Franklin Starlight (The Kid)
Franklin Starlight is the protagonist of Medicine Walk. The novel, thought narrated in the third person, is primarily from Frank’s point of view.
Frank is a 16-year-old Ojibway and Cree youth, raised by his white foster father, the old man. Frank is referred to as “the kid” for most of the novel. Frank left school when he was 16, as soon as he legally could, because he was the only Indigenous boy in school and never felt like he fit in. Frank’s father Eldon Starlight is a struggling alcoholic who is about to die, and Eldon has enlisted Frank to help bury him. Frank has grown up on a farm with a man referred to as "the old man" in the backcountry of British Columbia, and has seen his biological father only sporadically throughout his youth. Frank only learned that Eldon was his biological father when he was seven, and before that spent his youth believing the old man was his father.
Frank cherishes the land and feels most at peace when he is alone on the land. The old man taught Frank to hunt and track animals, and Frank is very capable of surviving off the land. The old man also taught Frank to honor and give thanks to the land, and these tenets often help Frank survive. Frank demonstrates his capabilities on his journey with Eldon, where Frank is able to hunt, feed, and protect himself and his father.
Frank has never known his mother, Angie, because she died in childbirth. He has always longed to know about his mother, but both the old man and Eldon will not tell Frank anything. It is only during Eldon’s final days that he discloses the painful story of Frank’s mother to Frank. Frank has also always longed to know more about where he comes from, but only hears stories about his father and family as Eldon lies dying. Frank is often characterized as “speaking like a man,” and as being emotionally adept and straightforward. Frank often reads as more emotionally mature than his father, Eldon, and is known to tell his father harsh truths about Eldon’s drinking and its effects on others.
Over the course of Medicine Walk, Frank discovers the importance of storytelling. Frank carries the burdens of intergenerational trauma, whereby the traumas that Eldon experienced are passed down to Frank and multiplied through Eldon’s drinking and inflicting pain on Frank. Although Frank is unsure if he forgives Eldon for Eldon’s absence and neglectful parenting at the end of the novel, Frank does uncover the power and salience of his father’s stories by the novel’s close.
The Old Man/Bunky
The old man is Frank’s white foster father, later revealed to be the man named Bunky. The old man has always been more of a father to Frank than Frank’s biological father, Eldon. The old man is the one who taught Frank to hunt, and taught Frank the satisfaction of physical labor. What is more, the old man is the one who brought Frank to love and cherish the land, to respect and honor it. The old man teaches Frank how to track animals and give thanks after killing them, in many ways passing Indigenous knowledge down to Frank despite not being Indigenous himself. The old man tells Frank that he can’t really teach Frank what it is to be Indigenous, but he can teach Frank to be a good man.
Eldon and the old man met many years before, in a bar called Charlie’s. The old man, then called Bunky, offered Eldon a job and a place to stay while Eldon sobered up. Angie, Frank’s mom, was living with Bunky when Eldon came to work at Bunky’s farm. Eldon effectively “steals” Angie from Bunky, as Eldon and Angie fall in love. Eldon brought Frank to Bunky when Frank was just a week old, and Bunky agreed to care for Frank; Bunky does not like Eldon at this point, but agrees to take Frank in on account of Frank being Angie’s son.
Eldon Starlight
Eldon Starlight is Frank’s biological father. He struggles with crippling alcoholism. At the beginning of Medicine Walk, Eldon informs Frank that he is dying from liver failure. Eldon asks Frank if Frank will help bury Eldon, sitting upright and facing east in the warrior way.
Eldon is Ojibway and white, and grew up working as a laborer. Eldon’s father left when he was very young to fight in World War II, and never returned. Eldon’s mother was severely broken up about Eldon’s father leaving, and so Eldon began supporting the family economically from a very young age. Eldon meets his best friend, Jimmy Weaseltail, at one of the work camps. Jimmy is like a brother to Eldon. When Eldon was a teenager, his mother entered an abusive relationship with Eldon and Jimmy’s boss, Jenks. Jimmy and Eldon physically attack Jenks and Eldon’s mother tells them to run away. Eldon never returns during his lifetime to see his mother, and lives with the guilt and shame of abandoning her in her abusive relationship for all his life.
When Eldon and Jimmy are eighteen, they sign up for the Korean War. The war is horrific and grueling, and permanently damages Eldon. During the war, Jimmy asks Eldon to bury him the warrior way if Jimmy dies. It is also here that Eldon is also forced to kill Jimmy, subsequent to Jimmy receiving a fatal shot to his chest by enemy shooters. In order to not give away their position, Eldon is forced to finish him off and leave his body behind. Eldon succumbs to binge drinking after this painful event.
Eldon meets Frank’s mother, Angie, through the man called Bunky. Eldon and Angie secretly fall in love, and Eldon sobers up for Angie. When Angie becomes pregnant, Eldon takes to drinking again because he is deeply ashamed of himself and his past. Angie dies in childbirth, and Eldon blames himself for her death. Eldon’s life is largely characterized by melancholia and woe. His deep shame and his inability to ever forgive himself are often catalysts for his alcoholism.
Angie Pratt
Angie Pratt is Frank’s mother, who he never met. Angie died in childbirth, as she arrived at the hospital too late. Angie is Cree and white, and lost her father when she was young, much like Eldon.
Angie understands Eldon’s alcoholism because her mother also struggled with alcoholism, and knows what it is to hurt. Angie is therefore more gentle and understanding with Eldon’s addiction than Bunky is. Angie also encourages Eldon to tell his own stories, about his family and his past, but Eldon is never able to tell Angie his stories. Angie herself is a wonderful storyteller, and captivates Bunky and Eldon nightly with her crafting of stories.
At the end of Medicine Walk, right before Eldon dies, Frank dreams of his mother and father watching the sunset from the porch of the cabin they owned together. Frank dreams of his mother waiting for his father in a field. When Eldon passes away in the night, Frank knows his mother and father are together.
Becka Charlie
Becka Charlie is a Chilcotin (Tsilhqot’in) and white woman who lives in an old trapper’s cabin. Frank brings his father to the cabin when Eldon’s condition worsens. Frank expects the cabin to be empty, having been there before, but finds Becka there instead. It was her grandfather’s cabin, and Becka feeds and cares for Frank and Eldon when they arrive. Becka gives Frank medicine to give to Eldon to ease his pain at the end of his life, and to wean Eldon off of the alcohol. Becka’s father was an alcoholic, and so Becka empathizes with Frank and gives him advice. Becka also stresses the importance of stories, saying that all we are in the end is our stories.
Jimmy Weaseltail
Jimmy is Eldon Starlight’s childhood best friend and, for most of Eldon’s life, all Eldon has. Jimmy is a member of the Blood tribe and teaches Eldon some of the ‘old ways,’ such as the meaning of Starlight and what is means to be buried in the warrior way.
Jimmy and Eldon both enjoy the stories Eldon’s mother tells every night, and eventually bring their foreman Jenks home with them after befriending him. When Jenks becomes abusive toward Eldon’s mother, Jimmy stabs Jenks with the intention of killing him.
Jimmy passes away during the Korean War after being shot. When he is on the brink of death, Eldon must kill him so as not to give up their position, and so Eldon carries the burden of taking Jimmy’s life for the entirety of his own life.
Eldon's mother
Eldon’s mother is never named in Medicine Walk. She is Ojibway and Scottish, and falls apart after Eldon’s father leaves to fight in World War II. Eldon’s mother writes Eldon’s father after he leaves, and waits for him, but eventually gives up when stops replying. She is a wonderful storyteller, and entertains Eldon and Jimmy at night. When Jenks begins abusing her, she is evasive when Eldon asks her questions about it. Eldon’s mother tells Eldon and Jimmy to leave after Jimmy stabs Jenks. For her, it is not a choice to have them leave, but rather the only way Jimmy and Eldon will be safe.
Lester Jenks (Jenks)
Jenks is Eldon and Jimmy’s foreman, and originally is very cordial towards Jimmy and Eldon. The three of them form a friendship before Eldon begins bringing Jenks home with them, to listen to Eldon’s mother tell stories. Once Jenks begins sleeping with Eldon’s mother, he becomes a cruel and demanding boss to Jimmy and Eldon. Jenks eventually begins beating Eldon’s mother, leaving bruises on her throat. Jimmy stabs Jenks, but Jenks does not die.
Deirdre
Deirdre is the prostitute Frank finds Eldon with when Eldon is dying. Although Eldon is often with different women, Dierdre is the only named prostitute in the novel. Deirdre is the person who says that everyone deserves to die how they choose when Frank asks her if she approves of Eldon’s burial plan.
Dingo
A large, ungainly man that Angie Pratt is dancing with at the bar called Charlie's. Dingo is a day-laborer much like Eldon. Angie and Dingo dance as Eldon and Bunky watch, and Angie later leaves Dingo to sit with Bunky and Eldon.
