The Only Good Indians

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Horror as Social Commentary”

In this activity, students will examine social commentary within the novel and create a poster or infographic connecting elements of the novel to broader social phenomenon.

The Only Good Indians can be read as social satire or commentary even as it fully fits within the horror genre. In this activity, research a topic of social commentary related to the novel and create an infographic that illustrates the parallels between the novel’s plot, theme and characters and your topic.

• Utilize scholarly resources to research your topic of social commentary.
• Be sure to include messages from the novel that relate to your topic in your final product.
• Present your research and final product to the class.

What conclusions might be drawn in considering the array of chosen topics among class members?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from brainstorming a list of topics as a class before choosing or starting. While messages about domestic violence or racism involving sporting events and mascots may be more obvious to students, encourage them to consider more positive messaging such as celebration of identity, conservation efforts, or how oral communities are protecting generational knowledge. Students may benefit from a list of acceptable forms or templates this project might take, such as a storyboard or comic, poster, flow chart, collage, or infographic.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students with organizational or executive functioning differences, graphic organizers, templates, or step guides may be beneficial. For multilingual learners, preselected and/or prehighlighted passages may help with time management and support the transition from comprehension to analysis. To open this assignment up to more learning styles and cultures, consider allowing options for group work, written forms, dramatic reenactment, or pre-recorded presentations.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The core of Lewis’s conflict is his guilt, which causes him to make increasingly self-destructive choices.

• How does guilt lead to Lewis’s acts of self-sabotage? (topic sentence)
• Identify the issue at the core of all of Lewis’s guilt. Provide text examples in support of your topic sentence and explain how these examples relate to his actions toward his job, Shaney, and Peta.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, summarize how guilt and cultural identity intersect for Lewis and connect this idea to contemporary social challenges.

2. In “slasher“ stories, the characters who die often exhibit moral flaws that get them killed; but the “final girl,” in overcoming these flaws, endures the trial and gets away.

• How does the “slasher” trope befit Jones’s exploration of what makes a “good Indian”? (topic sentence)
• Identify and analyze the flaws that make Gabe, Cass, Lewis, and Ricky unable to escape Elk Head Woman; then, explain how Denorah’s traits, allow her to beat Elk Head Woman at her own game.  
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain how Denorah’s victory reveals what makes a “good Indian.”

3. While Jones’s novel overtly subverts stereotypes surrounding the concept of a “good Indian,” it also questions and subverts stereotypes surrounding womanhood and femininity.

• In what ways are female characters in the novel trapped and harmed by assumptions and stereotypes? (topic sentence)
• Explain using text examples how stereotypes both trap and harm the major female characters in the novel. How do Denorah and Elk Head Woman overcome these stereotypes in the conclusion?
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, paraphrase the novel’s message regarding the dangers of stereotypes.  

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Choose a symbol or motif, such as counting coup, the blinking light, or basketball, and trace its development throughout the novel in a 3- or 5-paragraph essay. How does it support key themes? How might this motif illustrate a message about what it means to be a “good Indian”? Use text details and cited quotations in your discussion.

2. A recurring motif in the book is storytelling, with characters passing knowledge and morality to others through stories. In a 3- or 5-paragraph essay, discuss the role of generational knowledge in the novel. What is its purpose, how does it work, and how is it problematic as embodied through Elk Head Woman? How does generational knowledge relate to the elder’s tale of Denorah at the end of the book?

3. Throughout the story, characters are haunted by the violence of colonization as well as violence toward women and nature. How does the novel allude to the shared source of these cycles through the experiences of the major characters, including Elk Head Woman and Denorah? Structure your response in an essay of several paragraphs. In what ways does Denorah’s triumph represent a victory against these cycles?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What do the flashbacks and headlines in Ricky’s story show about the setting?

A) Cycles of colonial violence are not gone; they have just evolved with the times.

B) North Dakota has always been a cold and hostile environment.

C) Modern life has brought many improvements and opportunities to Indigenous people.

D) History books and headlines explain all there is to know about the Midwest.

2. Why does telling Shaney about the elk feel like a betrayal to Lewis?

A) Lewis feels like he is making Shaney complicit in his actions.

B) Lewis betrays a fundamental relationship between hunter and prey.

C) Telling a real person means Lewis is guilty.

D) Lewis has never told Peta, making him more intimate with Shaney.

3. With what does Harley’s death coincide?

A) It coincides with Lewis’s choice to kill Shaney.

B) It coincides with the full moon, a common horror trope.

C) It coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the Thanksgiving Classic.

D) It coincides with Lewis’s sighting of Elk Head Woman.

4. What are some of the first signs that Lewis’s guilt has impacted his well-being?

A) He has frequent thoughts of dating Shaney and divorcing Peta.

B) He is obsessed with explaining the inexplicable, which leads to irrational assumptions.

C) He completely ignores Peta and Harley, pretending they are not there.

D) He refuses to take responsibility for any of his actions and blames others.

5. What makes the Thanksgiving Classic different from the buffalo drop?

A) Only “good Indians” could participate in the buffalo drop.

B) There is little difference because the point is that all killing is wrong.

C) It is impossible to keep a buffalo drop a secret from the wardens.

D) The buffalo drop was approached with ritual, respect, and tribal effort.

6. How might one describe Elk Head Woman’s true nature?

A) She is Lewis’s guilt returning for wrath and vengeance.

B) She is a warped personification of Lewis’s elk calf.

C) She is the herd’s collective conscious manifest.

D) She is a symbol for Manifest Destiny.

7. What truth does the elks’ view of history reveal?

A) Human rules cannot be trusted.

B) Colonization and disrespect for nature share roots.

C) Justice is an impossibility.

D) Revenge is the only recourse to a lack of justice.

8. How does her teacher’s comment regarding Denorah’s choice to write about her sister’s basketball championship as a family holiday underscore the difficulties of being a “good Indian”?

A) Her teacher thinks basketball is frivolous, undercutting her identity as a player.

B) Her teacher’s comment is ironic because basketball is for everyone.

C) Her teacher recommends that she use her heritage to secure scholarships, not worry about basketball.

D) Her teacher’s implication that basketball isn’t her heritage shows that “good Indian” is a subjective measure.

9. How does Gabe get around being barred from Denorah’s home games and how does this help characterize him?

A) He highjacks the gym’s security feed, showing his ingenuity.

B) He sits disguised in the visitor’s section, his life’s motto being “Don’t get caught.”

C) He watches through the window from outside the gym, showing his respect for rules.

D) He pays someone to tape the games, showing his dedication to Denorah.

10. Why is Nathan Yellowtail doing a sweat with Gabe and Cass?

A) Victor wants his son to grow up traditional.

B) Gabe owes Victor money.

C) His father hopes community will help him heal and make safer choices.

D) Nathan knew Lewis too.

11. What does Cass claim Gabe’s run-ins with the law prove?

A) They prove how “Indian” Gabe is.

B) They prove that Nathan is on a bad path.

C) They prove that Gabe is not a “good Indian.”

D) They prove his guilt in other areas of his life.

12. Why is Elk Head Woman’s choice to kill them during the sweat ritual apropos?

A) She can take advantage of their visions to influence them.

B) Like the elk they shot, Gabe and Cass think they are safe.

C) Cass’s horses cover her handiwork with the dogs.

D) Cass is dating Shaney’s sister, Jo.

13. What does Denorah find that gives her hope as she finally reaches the road?

A) She finds Nathan and Calico.

B) She finds a car, but it drives away.

C) She finds her fourth wind.

D) She finds a snowplow path to the lake.

14. Where does the story end?

A) The story ends at Nate and Denorah’s graduation.

B) The ending’s location is ambiguous.

C) There is no ending.

D) The story ends where it began.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What makes Elk Head Woman’s psychology one of revenge, rather than justice?

2. What makes Denorah a good choice as a new hero as she is depicted at the end of the novel?