Archilde Leon
Archilde is the story’s protagonist. He is the son of Max, a Spaniard, and Catharine, a Native Salish woman. He is one of his parents’ eleven children. At the beginning of the story, Archilde returns from Portland and struggles to reacquaint himself with his family and culture. Archilde is closer with his mother than his father and is able to connect with her through their shared understanding of Native language and customs that Max rejects. Archilde avoids confrontation when possible, but ultimately must take the fall for others’ actions.
Max Leon
Max is Archilde’s father and wife to Catharine. He acts as the family’s patriarch and symbolizes the effect of colonization on Native land and in Native society. His relationship with his wife is very weak and emphasizes his race and sex privilege over her, specifically by living in the big house while she lives in the log cabin on lower ground. Max expects great things, from not only his children, but society, and is severely disappointed when his expectations are not met. He projects his stereotypes of what an Indian person should be like onto his son and his wife. His death causes a large shift of Archilde’s focus in the novel.
Catharine Leon
Catharine is Max’s wife and Archilde’s father. Catharine converted to Christianity as a young woman after being sent to boarding school, but fell out of practice over time after marrying Max and finding her distance from the church inconvenient. Her faith wavers even more after the events that take place in the novel that requires her to question her actions and her identity. Before her death, she denounces Christianity in its entirety. Catherine prioritizes Salish customs and treasures moments spent with Archilde while embracing their culture. She’s often referred to as “the old woman.” By refusing to speak English with her husband, there’s a part of her character that is shielded from an English-speaking audience.
Elise La Rose
Elise is a teenage girl that Archilde recognizes from their time spent together in boarding school. Upon their first encounter within the novel, Elise has run away from her boarding school and is known for her recklessness. Elise and Archilde grow very close in the second half of the novel and develop feelings for one another. Elise’s determination and quick thinking help her to guide Archilde, Mike, and Narcisse up to the mountain to hide. She stays with Archilde until the very end of the novel, when the two of them are apprehended.
Agnes Leon
Mother of Mike and Narcisse, daughter of Max and Catharine, sister of Archilde. She’s not present throughout much of the novel, but lives in the big house with Max. She encourages Archilde to remain on the reservation and help out with the ranch, because none of Max’s eleven sons help him in the way he expects of them.
Mike
Agnes’s son and Archilde’s nephew. Mike suffers traumatic experiences, like many Native people, at boarding school. As a result, he experiences horrific nightmares and begins to wet the bed. His personality changes drastically after his boarding school experience. At the end of the novel, Mike and Narcisse avoid detection and are able to escape in the mountains, although Elise and Archilde are apprehended.
Narcisse
Agnes’ son and Archilde’s nephew. He’s very close with his brother Mike, and is the first to notice the traumatic effects of Mike’s boarding school experience. He escapes with Mike at the end of the novel.
Louis Leon
Son of Catharine and Max, brother of Archilde. Louis is known for causing trouble, and most prominently for stealing horses at the beginning of the novel. An encounter with a game warden is the cause by which Louis meets his end.
Father Grepilloux
Father Grepilloux is the priest at St. Xavier Mission and, at eighty years old, is described as “an old man come home to die.” He has been writing a book about the missionaries’ arrival and his impressions of the Native Salish people. He’s very close with Max Leon and helps Max repair his relationship with Archilde before his imminent death.
Dave Quigley
Dave Quigley is a white sheriff with a bad reputation among the Salish people because of his well-known bias against the Salish Native and Indigenous communities. Quigley is the one that suspects Archilde for the death of the game warden (which his mother is responsible for) and pressures Archilde throughout the latter portion of the novel. Quigley came calmly to apprehend Archilde and Elise in the mountains and suffers a fatal blow by Elise’s hands.
