ABSTRACT
Arnold can be understood to be doubly liminal, or lost, squared: in between childhood and adulthood, and in between cultures. This chapter focuses on Arnold’s sense of belonging both on and off the reservation and on the colonial systems that pervade and shape his understanding of contemporary reservation life. The borderless imaginary also points to the nomadism and boundary crossing that Arnold realizes is core to his identity as he reconciles with Rowdy. Although Arnold leaves the reservation to attend Reardan, he remains in the community and at the end of the novel is reconciled to his best friend through a renewed understanding of what it means to be “Native,” and describes the reservation as “our entire world”. The image of Arnold’s cousins as pinned insects evokes the “stuck in place” criticism that S. Alexie made earlier in his career about Indian literature in general.
