When, in
the opening pages of s novel , Omri, the youngwho has received the gift of
a small plastic Indian from his friend Patrick, awakens to mysterious sounds coming from the old
medicine cupboard given him by older brother Gillon in which Omri had placed the basically
unwanted toy.
Omri, Bankss narrator explains, has grown tired of receiving
plastic figurines, having accumulated many them over his brief years. Plastic soldiers and other
cheap figurines have provided the boys the usual center of attention when playing, but the small
plastic Indian is an anomaly for Omri. He has no other Indians and no cowboys with which to
establish the inevitable confrontation between good and bad or between his and Patricks figures.
At the suggestion of his mother, Omri places the Indian figure in the cupboard and goes to
bed.
No sooner does Omri go to bed then his brief slumber is interrupted by a
sound, a noise that ceased as suddenly as it had begun. In the morning, the young boy is again
awakened by a noise from the cupboard, a noise, as described, almost like a tiny voice. Bankss
omniscient narrator describes Omris as being petrified. Frightened, Omri considers the
possibility that he imagined hearing noises from the cupboard but proceeds to open the cupboard
door and discovers that the small figure is missing from the top shelf where he had left it the
night before.
When Omri observes the Indian on the bottom shelf, seemingly
sheltering in fear, he knew that the figure was as frightened of him as he was of the
possibility that the toy had come to life. As described by the narrator, Neither Omri nor the
Indian moved for perhaps a minute and a half. They hardly breathed either. They just stared at
each other.
After the initial shock wore off, Omris next reaction was to the
summon members of his family as witnesses to this surprising development. He decides against
leaving the scene to corral relatives because he was afraid to leave the tiny Indian figure
aloneand he is concerned that his family would think him crazy and subject him to
ridicule:
Maybe he was afraid that if he took his eyes off
the Indian for even a moment, he would vanish, or become plastic again, and then when the others
came running they would all laugh and accuse Omri of making things up.
So Omri pauses to contemplate the best course of action. Banks
provides another rationale, however, for Omris reluctance to summon his parents or
siblings:
[I]t was certainly the most marvelous thing that
had ever happened to Omri in his life and he wanted to keep it to himself, at least at first.
His next thought was that he must somehow get the Indian in his hand. He didnt want to frighten
him any further, but he had to touch him. He simply had to. He reached his hand slowly into the
cupboard.
Omris decision to attempt to grab the Indian
results in a minor stab wound to his finger when the frightened Indian defends himself with his
tiny knife. As the two come to understand one another, a relationship develops that propels the
novel toward its eventual conclusion.
In conclusion, Omris response to the
sounds from the cupboard begins with shock and fear. As he investigates the source of the noise,
however, he discovers that the Indian, an Iroquois known as Little Bear, who is initially
demanding and gruff, has much to teach him about the world.
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