Jennifer Sheehy

Periods: 1,2

Light in the Forest Questions and Answers

The Indians start bringing the white relations to the white camp because the “talking paper” or

treaty stated that in order for the whites not to fight the Indians for their territory was if they stayed to

the west and gave up all their white captives. Del, a white soldier did not think the Indians would do

such because the Indians kidnapped white people to replace a dead relative. Therefore, they treat the

captives as one of their own and soon fall in love. The situation would be like giving you own brother to

a strange alien like people who were your sworn enemies. The Indians would of course be heartbroken. I

believe some would be torn. For the good of their tribes, they should give up the captives so they could

have their own territory without war. For the good of themselves, they were in love with their new

relatives. The captives were mostly young when they were captured and they believed that they were

full blood Indians. They would always fight back at the white people and would never in their wildest

dreams have thought they were related to a white family.

True Son plans to be freed from his white captives by fighting them down and running away.

However, the plan clearly would fail so he had an idea. He decided that on the route the soldiers were

going, they would pass a May apple area full of poisonous May apples. So when they passed, he would

pick one up and eat it so he would die. Then his family would remember him as a courageous sacrificing

son who was always loyal to his Indian family instead of a coward.

The Indians believe the whites were so queer because they had many different styles of doing

things. For instance, their clothes covered their whole body, they had a strange tongue, and they treated

Indians with the lowest respect for no good reason.

The message from Cuyloga was basically wait for the right time to strike, if you do not stop

fighting them you might be killed so be good and wait until it is the right time. Half Arrow waited to tell

True Son the message because he wanted the message to be the last Indian words in his head to

remember that his Indian family still loves him and wants him back instead of leaving thinking negative

thoughts especially that Cuyloga didn’t love him anymore. True Son promises his “father” to wait for

that right moment to strike by trying to stop struggling and being obedient. True son decides to obey

him and stops fighting against the whites. Although it was very tough, he managed to hold down his

anger for a while.

True Son realizes he has entered enemy territory when his moccasins weren’t on the soft floor

of mother earth but on hard paved walking areas and the giant wooden gates. When he entered them it

was full of weird noises, funny shaped tee-pees or houses, and lots of pale faces surrounding him and

his captors. It seemed as if they were laughing at the boy and he hated them with all of their ugly cloths

covering their whole body.

When True Son meets his father, he immediately hates him. He could not find a connection

between them. True Son tried to dodge every question and gesture toward the alien man and

disrespected him greatly. When he finds out about the Peshtank boys are of his own kin\, he is very

dubious and tries to control the anger within him. It was like an insult to him saying that his own siblings

are white.

When True Son met his biological mother, he dislikes her just as much as his biological father

but treats her with a little more respect because during his stay there, he knew that she would be the

one controlling him and being with him the most. However, when she begs him to put on the American

cloth he cannot stand it and his hate for his mother grew. At night when it was time to sleep in the bed,

he felt so alien like. True Son would always be on mother earth at night but now it was impossible with a

big white cushion was in the way. Gordie, his smaller brother was very nice to him and treated him just

like any brother would to another brother. He did not see the difference between himself and True Son.

When all of True Son’s white relatives came over it was very loud full of adults who some

respected him but most hated him. Uncle Wilse despised True Son and did nothing but talk poorly of

Indians and True Son saying that True Son was not related to Harry or Myra Butler. True Son was

infuriated when he spoke badly of the Indians and attacked him with every argument he could find.

`True Son tries to find Corn Blade because he feels very alone and wants to talk in his native

tongue who can talk back to him in his Lenni Lenape language. When True Son was going to see Corn

Blade, he felt hope and couldn’t wait until he could see a talk to a Lenape native again. When he was

stopped halfway and sent back home, he had a new feeling of hate towards his white father and Uncle

Wilse. They thought True Son was going back to his tribe and taking Gordie with him to his Indian

Village.

Myra Butler has not been feeling very well because for years she was in agony and mourning for

her kidnapped Johnny. Now that Johnny is back and has not appreciated her, she feels terrible. True Son

does not drink with the Parson because the white people have been known to get Indian traders drunk

for a cheaper price and to get everything the Indian had possessed so he would be left with nothing.

Since True Son has been with the whites for a while, his unquenchable Indian soul has made him

extremely ill and wistful of his native village. He will not talk to anyone unless it was very important and

has become bed-ridden. All True Son does is mope in bed wishing to be back with the Lenape Tribe.

True Son plans to die from his illness when he meets with Half Arrow again. Once he hears

about Little Crane’s death, he swears to have his revenge and to scalp the evil-doer. When they finally

reach his evil Uncle Wilse and plan to scalp him, they could not because other white people came to

help him so True Son and Half Arrow flea.

Half Arrow and True Son’s summer together was very enjoyable to True Son. They pretended

they were real men and fished for food. Together they spent every hour of the day having no worries,

only fun. Once they returned, Cuyloga could except True Son to the village again because he was free of

the whites that before, held him as one of their own and that they did not want him there anymore at

the moment after attacking Uncle Wilse. The Lenape village was still in war with the whites and

therefore they needed fighters to rebel against the white’s control.

When True Son is sent out to fool the white people into an ambush, they send him out into a

river in white people clothes to fool them into thinking he was a white boy in need of help. He fails his

task by yelling at the whites about the ambush because he saw a little boy who looked like Gordie and

he had the scalp of the one that one of his Indian tribe members brought.

True Son is saved from the traitor’s death because Cuyloga stops them. However, Cuyloga sends

True Son back to the whites because he knew that his heart and blood belonged to them. SO he took his

“son” to the river that separated Indian terrain from White terrain and promises never to see True Son

again.