BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruchac, Joseph. 2018. Two Roads. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 978-0735228863.
PLOT SUMMARY
A novel in three parts, Cal comes to terms with who he is in this coming of age journey set after the Great Depression and before the New Deal. In Part 1, “On the Road,” Cal and his father/Pop, William Black, are hoboing after losing their farm and his mother. Pop realizes they cannot maintain this lifestyle forever, however, especially since Cal is a good student and able to make himself something more. After hearing about a veteran protest in the newspaper, Pop decides joining the fight in Washington to cash his bonus check early may be their only way to buy a new farm. Will discloses to Cal that he is actually Creek Indian, and his last name actually Blackbird. He tells Cal attending Challagi, an Indian boarding school he attended as an adolescent himself, will keep him safe and fed while he is in Washington.
In Part 2, “At Challagi School,” Cal must come to terms with his identity while being away from his father for the first time. Despite being treated disrespectfully and considered less than competent by many of his white teachers, Cal is accepted into a Creek gang and learns more about his Indian heritage than the superintendent would have ever preferred. His friend, Possum, notices right away what seems to escape his observant father: his gift of seeing. Through this gift, Cal realizes his father is in mortal danger in Washington. He escapes Challagi to find him.
In Part 3, “A Different Road,” Calvin Blackbird, having ensured his father was safe, decides to return to Challagi. He intends to get more instruction in farming and learn more about his heritage through his supportive Creek friendships.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Pop urging Cal to “keep up” at the opening of the novel is for readers as well. The pair has been on the road months prior to the first page, Pop has been in the First World War, Cal’s mother has passed away, and they are struggling to stay fed three years after the stock market crash.
Cal and Pop choosing the hoboing path is reflective of the 1930s, when makeshift camps were made up of those who had lost their farms due to the Depression and, later, the Dust Bowl. Not to be confused by vagrants or “tramps,” (18), the majority of hoboes are “Gentlemen at All Times” (16), Knights of the road following an ethical code, who are down on their luck (317). Will Black indeed meets a lot of reputable veterans in the freight trains and camps, some from WWI and others “Knights” from before he enlisted.
Most distinctive about the ethical code and reflective in Pop and Cal’s relationship is the mutual care they have for each other: “I take care of you, you take care of me” (9). Cal admires and loves his father and knows he will keep him safe. Due to their lifestyle, at only 12 years of age, Cal is not only hyperaware of traveling dangers, but considerate and empathetic of others. There is a maturity to Cal that is only gained by good parenting and hard living. Although he mostly treats him as if he is an adult Knight himself and never brags, Pop has undeniable pride in his son, evident in his body language every time he introduces Cal to characters. Called “Silent Cal” (63) at his old school and “Jay Bird” as a joke (155) at Challagi, Cal’s quietness is a defining characteristic. Bruchac uses Cal’s observant and scholarly nature to narrate his story in the first person, interweaving historical facts within the storyline. Not aware of Indian culture himself, non-Native readers discover what it means to be Creek along with Cal. By the end of the novel, Cal finds his place away from his father and voices his decision to return to Challagi.
The characters interact with different cultures throughout the novel. There are mentions of fighting the war in France and Cal’s mother was an orphan Armenian immigrant adopted by a Polish couple when she was a child. Two Roads offers a glimpse of race and class relationships in 1932, when many people lost their status in society. Pop passing as white to allow Cal more opportunities makes sense for their time, because race matters. At first intimidating them with a shotgun, Red befriends Pop only after he realizes he is not Black and a veteran. Colonel Esom Dart is hunted by Sherriff Boyle of Fairville, Arkansas, simply for being Black. Pop knows being Indian is considered a step above being Black in 1930s Southern society and takes the Colonel’s place to protect him.
Despite the many instances of discrimination, white people are not only portrayed as evil in the novel. Accepting people down on their luck into their home seems to be second nature and a moral obligation for many people during the Depression: Everyone, hobo or not, seems to be follow the ethical rule of mutual care. In only takes a code phrase from Red for his wife Rose to serve Pop and Cal a meal. Before Just Jack starts stealing from her, Miz Euler also hosts hoboes. They are serving meals they could stretch for themselves. Cap, the mayor of Hard Times Town, the jungle camp in Fairville, Arkansas, is friendly to newcomers, despite their race. When Sherriff Boyle shows up, none of the other hoboes give Colonel Esom Dart away. Despite still taking an approach of ‘saving the man and killing the Indian’ at Challagi, Superintended Morrell civilizes the punishments under his leadership. Given how loud the forbidden stomp dancing nights likely get, neither Superintendent Morrell nor any white teachers interfere. There is a brotherhood that extends after the First World War with veterans, despite their race and background.
The Challagi student body is also diverse. Different tribes—Cherokees, Cheyenne, Choctaw, Muskogee— are mentioned by name throughout the second part of the novel. Nine weeks into his Challagi education, Cal identifies Mr. Adam as full-blooded Creek (263), and mentions the physical features that differentiate Creeks from other tribes or mixed individuals. Terms such as stahitkeys and staluskeys denote white kids and black kids (228). Some students are describes as being blond and blue-eyed. Looks and classification can be deceiving, Bruchac reminds readers, and it is ignorant to ostracize individuals based on them. Tommy Wilson, an apparent staluskey, is more in tune with his Indian side than Cal, who looks full-blood. After he proves he can stomp dance, Bear Meat allows Tommy to finally join their fire circle.
Two Roads is an excellent introductory middle grade text into Native American culture and the Indian Boarding School experience. The historical and cultural explanations in the novel make it ideal for non-Native readers. The camaraderie born out of Indian Boarding school for attendees may be lost even to the younger Native American generation, however, making it a good addition to the Native American literature canon. Although Challagi may have the atmosphere of Hogwarts’s under Dolores Jane Umbridge, readers will get that same sense of independence, friendship, and discovery driving the storyline, as Cal comes to discover and appreciate who he is.
AWARDS
2021 Battle of the Books, Middle School
REVIEW EXCERPTS
From Booklist: “Multiple compelling Depression-era histories converge in Bruchac’s latest . . . The students’ utter subversion of Challagi’s mission to sever their ties with Indian culture soon becomes apparent, as does Cal’s powerful, growing understanding of his identity.”
From New York Times Book Review: “Cal’s cleareyed first-person narration drives the novel. Meticulously honest, generous, autonomous and true, he sees things for what they are rather than what he’d like them to be. The result is one of Bruchac’s best books.”
From Horn Book, starred review: “A tautly paced and compelling story of self-discovery, family, belonging, and friendship.”
CONNECTIONS
Check out Joseph Bruchac’s author website to browse his extensive collection of youth Native American Literature. The Legend of Skeleton Man (2019) is a two-story suspense collection for those readers who enjoyed the brief, but chilling moments of Two Roads.
Tim Tingle’s How I Became a Ghost (2013) trilogy focus on the politics of of the Trail of Tears, with the second, When a Ghost Talks, Listen (2018), time traveling between Washington D.C. under Andrew Jackson and 2018. The progtagonist is Issac, a Choctaw boy who dies in the Trail of Tears.
Charlene Wiling Mcmanis and Traci Sorrell write the mirror experience of Cal’s narrative in Indian No More (2019). Relocating to Los Angeles after the government passes a law saying the Umpqua tribe is no longer a recognized Indian Nation, she must come to terms with whether she is still Native American or just American. Set in 1957, during the Civil rights Era.
Biblioterika 