1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruchac, Joseph. Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two. New York: Speak, 2005. ISBN: 978-0142-405963.
2. PLOT SUMMARY
When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, 15 year old Ned Begay decides it's his duty to enlist in the Marines to help stop the Axis enemies in World War II. Little did he know he would become a top secret Code Talker. Using his native Navajo language that his white American boarding school teachers always told him was offensive and useless, Begay and hundreds of other Navajo Marines created an unbreakable code that was critical in the defeat of the Japanese.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Joseph Bruchac's novel is - from start to finish - an illuminating work on the difficult and infuriating history between European Americans and Native Americans. Bruchac, who is Abenaki Indian, writes a respectful, authentic, and thoroughly researched novel representing Navajo life in the early 20th Century. Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Ned Begay, a grandfather, is using the oral tradition of his people to share his history with his grandchildren.
He concentrates not just on the battles but starts at the beginning of his journey when he was sent to an American boarding school at age 5. Native families were told that in order to be successful they needed to send their children to boarding school to learn English and be educated in the ways of European Americans. When Ned arrived at the school he was relieved not to be alone. "Like me, many of them wore family jewelry made of silver, inset with turquoise and agate and jet. Our necklaces and bracelets, belts and hair ornaments, were a sign of how much our families loved us, a way of reminding those who would now be caring for us how precious we were in the eyes of our relatives" (13). The children were dressed in their best. Ned's mother dressed similarly on the day he left for school so that the last memories he would have of her were happy and celebratory (5-6). Bruchac takes great care to describe dress, language, pronunciation, physicality, the importance of the hogan (home), Navajo rituals and the love and care that is felt among Navajo people, even those from different regions.
These positive portrayals meet the constant abuse and discrimination the Navajo faced from very young ages like waves trying to wear down large rocks on a shore. School was not a safe place. It was violent, regressive, and run with the intention of condemning all Navajo practices. For example, Ned Begay was not born Ned Begay. He was born Kii Yázhí, but at the American Boarding School Navajo children were stripped of their names and given new ones, usually after American presidents. They also stripped all of the children of their fancy clothes and jewelry (which was sold off), and cut off their long Navajo hair. "I could see it from the looks on their faces that losing most of their beautiful hair made those girls feel the same way I felt. Naked and ashamed" (20).
The Navajo language plays a starring role in this novel both in describing the difficulty of the language to be broken as a code, but also the love Ned has for his native tongue, and that he gets to use it in a pivotal role in American history. Ned is only 16 when he becomes a Marine. His parents, moved by his sense of duty, allow him to enlist early, and because Navajos were not born in hospitals, but at home, they have no birth records for the military to confirm. To keep him safe, Ned wraps himself in the faith of his people. Before he leaves, he attends a Blessingway - a singing ceremony that keeps the recipient safe and out of danger (53-54). From the Blessingway, Ned is given a bag of corn pollen, and every morning while he is away, he greets the sun, thinks of his homeland (Dinetah), and sprinkles the corn pollen (82). Ned was explicit through the story that this daily ritual and thinking about his family and homeland made him more at peace in times of great anxiety and evil anticipation: "Being a Navajo and keeping to the Navajo way helped me survive" (140).
Bruchac creates Ned's character to be very honest about the state of the world in which he lives. In addition to being very self-aware of the divide between the Navajo people and white America. He writes Ned as a teenager who is fascinated with many cultures in the world. Ned has deep thoughts about what he has in common with those he fights beside, fights against, and encounters on his journeys through the Pacific.
Specifically, Ned, who once, as a boy, sent aid to the people of Japan after a catastrophic earthquake, has trouble reconciling his feelings of empathy with the fact that the Japanese are now his enemy. His friend Sam, another Navajo, also sees more than just an enemy when he encounters the Japanese on the battlefield: "When we saw them we realized that our enemies were just human beings" (97). Ned approaches each new relationship with incredible openness throughout the book. At one point, he found deep understanding with one of the Solomon Islanders over a shared love of their homelands, which were changed after invasion (102).
The author is very specific about acknowledging not just Navajos who served in the war but all of the different Native American tribes that Ned met while he served, including Lakotas, Cheyenne, Cherokees, Choctaws, Zuni (170). By including them in the story, Bruchac recognizes the incredible diversity that exists within the bland label of "Native American." In specific scenes, the author brings characters from these different tribes together. They are able to find that they share similar challenges living among non-tribal people. In Okinawa, Ned and his friends find a goat and cook it. The smell brings men from many tribes to the fire to share in the meal giving them a sense of the old days "before any white man's war" (204).
While it is true that this book is about World War II, it serves more as an important view into the culture of one particular native tribe. Native people are often looked down upon in white American culture. They are stereotyped as lazy or savage or drunk. While Bruchac's novel represents a time in the past, there are many aspects of the cultural and civil rights issues that the Navajos faced that present-day students can identify with. Bruchac took years to research and publish Code Talker (223). He was dedicated to illustrating positive and accurate images of Navajo culture. In doing so he seems to support the idea that books "are vehicles that transfer cultural knowledge, awareness, and thought and bear the responsibility of holding the truth of our nation's past" (Smolen and Oswald 2011, 135).
Code Talker is written primarily about the world of men during World War II. There are few female characters (Ned's mother and sister). Though Bruchac writes about them with much love and positivity, they exist far outside of the realms of a World War II soldier. This is a story about war and the ugliness that men can do. Younger readers will find that Ned, as the narrator, is a relief to children, because from the first page, as Ned talks to his grandchildren, it is understood that he will survive the war and continue his native traditions with his own family.
There are many positive takeaways from this incredibly crafted story. The most important, I think, is the fact that the Marine Corps kept the Navajo Code Talker program secret from the public until 1969. The move was not just a matter of national security (213). It was reflective of a long history of trying to erase Native people from America's history by not giving them a place in it: "because we were Indians in what was still...a white man's world" (87).
At the end of the novel, Bruchac lists his acknowledgments, a helpful bibliography, and recommended further reading about the Code Talkers and World War II for students who are interested in continuing their studies.
4. AWARDS and REVIEW EXCERPTS
ALA - Best Book for Young Adults, 2006
From Booklist
"Even when facing complex negative faces within his own country. [Ned] is able to reach into his culture to find answers that work for him in a modern context. Readers who choose the book for the attraction of Navajo Code talking and the heat of the battle will come away with more than they ever expected to find."
From School Library Journal
"Begay's lifelong journey honors the Navajo and other Native Americans in the military, and fosters respect for their culture."
5. CONNECTIONS
In the book, Ned talks about many cultural beliefs that Navajos have that make his experience in the Marines easier and harder. Make a list showing things that were easy (e.g. knowledge about plants to survive on in the desert, being in extraordinary physical condition) and things that were difficult (e.g. being near and stepping over dead bodies). How was Ned able use his spirituality and the spirituality of the Navajo people to keep moving forward through battles, the death of friends, homesickness, gunfire, etc.?
Make another list of the things in YOUR lives that you find challenging to deal with or easy to deal with. What or who do you look to help you get through your life challenges? Are there any parallels you are able to make with Ned even though you are from different backgrounds and live in different time periods?
Next, get together in a small group or with a partner and share the parts of your list that you are comfortable sharing. Can you make the same parallels with your peers that you made with Ned?
In addition to the previous exercise in empathy. Consider reading Code Talker alongside your history curriculum on World War II. Have students look through their history chapters. Are there any references to the Code Talkers? If not, ask them why not? If so, how many pages of the chapter include conversations about Native people. This may be a great time to teach students how to use an index, too.
Other Source:
Smolen, Lynn Atkinson and Ruth A. Oswald. Multicultural Literature and Response: Affirming Diverse Voices. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2011.
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