Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas
explored in a literary work.
Understanding Different Perspectives
Misunderstandings between characters occur throughout
the novel, and Dorris puts us in the unusual position of being able
to see both sides of some arguments. There are three different but
overlapping story lines with three different narrators who occasionally
report the same event from differing points of view. These multiple
narrators demonstrate how three characters who should be very close
to one another can misunderstand each other, at times dramatically.
As the novel opens, for example, Rayona is at the hospital visiting Christine,
whose actions seem melodramatic, irresponsible, and irrational.
However, when this scene is revisited in Christine’s story, we learn
that Christine has just found out she has less than six months to
live, and she wounded by the lack of sympathy from both her daughter
and her ex-husband.
Likewise, though Ida comes off as rather cold and resentful
to others—she herself admits this is an apt description—her personal life
at least makes her temperament seem forgivable or understandable.
If Christine and Rayona knew Ida’s history, they would understand
that her coldness is her reaction to the treatment she has received
throughout her life. Dorris presents the defining events of his
characters’ lives, the ones that shape who they are and how they react
to the world. In the cases of Christine and Ida, such events often
remain secret and inspire negative reactions from the novel’s other
characters. Only when we are given access to a character’s life and
thoughts can we hope to understand that character’s actions.
The Effect of Events on Later Generations
In the end, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water favors
family as a means of support, but the novel also questions how the
problems of one generation can be passed to the next. Ida, Christine,
and Rayona each represent a different generation of the same family,
and each generation resonates with the lives of those who came before.
The secrets that characterize Ida’s life create a number of misunderstandings between
the three women. Neither Rayona nor Christine can understand the
events that influence them, and a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding
grows between mother and daughter. The events surrounding Christine’s
birth and adoption by Ida resonate throughout the novel. Ida is
the only person to witness these events, but they are so powerful
that they affect the way she raises Christine, who in turn passes
their effect on to Rayona.
Finding a True Identity
Finding one’s place is a crucial element of growing up,
and since growing up is a part of each of the novel’s three stories,
each of the three chief characters struggles to belong. Ida never
really has the opportunity to find her place or assert herself,
and she quickly gives up any hope of successfully battling the currents
that drive her life. Ida tries to come to peace with the path her
life has taken but she remains resentful. Christine, on the other
hand, has many opportunities that Ida lacks, and she takes full
advantage of them. Christine tries on a number of identities, looking
for one that fits: she tries first to be daring, then religious,
then social and even somewhat promiscuous. None of these identities
fulfills Christine, however, so she looks for herself in other people.
She finds comfort in being Lee’s sister, and then Elgin’s husband,
but the comfort does not last. Only when Rayona is born does Christine
find her true place. She feels that Rayona gives her life meaning,
and though she continues to live her wild life, she knows that,
in the end, whatever she does must be for Rayona.
Rayona’s identity is more precarious than her mother’s. Although
Rayona knows the identities of her parents, Elgin is largely absent
and Christine is not exactly motherly. Rayona longs for a place
in a family, so she clings to the love expressed in the letter she
finds at Bearpaw Lake instead of looking to something that is actually
part of her life. Rayona also struggles with her racial and physical
identity, as she is of mixed race and gangly appearance. She is
an outsider in almost every way and indulges in escapism. Once Rayona
discards Ellen’s letter, however, we see that she finally comes to
feel comfortable with her mother and her own identity. For Rayona,
an integral part of finding her identity is trying on a fictitious one
and realizing that even the dreamiest circumstances she can imagine
do not make her hurt less. Rayona’s journey is ultimately less about
figuring out who she is than it is about reconciling herself to
her identity.
