How we cite our quotes: (Section.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
No reservation girl had ever prayed so hard. There was no use in trying to ignore me any longer. I was going up there on the hill with the black robe women. They were not any lighter than me. I was going up there to pray as good as they could. Because I don't have that much Indian blood. And they never thought they'd have a girl from this reservation as a saint they'd have to kneel to. But they'd have me. And I'd be carved in pure gold. With ruby lips. And my toenails would be little pink ocean shells, which they would have to stoop down off their high horse to kiss. (2.1.1)
Apparently, Marie Lazarre has a little bit of a complex about her "Indian blood," assuring the reader that she doesn't "have that much." In fact, she's so ashamed of that aspect of her background that she flat out denies that she has Native American blood, according to Lipsha Morrissey.
Quote #2
I could not believe it, later, when she showed me the picture. Plunge of the Brave, was the title of it. Later on, that picture would become famous. It would hang in the Bismarck state capitol. There I was, jumping off a cliff, naked of course, down into a rocky river. Certain death. Remember Custer's saying? The only good Indian is a dead Indian? Well, from my dealings with whites I would add to that quote: "The only interesting Indian is dead, or dying by falling backwards off a horse." (7.1.15)
Unfortunately, Nector became all too familiar with some of the weird stereotypes non-Native Americans had about Native Americans. For some reason, he discovered, they loved representing and/or seeing Native Americans as dead or dying. For example, he was invited to play the "lead" Native American role in a movie, but it turned out that role consisted only of dying. Then, a woman asked him to pose for a painting, and he grudgingly agreed—and the painter turned his pose into a painting of him jumping off a cliff. Nector was not pleased.
Quote #3
Sometimes I escaped. I had to have relief. I went drinking and caught holy hell from Marie. After a few years the babies started walking around, but that only meant they needed shoes for their feet. I gave in. I put my nose against the wheel. I kept it there for many years and barely looked up to realize the world was going by, full of wonders and creatures, while I was getting old baling hay for white farmers. (7.1.31)
This quote, with its "blink and you miss it" reference to how Nector was crushing his soul working for white farmers, actually suggests that there were tensions between Native Americans and the "white" Americans who held the purse strings.