The Northern Lights (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Joy Foster
- First Published: 1991
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The 1970's and 1980's
- Setting: Ashland, Wisconsin and Vietnam
- Principal Characters: Whirling Soldier, His father, His mother, His daughter, The narrator
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: 1970’s, United States or Americans, Midwest, 1980’s, Alcoholism or alcoholics, Substance abuse, Native Americans or American Indians, Vietnam War, War, Soldiers
- Locales: Vietnam, Ashland, WI
The Story
The story of Whirling Soldier, a Vietnam veteran and Native American, unfolds through a series of flashbacks, alternating between his war experience, his childhood, and his life after he is discharged from the military. As an unnamed narrator relates the story's beginning and end, the body of the story comprises a series of images that reveal the psychological and spiritual decline and subsequent recovery of Whirling Soldier.
The narrator meets Whirling Soldier at a traditional Native American powwow held on the shores of Lake Superior. In contrast to the...
[The entire page is 1441 words long]
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