arned Western ways. He kills the deer, and thereby initiates the story of the book, because regardless of either tradition, Western or Pueblo, he has the will to survive.
There is undoubtedly something comforting about fitting so neatly into one's heritage that conformance with that heritage's traditions and expectations is never questioned. However, for individuals whose participation in that tradition has been traumatized, conformance can never be unquestioning. Martiniano has been forced to question the basic tenets on which his tradition relies. This questioning forces him to ask himself what he believes. It forces him to come to an understanding of how he can mediate the two traditions he straddles and still live a life he finds worthwhile and rewarding.
Martiniano accomplishes this by admitting to himself and the Pueblo officers that he will never again completely conform to Pueblo tenets. Despite the "generous" award by the Government at the end of the novel, the Pueblo Indians are characterized as very much a marginalized and largely unwanted and bothersome item on the American agenda. The Pueblos know this, but they choose to continue their way of life as best they can despite the Government's desire that they no longer do so. They maintain their belief in the spiritualism of nature and their oneness with nature. Martiniano's fear of Flowers Playing as a Deer Mother is an attempt to deny this basic truth.
In the end, "Martiniano, the trouble-maker, the man who killed the deer," accepts this most basic tenet of Pueblo life and religion, affirming his recognition of his Pueblo heritage. However, the entire novel is an exploration of the definition of individuality within a tradition that p
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