Rabbit Boss by Thomas Sanchez
"Rabbit Boss" by Thomas Sanchez is a historical novel set in the mid-19th century that tells the story of Gayabuc, the son of the Rabbit Chief of the Washo Indians. The narrative begins in 1846 when Gayabuc embarks on a winter hunting expedition to secure meat for his son's birth celebration. During this journey, he encounters the infamous Donner party, a group resorting to cannibalism due to starvation, which leads to a profound cultural clash and concern over the impact of white settlers on Native American life.
The plot explores themes such as tradition, identity, and the consequences of transgressions against cultural norms. As Gayabuc becomes Rabbit Chief, he grapples with the impending threat of white encroachment, which disrupts the Washo way of life. The story continues through the generations, following Gayabuc's descendants as they navigate the challenges posed by changing societal dynamics, including Captain Rex, Gayabuc's son, who struggles with cultural confusion and addiction in a rapidly altering landscape.
Sanchez's work poignantly reflects on the loss of Native traditions and the harsh realities faced by Indigenous peoples in America, making it a thought-provoking exploration of cultural survival and adaptation. The narrative's rich historical context provides insight into the Washo people's experiences and the broader implications of colonization.
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Rabbit Boss by Thomas Sanchez
First published: 1973
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Historical realism
Time of plot: 1846-1950’s
Locale: Nevada and California
Principal characters
Rabbit Boss , chief of the WashoGayabuc , his son, later Rabbit BossPainted Stick , Gayabuc’s wifeCaptain Rex , their son, latter Rabbit BossAyas , Captain Rex’s son, later Rabbit BossJoe Birdsong , the last Rabbit Boss
The Story:
In 1846, Gayabuc, the son of the powerful Rabbit Chief or Rabbit Boss of the Washo Indians, sets out on a hunting expedition in the middle of winter to obtain meat for his firstborn son’s birth celebration. He encounters the Donner party, a group of whites who had been forced by starvation into cannibalism. Gayabuc returns to his family empty-handed and warns them about the white people who eat themselves. Gayabuc’s father refuses to believe Gayabuc’s account and asserts that Gayabuc had dreamed it. Painted Stick, Gayabuc’s wife, believes that he came back without meat because he was forced to hunt in winter when game is scarce. Their son is born in winter because their first sexual union had occurred in spring, just before Painted Stick’s first menstruation. Gayabuc and Painted Stick had violated Washo tradition by engaging in sexual relations before Painted Stick underwent the puberty ritual of the Dance of the Woman. The repercussions of their transgression culminated in Gayabuc’s unlucky encounter at Donner Lake.
The cannibalism of the whites at Donner Lake continues to influence Gayabuc during the ensuing spring. Spring is the time that the Washos hunt the rabbits that provide their food and clothing. Gayabuc’s father, the Rabbit Chief, is the leader of the hunt. Gayabuc believes that investigating the white invasion should take precedence over engaging in the hunt, but his father strongly disagrees. The men of the tribe vote and side with Gayabuc. The women and children conduct the hunt while the men explore the deserted white encampment. There they find animal traps they had never seen before. One of them contains a rabbit that was mangled by the trap, foreshadowing the eventual oppression of the Washos by the whites.
Gayabuc succeeds his father as Rabbit Chief. Gayabuc realizes that his shamanic role as chief hunter is vital to the survival of his people and to their way of life. During the spring hunt, Gayabuc dreams about the location of the prey. He knows that in his role as Rabbit Chief, his spiritual and moral powers are essential to the preservation of the tribe. Gayabuc notes, “All this I have dreamed. If I were dead, all this would not have been dreamed. . . . If I were dead, there would be no other to tell you this.”
The disrupting influence of the whites becomes evident in the life of Captain Rex, the son of Gayabuc and Painted Stick. Captain Rex follows the old ways at first and inherits the position of Rabbit Chief. As the railroad encroaches on Washo land, however, the quality of life declines for the Washo. There are few rabbits to hunt, and the office of Rabbit Chief becomes obsolete. Captain Rex learns English from a white woman. As a result of his being bilingual, the white railroad workers employ him as a translator. Although the whites depend upon his bilingual abilities, the Washo people mistrust him. As a result of his cultural confusion, he becomes a drunkard, a petty thief, and a gambler.
Captain Rex’s penchant for drink and gambling leads to a confrontation with the whites. Accused of stealing whiskey and horses, Captain Rex faces a lynch mob. John C. Luther, the Bummer, saves Rex from the mob because he falsely believes that Rex knows where to mine for gold. Luther organizes an expedition to search for the gold, with Captain Rex serving as a guide. Molly Moose, Luther’s Washo mistress, accompanies them. When the group camps, the men rape Molly. They tie Rex to a tree to keep him from interfering.
Most of the men eventually leave the camp to find the gold. The men soon realize that Rex had given them misinformation, and they return to camp seeking vengeance. Molly cuts Rex’s bonds, rescues him, and they flee. Molly becomes Captain Rex’s wife, and the couple has a son, Ayas. In old age, Captain Rex, along with many of his tribe, contracts tuberculosis. He dies when the whites burn the Indian encampment to rid the area of the disease.
Ayas is raised by his grandmother, Painted Stick, for the first six years of his life. When she dies, he is taken in by the Dora family, who employs him as a farmworker. When they no longer need him, they give him to Abe Fixa, an elderly, blind dairyman. He becomes the boy’s surrogate father and names him Bob. After Abe’s death, Bob is placed in a government school for Indian children. An elderly Washo reveals to him his true name and heritage. Bob is subsequently kidnapped by a remnant of his tribe and taken to live with them in the mountains. He lives a traditional Washo life, but eventually leaves the camp because all the people are either dead or dying.
Bob travels east and works in the stockyards of Omaha, Nebraska. There he experiences the beginnings of a conversion to Christianity. He subsequently escapes the stockyards and joins two men on the road selling homemade whiskey. He becomes a medicine-show pitchman, selling the concoction to various Indian tribes. Bob makes his way back to California and gets a job on the Dixel ranch as a ranch hand and Rabbit Boss. By the 1920’s, the Rabbit Boss is regarded more as an exterminator than a powerful shaman.
During his tenure at the Dixel ranch, Bob converts to Christianity. His fervor leads to his being known as Hallelujah Bob. He preaches the gospel to the Washo, although later in his life he follows the Ghost Dance religion. The Washo believe that it is not good for a man to live alone, and Medicine Maggie volunteers to live in his house. She becomes the mother of Sarah Dick and Joe Birdsong.
Joe Birdsong is the last of the Rabbit Bosses. Although Dixel views the job of Rabbit Boss in a pragmatic way, Joe still holds a reverence for the tradition underlying what had once been an exalted office. Joe also feels a deep attachment to the land that he inherited from his father. White developers try to force him to sell, and he refuses. To get him to turn the property over to them, the developers tell Joe that his title to the property is not binding because his father had not been a citizen when he gave the land to Joe.
Dixel informs Joe that he will no longer need a Rabbit Boss to conduct the spring extermination because he had bought a machine to kill the rabbits. In defiance of Dixel, Joe and Sarah Dick conduct the hunt. When Joe returns to his cabin after the hunt, Dixel’s wife is there to warn him that her husband has been murdered and that the sheriff believes that Joe committed the crime. Joe escapes into the mountains and lives off the land for almost a year. During this time, he is accidentally shot in the leg by a group of deer hunters. The leg becomes infected, and the infection gradually spreads through his body. During the spring thaw, he reaches the shores of Donner Lake and dies from starvation and infection.
Bibliography
Gueder, P. A. “Language and Ethnic Interaction in Rabbit Boss: A Novel by Thomas Sanchez.” In Language and Ethnic Relations, edited by Howard Giles and Bernard Saint-Jacques. Elmsford, N.Y.: Pergamon Press, 1979. Methodic discussion of the way language is used in the novel to reveal the disturbing interethnic relationship between the Washo Indians and the whites.
Marovitz, Sanford E. “The Entropic World of the Washo: Fatality and Self-Deception in Rabbit Boss.” Western American Literature 19 (November, 1984): 219-230. Detailed analysis of the structure, themes, and characters of the novel, focusing on the desire of the Washo Indians to integrate their way of life into the dominant culture and how that desire precipitates their decline.
Sanchez, Thomas. “An Interview with Thomas Sanchez.” Interview by Kay Bonetti. Missouri Review 14, no. 2 (1991): 77-95. An informative interview with Sanchez, in which he discusses the biographical and historical background that informs the plot of Rabbit Boss, particularly the influence of his family, his education, and the Vietnam War.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “Telling History’s Stories.” Interview by Bridget Kinsella. Publishers Weekly, May 26, 2003. Sanchez talks about Rabbit Boss, his other novels, his family, and the importance of the city of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge to his family and his upbringing.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “The Visionary Imagination.” Melus 3, no. 2 (1976): 2-5. Sanchez reveals his reasons for writing Rabbit Boss, the influence of American Indian thought on the structure of the novel, character motivation, and the contemporaneous political events that influenced the plot.