People of the Whale

People of the Whale, authored by Chickasaw poet and storyteller Linda Hogan, addresses the interplay among Indigenous cultural identity, nature, and the impact of war. Published in 2008, this work falls within the contemporary Native American literature genre. Hogan, known for her background in Native American culture and environmental concerns, uses these elements to shape the narrative. The novel centers around Thomas Just, a Native American from the Pacific Northwest, who returns to his village after serving in the Vietnam War. Bearing the psychological wounds of war, he finds it challenging to reestablish ties with his family and community, especially with his wife, Ruth, and their son, Marco. The story delves into Thomas’s struggle with the aftermath of the war and the erosion of cultural practices. His involvement in a contentious whaling journey highlights the dilemmas of maintaining cultural heritage and environmental stewardship. The novel explores the issues of cultural survival, healing, environmental ethics and the sacredness of nature, and the consequences of war.

This guide refers to the 2010 W. W. Norton & Company Kindle edition.

Content Warning: This guide discusses war, trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, and cultural loss.

Plot Summary

Set in a Native American village in the Pacific Northwest, the novel opens with the birth of Thomas Just, grandson of the powerful Witka. Witka was a village leader and celebrated whale hunter; during his life, the man exhibited a great spiritual connection with the sea that manifested in almost mystical abilities. Thomas’s birth coincides with the arrival of a giant octopus on land, an event that evokes a mixed reaction from the community. Thomas’s mother, who is Witka’s daughter, celebrates the event as a blessing, offering the octopus Witka’s pearl.

As Thomas grows up, he exhibits signs that he has inherited his grandfather’s connection with the sea. His childhood sweetheart and wife, Ruth, also shares in this connection. They are happy until Thomas, yielding to peer pressure at a drunken party, enlists for the Vietnam War. The enlistment marks a betrayal not only of his people’s values but also of his pregnant wife. When Thomas departs, he leaves Ruth behind to raise their son, Marco, alone. Years later, Thomas returns to America, but given how profoundly the trauma of war has changed him, he does not yet return home.

Several more years pass, and the tribe begins to plan a whale hunt. Ruth, along with tribal elders, fights the plan, citing the leaders’ capitalistic and disrespectful motives. It’s at this point that Thomas finally returns; hoping to find himself again, he joins the whale hunt, all the while refusing to reconcile with Ruth or meet Marco. Marco, now a promising youth within the community, takes on the role of listening for the whale during the hunt, though the young man remains conflicted over his mother’s objections.

The party ultimately kills a whale, but with tragic consequences: Marco drowns when his canoe capsizes. Thomas also cannot deny the disrespect the men show the whale’s body. One witness claims that a man wearing a ring drowned Marco on purpose, but the claim elicits little attention.

After the whale hunt, Thomas’s mental health deteriorates. He moves into Witka’s old house and begins building a fence to block his view of the sea. Meanwhile, a drought strikes and the ocean recedes. Desperate and grieving, Ruth seeks out a man known as the Rain Priest. On his guidance, she sacrifices her boat as an offering, and the rain returns soon after. With the rain, Thomas decides to return his war medals, resolving to visit Washington DC; his reflections reveal that he left a daughter named Lin behind in Vietnam.

Via flashback, the novel then overviews Thomas’s experiences during the Vietnam War. To prevent the massacre of a village of women and children, Thomas kills his own men, faking his death by abandoning his dog tags. He builds a new family, marrying a Vietnamese woman, with whom he has a daughter, Lin. When a landmine kills his new wife, however, the tragedy leads to American authorities discovering Thomas at the funeral. They drag him back to America, even as Lin chases the helicopter.

The next chapters shift to Lin’s perspective. After her mother’s death and her father’s disappearance, young Lin struggled to survive as an unhoused orphan in Ho Chi Minh City. Now, though, she is in a happy marriage and stable home, and as an adult, she decides to attempt to find her father. Lin flies to America, where she meets Ruth in the village; the two soon bond, with Lin appreciating Ruth’s strength. Lin fails to connect with her father, however, and her attempts only amplify his guilt over Marco. Thomas remains cold and distant, infuriating Ruth on Lin’s behalf.

Shifting back to Thomas’s perspective, the narrative follows his journey to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, taking several other men who served with him. Seeing The Wall forces Thomas to confront more memories, which include his own actions during the war. As he attempts to recover in the shared motel room, he notices a ring on the finger of a fellow soldier and old friend, Dwight. Recalling Dwight’s animosity and jealousy toward him in the past, Thomas realizes that Dwight is likely Marco’s killer. Thomas confronts him, but Dwight denies the accusation, and Thomas has no evidence. At the Pentagon, a shaken Thomas returns his medals, insisting on it against the protests of a bewildered general and doctor.

Thomas's return to the village stirs a mixture of emotions and unresolved tensions. Thomas finally talks with Ruth. He shares everything, from the trauma he experienced in the war to his suspicions about Dwight. Thomas also confesses his own role in Marco’s death: Thomas pressured the young man into joining the whale hunt. Angered at Thomas’s final confession, Ruth blames Thomas, in part, for the death of their son.

Thomas begins returning to the man he once was, striving toward a point of spiritual awakening. He gives voice to the importance of preserving cultural traditions while respecting the environment. He advocates for his community to become better people and refrains from whale hunting.

On a spiritual excursion, Thomas takes a canoe out with a few other men; on the water, they start to sing ancient songs that help Thomas return to his ancestral identity. Dwight, still harboring long-standing jealousy and unresolved animosity, spots the group and seizes the moment to shoot Thomas.

The wound, as Thomas perceives it, is fatal and catalyzes a moment of introspection, where he confronts the immediate threat to his physical life, his relationships, and the legacy of his actions. At the apparent moment of his death, though, he experiences a rebirth. From this point in the narrative, myth and reality converge, and it is unclear whether Thomas truly survives his injury or the following events represent an idealized version of what he would have done had he survived.

Thomas is depicted as recovering from the wound on a nearby island and achieving the transformation he has long sought; he returns to his old self before the war. Dwight is arrested for attempted murder, and Thomas builds a new relationship with Ruth. Thomas buys plane tickets to reconcile with Lin in Vietnam.