Content Warning: This section addresses themes of racism, cultural erasure, and violence against Indigenous people.

The Feather Boy bundle is the single most important item in the story and serves as a tangible representation of the identity of the Little Elk tribe and their hopes for a future. It represents the Indigenous side of the novel’s theme on The Clash Between Indigenous Cultures and Western Ideologies. Real medicine bundles are sacred collections of items that hold spiritual significance within Indigenous American cultures. The contents vary but typically include objects like feathers, stones, herbs, parts of animals, and other symbolic items.

In the novel, the Little Elk tribe’s lost medicine bundle is the Feather Boy bundle. It is wrapped in white buckskin and closed with ties made of rawhide; it serves as a repository of blessings and protection for the tribe. It contains “all the good things of life” (208), representing the spiritual essence of Thunderbird himself. Due to this connection to Thunderbird, the bundle and the troubles following its loss are represented by storms throughout the story. For example, Rafferty references the storm that nearly killed Welles when he tried to take it away but left the bundle intact.