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What is the Drome?
The Drome is a nickname Tony Loneman uses to refer to fetal alcohol syndrome, a condition caused when a mother drinks heavily during her pregnancy. People born with fetal alcohol syndrome often experience telltale physical symptoms, such as small heads, drooping eyes, and thin upper lips. They also experience learning and intellectual disabilities as well as emotional dysregulation. Tony has fetal alcohol syndrome and suffers from many of these symptoms, from facial anomalies to issues with controlling his aggression. Tony recalls that, when his aunt first explained his condition, he didn’t hear or understand anything she said except for the second syllable in “syndrome,” which led to him colloquially referring to his condition as “the Drome.” This nickname is reflective of Tony’s sense of humor and mindset. He enjoys media that revels in the costumed, campy aesthetic of superheroes and supervillains, citing musician MF Doom and the Transformers as important figures in his upbringing. It’s no surprise that Tony takes interest in characters whose faces are often obscured, as he has a complicated relationship with his own face and condition.
Additionally, Tony sees the Drome as a complex power that has had both negative and positive impacts on his life. Even the name “the Drome,” seems to challenge the predominant narrative of living with fetal alcohol syndrome as an entirely negative experience, as the nickname gives the condition a cool, sci-fi connotation. The Drome, which causes bursts of aggression, is also a factor in Tony’s ability to take a massive amount of physical hits and show unprecedented heroism at the end of the novel. His condition helps him transform into a superhero, just like the Transformers.
Why does Opal and Jacquie’s mom move them to Alcatraz?
After Alcatraz prison was closed and the island deserted in the early 1960s, a small group of Native Americans moved onto the island. Alcatraz had a complex history with Native Americans prior—some accounts claim that the island was used and inhabited by Natives, and there is no doubt that many of Alcatraz’s prisoners were of Native heritage. This history led to a movement to reclaim the island for the Native community. While there was pushback from the U.S. government, continuous organization resulted in Natives occupying Alcatraz for several years in the 1960s and 70s. While the occupation was eventually ended by the Nixon administration, it inspired many other protests and resulted in the American government returning land to Native tribes and adopting a policy of self-determination for Natives, which turned away from past initiatives to force assimilation and instead focused on giving Natives and reservations more resources and control over their own governance. Opal and Jacquie’s mother moved the family to the island to participate in the occupation. While the occupation was an important protest, the organization was chaotic and lacking in strong leadership, and substance abuse on Alcatraz was rampant. This explains why Opal and Jacquie’s stay on the island is impermanent and relatively brief.
Why does Blue move back to Oakland?
Blue is Jacquie and Harvey’s daughter, although she was adopted at birth by a white family. Having grown up in a wealthy neighborhood in California, Blue moved to a Cheyenne reservation in Oklahoma in adulthood, hoping to reconnect with her Native American heritage. Once there, she quickly falls in love with and marries Paul, a Native man, and becomes close with Paul’s father. When Paul’s father dies, Paul turns to alcohol to cope with his grief and becomes increasingly violent and physically abusive. The abuse is severe and life-threatening. Blue is forced to leave the reservation and move back to Oakland to escape Paul, who follows her to the bus station and attempts to stop her from leaving. Blue returns to the Indian Center in Oakland, where she had worked before she moved to Oklahoma.
What does Orvil find inside the skin of his leg?
When Orvil inspects an inflamed lump on his leg, he pulls what appears to be five spider legs out of it. This discovery is significant, not only because it invokes one of the novel’s most prevalent symbols—the spider—but also because it is an experience shared by Orvil’s aunt, Opal. She too found spider legs in her skin before her lover, Ronald, abandoned her, prompting her to see the legs as a symbol of strife to come. The spider legs represent two prophetic warnings for Orvil: one, that a momentous change is near, and two, that the home is also the trap. Jacquie and Opal’s mother once explained to them that a spider’s web is both its home and a trap for its prey. Jacquie finds deep meaning in this knowledge later in life, when she realizes that alcohol is both her home and her trap. It is an avenue through which she escapes pain, but it has also ruined her relationships with her children and grandchildren. A similar juxtaposition is on the horizon for Orvil—the powwow will be his home but also his trap. At the powwow, Orvil will find a wondrous and liberating connection to his Native heritage through dance, but he will also become the victim of a shooting at the hands of his own people.
Which characters die in the shooting at the end?
There are five characters who are directly involved with the robbery scheme and who are armed on the day of the powwow: Octavio, Charles, Carlos, Calvin, and Tony. All five of these characters presumably die in the shooting, although some of their fates are more ambiguous than others. After Octavio collects the gift cards, Charles and Carlos turn on him. Octavio is shot multiple times by Charles and Carlos, who are in turn both shot by Octavio. Calvin, who does not shoot anyone, is himself shot once in the hip and then again in the stomach. From the ominous close of Calvin’s chapter, the second wound appears to be fatal. Tony, who at the last moment refused to take part in the robbery, is drawn back into the shooting. He shoots Carlos, who stops moving and is likely dead. As Charles keeps shooting erratically, and Tony sees that innocent bystanders are being hit, he becomes enraged and launches himself at Charles. Tony is shot numerous times by Charles in his legs, arms, and stomach. However, being a large and strong man, the bullets don’t immediately disable Tony, and he dives onto Charles, wrestles away his gun, and shoots him in the head. Tony then dies of his wounds, having heroically protected further people from dying at Charles’ hands. Octavio’s death is not confirmed, but considering he is hit by at least five bullets, his survival is unlikely.
The bystanders shot by stray bullets include Orvil Red Feather, Thomas Frank, Bill Davis, and Edwin Black. Thomas Frank is shot fatally in the neck and Bill Davis is shot fatally above his right eye. Both characters receive a POV chapter during the shooting and die at the end of their chapters. Edwin Black is shot once in the stomach and is transported to the hospital by Blue after the shooting is over. Edwin is still barely conscious when he arrives at the hospital, and his survival seems likely. Orvil is shot in the stomach. The wound is serious, and although Orvil is unconscious but still alive when he reaches the hospital, his survival is uncertain.
