House Made of Dawn

The main characters in this novel are: Abel, Francisco, Father Olguin, Angela St. John, and Milly.

Able is a young American Indian caught between two worlds: the world of his ancestors and the world of the white man. He cannot seem to reconcile these two different lifestyles and loses himself in alcohol and peyote. He lives with his grandfather Francisco and cuts wood for Angela, who briefly becomes his lover. He kills a white man and goes to prison. Afterward, he lives in Los Angeles and has a girlfriend named Milly. Milly is a good soul who believes in him, despite the fact that he can never hold a job and drinks to excess.

Without reason, he leaves Los Angeles and Milly and several Indian friends and goes back to live with Francisco. Francisco is old and dies late one night. He prepares his grandfather's body for an Indian funeral, dressing it in bright ceremonial colors. He places pouches of pollen and of meal, some sacred feathers, and his grandfather's ledger book at his grandfather's side. Then he wraps the body in a blanket after sprinkling meal in the four directions. Before dawn he goes to the mission and Father Olguin comes out demanding to know what is wrong. Abel tells him his grandfather died and insists the Father bury him.

Abel does not go back to his grandfather's house that night. Instead, he walks toward town and when he sees some runners, he starts after the

. . .
who works for McNair. Old Joseph Joe see two men shooting at each other in a laundry mat. One dies. The other is wounded and drives off in search of a Navajo named Leroy Gorman. Earlier the wounded man had shown Joe a photograph of Gorman and asked him if he knew him--but Joe does not know him. Joe reports the shooting to Chee and mentions the name "Gorman." Albert Gorman, a big-time car thief from Los Angeles, is wanted for questioning by the FBI and this sends them and Chee in search of the wounded man. The wounded man reaches the hogan of his uncle, Ashie Begay, and dies. He turns out to be Albert Gorman--but when Chee finds his body, the photograph Albert had shown to Joe is missing. Now Chee and the FBI must find Leroy Gorman and Begay (who is nowhere to be seen), as well as Margaret Sosi, Begay's granddaughter. Sometime later, Chee will find the body of Begay. Chee's search for Margaret leads him to Los Angeles where he talks with the Los Angeles Police Department about Albert Gorman. Meanwhile, a hit-man named Vaggan is hired by George McNair--who runs the car ring in which the Gorman brothers were involved--to find Margaret Sosi, who is looking for Leroy Gorman. Vaggan is to kill her. She has Albert's photograp
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Blind Mexican, Red Hair, Laughing Boy, Thumbs Water, Navajo Indian, Driving Songs, Slim Girl, Father Olguin, Francisco Francisco, American Indian, laughing boy, slim girl, leroy gorman, los angeles, main characters, margaret sosi, boy's mother, york harper, main characters novel, characters novel, george laughing boy, george laughing, boy slim girl, laughing boy slim, york harper paperbacks,
Approximate Word count = 2239
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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