Skeleton Man

The mysterious man who claims to be Molly’s great-uncle is the antagonist and villain of the novel. He is old and stooped, and his frame is so thin that his bones show through his skin. He has big, ugly teeth, and his sharp-nailed hands look like claws. In every way, he resembles the Skeleton Man from the Mohawk legend that Molly’s father has told her.

He kidnaps Molly’s parents and imprisons them in a cave under his toolshed to gain custody of Molly. Once he gets custody of Molly, he rarely speaks to her. Instead, he locks her in her room every night and provides her with drugged food that she refuses to eat. He wants to fatten Molly up, and the details of the legend imply that he most likely wants to eat her. He also mounts hidden cameras around the house to monitor Molly’s actions. After Molly vanquishes the Skeleton Man at the end of the novel, Molly’s father states that the Skeleton Man is an evil, non-human creature, confirming what the rabbit told Molly in her dreams.

Ms. Shabbas is Molly’s teacher. The students call her “Ms. Showbiz” because she likes to sing Broadway tunes in class. She is a kind, compassionate teacher who only wants what is best for her students, and she pays particular attention to Molly after the girl’s parents disappear. Molly confides in her teacher, telling her some of what is happening to her in her great-uncle’s house. Ms. Shabbas tries to get Molly help by going to the school counselor and school psychologist, but these efforts prove to be unsuccessful. Ms. Shabbas even offers to take Molly home with her until her parents can be located. However, Social Services will not allow that. Thus, although Ms. Shabbas is a staunch ally, she does not have the power to help Molly with the terrible danger posed by the Skeleton Man.

As the school counselor, Mrs. Rudder fails to live up to the requirements of her role, for rather than taking Molly seriously, she actively dismisses the girl’s concerns, leaving her in a deadly situation. She is initially portrayed as an impatient person who would rather not talk to Molly, and even the sound of her name is designed to suggest rudeness. She explains away Molly’s legitimate fears and concerns by dismissing them as a chemical imbalance or an over-active imagination. She offers no useful advice or help, and her weak attempt at intervention actually puts Molly in further danger, for her brief, inattentive visit reveals Molly’s true suspicions to the Skeleton Man. Thus, Mrs. Rudder represents a mainstream-culture adult who has little knowledge of Indigenous children and dismisses their concerns out of hand. She is a static character because she never changes throughout the book, and she actively impedes Molly’s search for answers. Just like the school psychologist, she is portrayed as someone who only draws on limited sources of information and therefore does not recognize traditional wisdom and intuition as valid paths to knowledge.

Molly’s father is a Mohawk man who has been raised on the Akwesasne Reserve in Canada. He is a calm and patient man, and Molly looks up to him and respects his knowledge of traditional Mohawk customs. One of the most important things that Molly’s father teaches her is to trust her feelings. In addition, because her father stresses the importance of aware dreams as a way of receiving messages, Molly learns to tap into the power of her dreams and accept them as legitimate sources of knowledge.