Sequoyah

Sequoyah is the book’s protagonist, its central character and narrator. He is 15 years old at the time the events of the narrative take place, an undefined number of years older as he describes those events. In other words, Older Sequoyah is telling a coming-of-age story about Younger Sequoyah, with Older Sequoyah interjecting perspective-based commentary only irregularly. This allows the actions of his younger self to essentially reveal the meaning of what happened – Older Sequoyah explains very little of Younger Sequoyah’s choices, motivated and defined as they are by a variety of factors.

Those factors include Sequoyah’s ethno-cultural background (descended as he is from Cherokee Indians), his being the child of a single mother (since his father disappeared shortly after he was born), and his mother being both an alcoholic and a convict. These latter factors are also related to what is arguably the most significant...