In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse

Nyles High Eagle is Jimmy McClean’s grandfather. With his brown skin, black braided hair, and Lakota last name, he appears much more like a Lakota than Jimmy does. Nyles lives on a small horse ranch, where he often takes Jimmy riding.

Nyles serves as a mentor for Jimmy throughout the narrative, taking him on the cross-country trip and teaching Jimmy about their shared Lakota heritage. He takes great responsibility for Jimmy’s growth and education, making sure that he learns practical outdoor skills and gains a respect for the history of the Lakota people and for Crazy Horse in particular.

Grandpa Nyles often becomes the novel’s narrator during the times when he tells Jimmy about “the way it was” when Crazy Horse was alive. Nyles is very knowledgeable about Lakota history and can expertly guide Jimmy though the many historical sites they visit together, while relating to Jimmy all the dramatic events that took place at each location.

Grandpa Nyles is a round character who demonstrates complex emotions toward the historical events that he recounts to Jimmy. A Lakota himself, Nyles feels a strong affinity for Crazy Horse and the tragic plight of the Lakota people, who put up a doomed resistance against the white settles and soldiers. At the same time, however, Nyles feels sympathy for the white soldiers who died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and makes sure to teach Jimmy respect for everyone involved. Nyles is a Vietnam War veteran, and the novel hints that his experiences during the war may have helped shape his sympathetic view toward everyone who fought the battles.

Crazy Horse was a real-life Lakota war leader who lived in the middle of the 19th century. He serves as the novel’s secondary protagonist, who—like Jimmy McClean—goes through a coming-of-age journey. Crazy Horse shares some physical attributes with Jimmy, especially their light-colored hair. Crazy Horse was even called Light Hair as a boy. These similarities allow Jimmy to empathize with Crazy Horse, from whom he learns lessons about courage and sacrifice.

Crazy Horse does not appear directly in the novel, since he is long dead by the time of Jimmy and Grandpa Nyles’s road trip. However, Grandpa Nyles is so knowledgeable about Crazy Horse that he can describe the Lakota warrior’s life to Jimmy in extensive detail. In these stories, Crazy Horse is a tragic hero who bravely fights against encroachment by the white settlers, even though he has no chance of winning. He fights heroically to victory at the Battle of the Hundred in the Hands and at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Crazy Horse is a round character and much more than a simple fighter. Even more than his actions on the battlefield, he demonstrates true courage by deciding to surrender himself to save the vulnerable members of his people. His calm quietness sets him apart from the other Lakota warriors, who want to fight the Long Knives until they all die. Crazy Horse shows selfless leadership by surrendering non-violently at Fort Robinson instead.

There is a certain mystical aspect of Crazy Horse’s character that comes out in the dream-vision that he had when he was a child. Certain events of his life seem to fulfill that vision, including his tragic death while being restrained by other Lakota. After learning about Crazy Horse’s life, Jimmy looks up to him as a role model.

Corky Brin and Jesse Little Horse are two of Jimmy McClean’s classmates at Cold River Public School. Jesse is 12 years old—one year older than Jimmy—and physically larger than Jimmy. Corky is even larger than Jesse. Jesse, like Jimmy, is Lakota, while Corky is white. The two boys don’t like each other, but they work together to pick on Jimmy, saying he is too white to be a Lakota and too Lakota to be a white person.

Corky and Jesse are the novel’s antagonists, bullying Jimmy and making him hate going to school. At first Jimmy is afraid of Corky and Jesse and avoids them. By the novel’s end, Jimmy has grown in character enough to courageously face the bullies, secure in his own identity and abilities.

In their bullying behavior toward Jimmy, Corky and Jesse come across as stereotypes of mean children. They are flat characters, who don’t change much from the novel’s beginning to end. However, their view of Jimmy does eventually shift, since they learn that he is too confident for them to pick on anymore.