How I Became a Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2013

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-7

Chapters 8-11

Chapters 12-17

Chapters 18-27

Chapters 28-29

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 4 Summary: “Fire in the Hair”

When Mother and Isaac return home, Isaac plays with Luke and Jumper while Mother cooks supper. The family does not talk about what they saw that day or Treaty Talk during supper. Instead, no one says anything. Sometime after midnight, Isaac wakes up to the smell of smoke. He did not feel a shiver before smelling it this time, so he knows it is real. He becomes disoriented and realizes his hair is on fire before fire falls from the ceiling. He uses a blanket to protect himself and opens the door to see flames on his path to the front door. He runs outside and sees his family and his dog Jumper there.

Father tells Isaac and Luke to go wake up the neighbors so they can help them put out the fire, but when they get there, they see the neighbors’ home is also on fire. They run inside to wake everyone up. Father then tells Isaac and Luke to run to the church to ring the bell and wake everyone. He stops them though, when he sees Nahullo men riding their horses from the river and carrying torches. They watch as the Nahullos set the missionaries’ house and the church on fire.

The Nahullos see the Choctaws watching them and shoot their shotguns at them. Isaac’s neighbor sustains a shot to the shoulder. Father tells everyone to run into the woods and stay together. They hide in a clump of bushes as the Nahullos come looking for them. They hear the Nahullos as they plan to find them in the swamp, since there is nowhere else for them to go. Isaac describes watching the houses burn and how they seemed to be alive. Isaac also suspects that Mister and Missus Jonah did not make it out of their burning house, confirming his vision. Father remarks that there is nothing they can do, but Mother reminds him that staying together is something they can do.

Chapter 5 Summary: “Swamp Choctaws”

Father encourages everyone to make their way to the swamp before morning. The swamp has always been a safe place for the Choctaws. When morning comes and everyone has gathered at the swamp, the oldest man addresses everyone and focuses their attention on what they must do to take care of themselves now instead of on what has happened with the Nahullo. He assigns tasks to the different groups of people so everyone will have food and shelter. Isaac and Luke use blowguns to kill squirrels for food with the help of Jumper. The older men, including Father, build lean-tos out of pine limbs and vines. The older women build the cooking fires in a way that ensures the Nahullos will not see them. Everyone lives this way for a week before winter blows in. The cold conditions take a toll on Isaac’s health, with every day bringing him closer to becoming a ghost.

Chapter 6 Summary: “Men with Blankets”

The Choctaws felt safe in the swamp because the snakes and mudholes made it too dangerous for the Nahullos to cross, but the frozen swamp is now crossable. One morning after a storm, Isaac interprets the whiteness of the ice and snow as a warning. His mother tells him that the Nahullos are coming, and Father tells everyone to stay in the lean-to.

The Nahullos arrive and announce that they have blankets for everyone. Old Man and Old Woman are the first to retrieve blankets, and when everyone sees them get them, they also run out to get their own blankets. They thank the Nahullo. Isaac and Luke attempt to get blankets, but Mother stops them. Everyone else is happy with their blankets, and the Old Man and Old Woman take the gesture as a sign that they do not have to fear the Nahullo. Everyone congregates in a celebratory mood, but Father orders Isaac and Luke to stay in their lean-to.

Father takes Luke hunting that evening while everyone sleeps, and they return at breakfast with squirrels. As they cook, Old Man visits them and offers to share his blanket. When Isaac looks at him, he feels the warm shiver and has a vision of the Old Man with a swollen, blistered face. Isaac screams that he does not want to see the vision, and Luke and the Old Man are confused. Isaac blames the cold. He knows that Old Man and Old Woman will be ghosts soon and that he would have been a ghost sooner if Mother had not kept him from accepting a blanket. He does not understand how she knew to protect him.

Chapter 7 Summary: “Snow Monsters”

Father surprises Isaac, Luke, and Jumper with a walk after breakfast one morning. When they get to the far side of the island in the swamp, Isaac lets Jumper run free and tries to start a snowball fight with Luke. However, Luke ducks when Isaac throws a snowball at him, and the snowball hits Father instead. The boys are scared, since they have never hit Father with a snowball before. Father goes behind a tree and disguises himself as a snow monster before jumping out and scaring the boys and Jumper. Luke then disguises himself as a little snow monster and joins Father in terrorizing Isaac and Jumper. Isaac catches on to what is going on, but Jumper remains scared through the whole thing. Once Jumper finally realizes it is a game, the boys promise him a special supper to make up for it.

Chapters 4-7 Analysis

The Choctaws must forget about the trauma of the Nahullos setting their houses on fire and focus on building new shelters. Old Man tells everyone, “We can talk about last night later. Now we go to work” (20). This approach to trauma foreshadows how Isaac will have to adapt to the events that unfold in his life by letting go of the unjustness and focusing on securing his and everyone else’s safety first.

The relationship between the Choctaws and Nahullos becomes clearer in these chapters, with the Nahullos burning Choctaw houses and the Choctaws not retaliating. The Nahullos also exhibit their persistence by following the Choctaws to the swamp once winter comes. Tingle reveals the Choctaws’ suspicions regarding the Nahullos when the Nahullos offer blankets and the Choctaws hesitate, but many of the Choctaws give the Nahullos their trust and take the blankets. Isaac’s visions suggest that the blankets from the Nahullos are tainted with disease.

These chapters further develop the role of community and the concept of home. As he watches the Choctaws’ houses burn, Isaac personifies the houses, describing them shaking and shouting. When everyone makes it to the swamp, they agree on a division of labor and sharing of resources to put everyone in a better position. Old Man directs, “Young men will get the meat. Deer and squirrels are all around us. The swamp is full of fish” (20). More directly, when their houses are burned, mother reminds father of the importance of staying together and frames it as an active choice. When father is frustrated by their limited power, mother says, “We can stay together” (18). Community offers strength to all of its members, and this notion appears throughout the story.

Tingle reveals the drudgery of the day-to-day life in the lean-to camp by describing the day mother and father give Isaac and Luke a break. This strategy allows Tingle to inform the reader that day-to-day life was difficult without having to delve into it. Instead, he can tell the story of the snow monsters, which brings levity to the otherwise intense story and helps the reader empathize with Tingle’s characters.

Following with the Choctaws’ metaphysical connection to nature, Isaac regularly converses with his dog, Jumper, who replies in quotations like the other characters. Jumper provides a sounding board for Isaac so that Tingle can relate Isaac’s feelings to the reader. That Isaac’s close confidante is a dog emphasizes Isaac’s youth and naivety.