s the dialogue appropriate to the speakers? Why or why not? Identify at least three examples.

The language in the novel is simple and direct English; there is little in the way of foreign words used in this novel. However, many of the character names may seem foreign to a reader unaccustomed to the traditional form that Indian names sometimes take, such as the names First Raise and Lame Bull. None of the language is overly complicated, nor does it include large, unfamiliar words, and it is language that is easy for readers of all ages to comprehend.

The purpose of the language used in this novel is to express the lack of education the narrator has as another attempt to show the poverty level that this particular man was raised within. The novel is about being an Indian and living on an Indian reservation and the hardships that this situation implies, but it is not a novel written for the sole purpose of making a political statement. This novel is a story of one man's search for his own personal identity. This is also a possible explanation as to why there are few Indian words used in this novel. The young man who narrates the novel feels as though he has no identity, either that of an Indian or of a Caucasian man. The language in this novel reinforces this lack of identity in its failure to use either Indian phrases or the language of an educated white man. It is a writer's technique that reinforces the plot in a subtle, almost invisible, way.