I am not going to discuss Billy Johnson, the main character, with you as would give too much of the novel away. However, you do need to know the time period of the novel. It starts in the 1950s shortly after the Korean War ends. I’d like to introduce you to Diana Spears. She is the woman Billy knows he’s going to marry as they are very much in love. In the novel this is the description of her:
“Billy never tired of looking at Diana. She was short, just five-two with dark shoulder-length hair and dark eyes. She had on a flowered dress that showed off her narrow waist and made her tiny breasts appear larger.”
A little later in the novel, you will read:
Billy kissed her and as they parted, she smiled at him, “I love you, Billy.”
“Me too, you’re something very special,” Billy said. He stroked her cheek with the tips of his fingers. She caught his hand and kissed his fingers. Billy pulled her close once more and kissed her. He could taste her lipstick and feel the warmth of her body against his. They kissed again and again. Diana made tiny bird like sounds. Billy slipped his hand under her skirt.
At first, she let him caress her thigh, then she pushed his hand away, “No, we must wait. It has to be special.”
Billy shook his head and smiled, “I know, but it is so hard to wait. I want you so bad it hurts. I don’t care what my father thinks. I want to marry you”
Billy is not sure if his father is against him marrying Diana because she is a Native American or if he thinks they are just too young. This is the 1950s and in northern Minnesota, there was a great deal of prejudice directed at Native Americans. It was said, “A white man does not marry squaw – he just screws her.” Billy doesn’t care about any of that and is sure he will marry Diana, but the draft is looming large for him and he knows he must go and serve. He is stationed in Germany when he gets a letter from his father it reads in part:
“Dear son,
I’ve got some bad news for you. It’s hard to tell you but Larry raped Diana last weekend and beat her bad. They don’t know if she’s going to survive. He is in jail. I talked to Mr. Spears on the phone and all we can do is hope Diana will survive…”
That is all I am going to say about Diana. Whether she survives or not is in the novel.
