64 pages • 2-hour read
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
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Symbols & Motifs
Robes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, child death, animal cruelty and death, death, and racism.
Robes are a motif for Identity as a Product of Moral Action and Memory, representing the identities that people project to give other people an idea of who they are. The narrative first references the motif of the robe in Chapter 1 when Etsy reads an old news article that discusses the practice of killing buffalo calves by disguising a bull in a buffalo robe.
As a Lutheran pastor, Arthur Beaucarne is easily recognizable to his neighbors because of his robes, which emphasize his role as the moral authority of Miles City, and the narrative emphasizes this as early as Chapter 1. When Good Stab first appears in Chapter 2, he surprises Arthur by wearing black robes of his own. Arthur is immediately skeptical about the identity that Good Stab projects, which belies his bias against Indigenous American people. Though he is right about Good Stab’s disguise, Arthur’s skepticism also hints at the fact that he uses the clerical robes as a smokescreen for his own buried identity. He uses his role as a moral authority to suppress the truth of his past actions.
Though robe refers primarily to clothing, its definition expands in the context of buffalo hunting, where robe is also used as the word to describe a buffalo’s skin. This resonates with the idea that Good Stab’s body changes as he feeds on different types of prey. In this sense, he wears the robes of his victims, which elicit different emotional responses from him as he tries to remain human. The more Good Stab feeds on white trappers, hunters, and soldiers, the more he becomes like them, shedding his Pikuni nature. To remain Pikuni, Good Stab would have to hunt down his people, which is a betrayal of his nature. Good Stab believes he is cursed to live this way as retribution for his actions against the environment, killing the beaver to satisfy his material greed and ego. At the end of the novel, Arthur appears in the body of a giant prairie dog. The physical loss of his human nature represents his refusal to repent for his racist actions.
Children
Children are a prominent symbol for the future of the Pikuni. Good Stab relates several of his encounters with children during his confession, beginning with White Teeth in Chapter 2 and ending with Kills-in-the-Water in Chapter 21. Good Stab is constantly putting children in dangerous situations, if not killing them. This highlights that his hunger and his need to survive come at the cost of his people’s future.
In Chapter 2, Good Stab wants to procure a new repeating gun after he loses his old one in an accident with the boy White Teeth. White Teeth’s injury weighs heavily on his conscience, and the narrative implies it is the cause of his low social status when he goes on the excursion with Tall Dog, Hunts-to-the-Side, and Peasy. Later, White Teeth becomes Good Stab’s first Pikuni feeding victim. Good Stab kills him because of his hunger, but he does not realize that he is feeding on White Teeth until it is too late. This points to Good Stab’s tendency to prioritize his needs without considering their repercussions.
Good Stab maintains a better relationship with the boy named Happy, rescuing him from the fire at Two Medicine Lodges. The same might have been said for Yellow Kidney, whose characterization resembles that of Happy. However, when Good Stab learns that Yellow Kidney’s sister is dying, he hesitantly chooses to feed on her, sustaining his Pikuni identity. Good Stab’s engagements with Yellow Kidney bring him to the Cat Man’s attention and eventually lead to his death.
Finally, Good Stab is driven to protect Kills-in-the-Water from the Cat Man, who wants to feed on her out of pure indulgence. Rather than save her life, Good Stab uses her as a lure to poison the Cat Man, overcoming him once and for all. This is a Pyrrhic victory for Good Stab, who willingly sacrifices the future of the Small Robes to defeat the threat of the Cat Man. Following their battle, the world that Good Stab once knew no longer exists.
Names
Names are another motif for Identity as a Product of Moral Action and Memory, though where robes function as a projection of one’s identity, names speak to the ways people perceive the identity of a given person. Good Stab is given many names throughout his life, which is part of his Blackfeet cultural tradition. He is given the name “Good Stab” after the first soldier he kills, which emboldens him to become a warrior against the colonialist settlers. After his transformation, he is given two names by the Pikuni: “Takes No Scalps” and “The Fullblood.” The Pikuni perceive Good Stab as two different people: one who refuses to live according to the codes of honor and bravery among the Pikuni and one who drains the blood of hunters until he is full. Both perceptions underscore the exclusion of Good Stab from regular society as they envision Good Stab as a monster, one who cannot walk amongst his people. Good Stab gives his oldest name, “Weasel Plume,” to the first buffalo calf he rescues, a white calf that signals hope for the future. Good Stab thus gives Weasel Plume a symbolic role, representing the fundamental importance of his Pikuni identity.
Arthur Beaucarne also lives by the names that are given to him. In Chapter 24, Etsy references the nickname “Holy Joe” in reference to Arthur. This not only alludes to the religious image he tries to project onto others but also associates him with the two scouts who play significant roles at the start of the Marias Massacre. Good Stab also refers to Arthur as “Three-Persons,” a name that initially refers to the Christian dogma of the Holy Trinity. However, it later references his duplicitous nature. Arthur presents himself as a moral authority, but the novel also reveals him as a force of unspeakable nature. Arthur buries the truth about his other “persons” in the past, distancing himself from them once he has been accused.
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