Student Question
Summarize each chapter of Thunder Rolling in the Mountains.
Quick answer:
Sound of Running Feet is the narrator of the novel Thunder Rolling in the Mountains. The first chapters of the story detail her tribe’s displacement. The middle chapters deal with her tribe’s battles with white people. The final chapters focus on Sound of Running Feet’s escape from a forced marriage.
In Thunder Rolling in the Mountains, the person speaking is Sound of Running Feet. She’s the narrator. The entire novel is told through her perspective and viewpoint.
Now that you know who’s telling the story, let’s go over the chapters:
Chapter 1 to 8:
The first chapters focus on Sound of Running Feet, her family, and her home. Sound of Running Feet’s dad is Joseph. Joseph is the chieftain or leader of the Ne-mee-poo people. You find out that the white people call the Ne-mee-poo people “Nez Perce.”
The arrival of one white person, General Howard, brings trouble. Howard wants Joseph and his people to leave so that the white people can have their land. Some Ne-mee-poo people want to fight, but Joseph wants to avoid violence and agrees to move to different land.
Unfortunately, violence occurs anyway. On their way to their new land, a few Ne-mee-poo boys...
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attack white soldiers as an act of revenge. The attack starts a battle between white people and the Ne-mee-poo people. Eventually, a peace deal is made between the warring parties.
Chapter 9 to 16:
The peace deal is broken. Violence starts up again. The violence is terrible. Sound of Running Feet’s mom dies, as do several Ne-mee-poo members. The Ne-mee-poo people change their destination and head to the land of the Crows. The Crows are another tribe. However, the Crows are in alliance with the white people and refuse to help them. Now, the Ne-mee-poo decide to head to Canada.
Chapter 17 to 23 (the end):
In these chapters, you find out that not only are the Crows cooperating with the white people, but the Cheyenne people are working with the white people as well. This does not bode well for the Ne-mee-poo. After further combat and losses, Joseph surrenders. Sound of Running Feet does the opposite. Her and her love, Swan Necklace, continue to fight.
On their own and freezing, Swan Necklace and Sound of Running Feet are picked up by a hunting party. They’re taken to an Assiniboin village. Though they are treated nicely at first, violence erupts yet again. Swan Necklace is stabbed so that Charging Hawk, an Assiniboin warrior, can marry Sound of Running Feet instead of Swan Necklace. On the day that she’s supposed to marry Charging Hawk, Sound of Running Feet runs away. She has the opportunity to kill Charging Hawk, but she decides to let him live.