Empire of the Summer Moon Literary Elements

History, Biography

Texas, mid-1800's

Third-person, not omniscient, with frequent references to primary sources published as first-person accounts

Grim, gritty, and exciting

The main protagonists are Quanah Parker and his mother Cynthia Ann Parker, also called Nautdah. The primary antagonists are Carson, Chivington, and to a lesser extent MacKenzie all of whom fought on behalf of the US.

The major conflict is a 40-year war in which the five Comanche tribes, which had long dominated the plains, fought against ongoing encroachment by the white settlers and the mititary that supported them.

The climax of the story is at a major Sun Dance when, in an unprecedented alliance, all the Plains tribes agreed to join the Comanche in what later came to be known as the Red River War

The near-annihilation of the buffalo, a chief source of nourishment and trade goods for the Comanche, foreshadowed the destruction of the Comanche way of life and the loss of the war.

"The reservation was a shattering experience." By giving up most of their ancestral lands, most of their wealth, and their entire way of life the Comanche, who had for the last century dominated the plains, kept the Spanish and Mexicans away, and subjugated other local tribes, were being rendered subordinate to (and dependent upon) foreign invaders.

Isa-Tai, a Quahadi shaman known for his sleight-of-hand techniques and his skill at prophecy and illusion, establishes himself as a religious leader by co-opting a variety of different religious traditions. He makes frequent references to other Indian traditions including the Sun Dance, which he coopts.

Horse imagery is present throughout the book, with the Indian ponies (descended from Moorish stock brought by the Spanish) described in particular detail.

Quanah's increase in power and popularity from the American perspective coincided with the loss of his good reputation among many of his Quahadi peers. Both changes in his personal status were due to his decision to advocate surrender and to use his cult of personality and influence among the Comanche to persuade them to come to the reservation.

In Chapter 10, Hays's early battles are described with similar sentence structure, describing Hays's forces and then the result of the fight. "In one fight, he took a hundred twenty men and fifteen to twenty Lipan Apaches into battle against a vastly larger force of Comanches, losing twenty to thirty. In another, he took fifty Texans and ten Lipans, engaged a larger force in a running fight for an hour and a half."

In Chapter 10, the Comanche force scatters after the death of its chief, responding collectively. This is actually a characteristic of their battle strategy and is so predictable that their enemies later exploit it.

In chapter 16, "the village" begins to throw away its excess baggage as it flees.

"His (Isa-Tai's) magic may have failed, but the magic of the Big Fifties worked just fine." The .50 caliber buffalo guns are presented as the Texan equivalent of a medicine man.