependency. In Taking the Ferry Home, wealthy and sophisticated Simone suffers from her mother's addiction to both alcohol and drugs. The mothers' emotional dependence often requires that the daughters assume the role of "mother" in that they make decisions and assume responsibility."[1]
Elgin arrives at the hospital a short time after the opening exchange, and he gives Rayona the keys to Christine's Plymouth Volaré, which he had borrowed. Christine is furious at Elgin. Elgin leaves, and Rayona heads to the car in the parking lot. She arrives to find the car damaged and parked improperly, but more surprising is that Christine is breaking into the car with a coat hanger. Christine rants to Rayona about Elgin's unfaithfulness as a husband, and they she lets loose the trouble with her life in the following passage:
"What I'm talking about is this: we're broke. We owe two months back rent on that lousy apartment. My unemployment is expired and I'm tired of finding two-bit jobs. I'm past forty years old and my husband wants to ditch me and marry some Arletta. I figure I've wore out my welcome in this world and the only thing I've got that's worth anything is the insurance on this fucking car. So it's going to have a little accident and you're going to win the lottery. Kiss me good-bye."[2]
Rayona is quick to prevent her mother from performing this atrocity; this leads to a sudden change of heart on Christine's part. After a trip to a video rental store where Christine rents the movies Christine and Little Big Man, they continue to Aunt Ida's house in Montana, where the Volaré almost makes it to the house before it dies. Aunt Ida confronts Christine, who suddenly curses Aunt Ida and leaves Rayona to Ida. After Rayona is separated from her mother — abandoned in unfamiliar territory and unsuccessful at first in befriending allies — she steadily becomes more reliant on her own determination and persistence in order to maintain the healthiest possible existence under the conditions she has been subjected to. Aunt Ida ignores Rayona, sitting in front of her television all day and talking to it. Rayona also meets Father Tom, a young Catholic priest who attempts to grow close to Rayona, despite her objections.
Even though Rayona is shunned from her parents for a long period of time. Rayona still one day hopes that — though somewhat wistful — about her family's future. A very intelligent girl, Rayona is also remarkably observant, though sometimes her ignorance of the world leaves her at a disadvantage. She loves her parents but is repeatedly disappointed by them, and she often feels unloved and unwanted. She dreams about having a perfect family, and invents one based on a letter she finds on the ground while working as a custodian at Bearpaw Lake. Eventually, Rayona becomes satisfied with her real family and abandons her fantasy of an ideal family.
[edit] Christine
Christine is an interesting character in the story because there are many secrets associated with her nature. Christine is raised as Ida’s daughter, although she is actually Ida’s half-sister and cousin. Christine is very protective of her brother, Lee, and always concerned for his welfare. She is self-sufficient, but is also hopelessly devoted to Elgin, Rayona’s father. Lee grew into an increasingly promising young Indian. Christine cast away her identity in order to become closer with god in a religious aspect, though she renounced her faith when a significant aspect of her ecclesiastical beliefs turned out to be false prophecy. As if this weren't enough, she became ever more distanced from Lee, as he became a close comrade to Dayton.
Christine serves as the link between old and new in A Yellow Raft in Blue Water. She contributes much towards Rayona's knowledge of the world, but her own misunderstandings are compounded as they are passed on to her daughter. She is connected both to the city and to the reservation, and both places shape her personality. She represents a transition from old to new, during the difficult period when old problems have yet to fully heal but new ones are already beginning.
Often Christine spends her nights immersed in the bar scene of Seattle, searching for prospective husbands who could fulfill the rift created by her vagrant husband, Elgin. The reader is also given the idea that Christine periodically denies the fact that she has a daughter at home, wondering where her mother runs off to at all hours of the evening.
Most of her time is devoted towards being popular and chasing boys. She also engages in excessive partying and drinking that irreparably damage her liver and pancreas. Through Rayona she is able to discover her place in life although it takes almost the entire length of the novel in doing so. In spite of this enlightenment, Christine remains engrossed in her drinking habits, and learns that this has resulted in severe damage to her liver. Thus, she has only six months to live, though she does not tell Rayona.
[edit] Ida
Aunt Ida is the one in the book who makes everything make sense. She took in her cousin Christine when she was in High School and pretended to be a single mother. Years later she did become an actual mother to Lee, but always went by Aunt Ida because she said she couldn't be called mother because she never got married and never told them who their father really was, believing that it would ruin them forever. Ida raised them both and cared for both the children equally. Christine's personality pushed Ida away and caused a drift in their relationship. Ida regained her daughter when Christine finally was forced to come home after learning that her liver was failing. Ida was a loving mother and helper to many, and she always talks in her native tongue, except for when it comes to watch her shows. Aunt Ida really makes the story come together, but at the same time she is the most misunderstood character of them all.
[edit] Characters in "A Yellow Raft in Blue Water"
- Rayona Diane Taylor – a main protagonist
- Christine George Taylor – a main protagonist, mother of Rayona
- Ida George – a main protagonist, legal mother of Christine
- Elgin Taylor – Christine's husband and Rayona's father
- Lee George – Christine's brother
- Dayton Nickles – Lee's friend
- Pauline George-Cree – Ida's sister
- Dale Cree – Pauline's husband and Foxy's father
- Pauline Cree – Dale's mother
- Buster Cree – Dale's father
- Willard Pretty Dog – a reservation boy, biological father of Lee
- Mrs. Pretty Dog – Willard's mother
- Kennedy "Foxy" Cree – Rayona's cousin son of Pauline
- Annabelle – Foxy's Girlfriend
- Clara – Christine's biological mother
- Annie George – Ida and Pauline's mother; Lecon's wife
- Lecon George – Ida, Pauline, and Christine's father; Annie's husband
- Ellen DeMarco – lifeguard at Bearpaw Lake
- Norman "Sky" Dial – owner of the Conoco gas station nearby Bearpaw Lake
- Evelyn Dial – chef at Bearpaw Lake; wife of Sky
- John, Andy, and Dave – other Bearpaw lake employees
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Nadeau, Francis A. (April 2005). "The Mother/Daughter Relationship in Young Adult Fiction,". The Alan Review.
- ^ Dorris, Michael (1987). A Yellow Raft in Blue Water.
[edit] References
- Dorris, Michael. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water. New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1987.
- SparkNotes
