Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears

As they walk through Kentucky, Sergeant Williams and Maritole continue to learn more about each other’s languages by communicating often. She claims that “each word told its own story” (121). Maritole and many of the other women, such as Lacey, Anna, and Quaty, listen to the men as they discuss whether to act against the soldiers and how to re-establish their community during their resettlement. Maritole worries about two elderly clan members named White Path and Fly Smith, who are slowly dying on this journey. During this time, “a white traveler from Maine” writes about the conditions on the Trail of Tears and describes how the Cherokee people were burying around “fourteen or fifteen” of their people “at every stopping place” (123). Knobowtee remembers his father’s voice, despite having lost his father many years before the Trail of Tears, and he focuses on the sadness that he feels because of the coldness of the snow.

Maritole tells Sergeant Williams the story about a “magic lake” that hides itself from the people to protect animals such as birds. Later, Luthy and her sons tell Sergeant Williams the story of Uk’ten, a snake that kills people.