Faces in The Moon - Historical, Cultural, and Artistic Allusions

Historical, Cultural, and Artistic Allusions

• Quanah Parker

Lizzie tells Lucie a story about the mixed blood warrior, Quanah Parker. Later, Lucie dreams about him and wonders if she should tell her great aunt. When Gracie comes to visit, Lucie mentions that she has seen Quanah Parker. Lizzie warns the child of calling up spirits whereas Gracie laughs and calls it another one of Lizzie’s stories. In history, Quanah Parker was an "able metis chief of the Comanche people at the end of the nineteenth century during a difficult transition period that took the Plains Indians from their classical age into a new era. A leader of the Quahada band that ranged over Llano Estacado and through its deep canyons on the southern Great Plains, he was one of the last warriors to lead his people permanently to the reservation in Indian Territory."

• Cherokee Rolls, Dawes Commission

At the end of the book, Lucie returns to Oklahoma City and goes to the Oklahoma Historical Society room. She asks to see the Cherokee Rolls so she can look up her grandmother's father. The Dawes Rolls, also known as the "Final Rolls", are the lists of individuals who were accepted as eligible for tribal membership in the "Five Civilized Tribes": Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles. (It does not include those whose applications were stricken, rejected or judged as doubtful.) Those found eligible for the Final Rolls were entitled to an allotment of land, usually as a homestead.

• Deer Woman

When Lucie is at her mother's funeral, she sees three does. This alludes to the Cherokee story of the Deer Woman. "The Deer Woman spirit teaches us that marriage and family life within the community are important and these relationships cannot be entered into lightly. Her tales are morality narratives: she teaches us that the misuse of sexual power is a transgression that will end in madness and death. The only way to save oneself from the magic of Deer Woman is to look to her feet, see her hooves, and recognize her for what she is. To know the story and act appropriately is to save oneself from a lifetime lived in pain and sorrow; to ignore the story is to continue in the death dance with Deer Woman."

• World War I

Lucie mentions that Uncle Jerry and Uncle Henry fought in World War I. This piece of information is important because it helps to explain why Uncle Jerry talks to himself and to the radio. Gracie tells Lucie that the stress from the war caused Uncle Jerry to "lose his piece of mind" (90).

• Layers of Stories

The cover of Bell's Faces in the Moon is an image of Connie Seaborn's 30" X 22" watercolor, Layers of Stories. It shows a woman holding up a child with a moon in the background. It is from the collection of Michael Hunt.

• Tonto

Uncle Jerry make a brief reference to Tonto when he talks to Lucie about Indian names. Tonto was a Native American character on the television show The Lone Ranger.