Chapter 59: An After-Afterword – Summary & Analysis
Spoiler Notice: This chapter is an after-afterword in which J.A. Jance shares the real-life inspiration for the novel. It does not reveal plot events of the main story.
Summary
J.A. Jance opens by recounting how, two years earlier, a friend in Oregon told her about the death of a Lakota man named James. In his youth, James rode freight trains across the country, working in rail yards when he needed money. During the 1990s, he encountered the so-called Boxcar Killer—a serial murderer who targeted Native Americans by pushing them beneath moving trains. In Klamath Falls, James was shoved under a train and dragged for a mile and a half. Authorities declared him dead at the scene, placed him in a body bag, and sent him to the hospital morgue.
A Lakota nurse who worked in that hospital heard about the incident and went to the morgue after her shift to wash James’s hair, a traditional Lakota custom. When she unzipped the body bag, James’s arm rose; he was still alive. He was airlifted to Portland, where he underwent multiple surgeries. Doctors did not expect him to survive, and a deathbed blessing was arranged. Instead, James woke up.
His injuries left him a paraplegic, and his dominant arm was amputated. Over years of recovery, he relearned to speak, read, write, and paint—using his other hand. Once he could communicate again, he became a storyteller, sharing traditional Lakota origin stories and using his own history with alcohol and drugs to reach disaffected urban Native youth in Portland.
More than twenty years after the attack, James died from complications. Shortly before his death, he told Jance’s friend, “Tell your friend she needs to write another Walker Family story. There aren’t enough Indian heroes in books.” He was returned to his reservation wrapped in a buffalo robe. Jance regards his request as a sacred charge, and Blessing of the Lost Girls is her response. She notes that while James was not considered a medicine man by his people, she believes he was one, and that if readers have met her character John Wheeler, they will recognize that James, too, is a hero.
Key Events
- A friend shares James’s life story with J.A. Jance.
- James, a Lakota, traveled the country as a train hopper in his youth.
- The Boxcar Killer—a hate-driven serial murderer—shoved James under a moving train.
- Pronounced dead, James was zipped into a body bag and taken to the morgue.
- A Lakota nurse, performing the hair-washing ritual, discovered he was alive.
- He survived against expectations, becoming paraplegic and losing an arm.
- James spent years relearning speech, reading, and art with his non-dominant hand.
- He became a storyteller and mentor to at-risk urban Native youth.
- Before his death, he asked Jance’s friend to urge Jance to write another Walker Family book.
- James was buried in a buffalo robe on his reservation.
- Jance accepted the request as a sacred duty and wrote Blessing of the Lost Girls.
Character Development
Though this chapter operates outside the novel’s fiction, it develops the character of the book’s inspiration:
- James emerges as a figure of tremendous resilience. From being a rootless youth to surviving an ostensibly fatal attack, losing the use of his legs and his dominant arm, he rebuilt his abilities and dedicated two decades to guiding others. His request for more Indian heroes in literature reveals his awareness of cultural representation.
- J.A. Jance appears as a listener who honors a friend’s story and a sacred charge. Her framing of James as a hero and medicine man shows how real lives can shape fiction’s moral center.
- The Lakota nurse is a brief but pivotal presence; her adherence to cultural practice literally saved a life.
- The Boxcar Killer is mentioned only as a historical figure whose hate-filled violence catalyzed James’s transformation.
- John Wheeler (the Walker Family series character) is referenced to bridge the real and fictional worlds, underscoring that James embodies the heroism Jance writes about.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Resilience and Reinvention: James’s story traces a complete arc from near-death to a purposeful life of mentoring, despite catastrophic injury.
- Lakota Cultural Practices: The hair-washing ritual and buffalo-robe burial anchor the narrative in specific traditions, emphasizing their sustaining power.
- The Need for Representation: James’s dying words—“There aren’t enough Indian heroes in books”—ground the chapter in a call for more authentic Native protagonists in fiction.
- The Artist’s Sacred Charge: Jance treats the request as a responsibility that transcends commercial writing, reframing her work as an answer to a cultural need.
- Real-Life Heroism vs. Fictional Heroism: By directly comparing James to her character John Wheeler, Jance blurs the line between the two, suggesting that true heroism inspires and mirrors story.
Why This Chapter Matters
This after-afterword transforms the reading experience by unveiling the real human urgency behind the novel. Without it, readers would see only a crime story; with it, they understand that the book is a deliberate response to a dying man’s plea for representation. It deepens the thematic weight of the Walker Family series and positions the novel as an act of cultural witnessing. By sharing James’s survival, adaptation, and legacy, Jance elevates the narrative from entertainment to tribute, reminding us that fiction can be a form of honoring those who are often erased.
Study Questions and Answers
- How does James’s survival redefine the concept of a “medicine man” in this chapter?
Jance acknowledges that James was not a traditional medicine man by Lakota standards, yet she calls him one because he healed others through storytelling and mentorship, turning his traumatic past into a source of guidance for youth. His power lies in resilience and cultural transmission, not ceremonial authority.
- What role do Lakota customs play in both James’s survival and his memorial?
The nurse’s hair-washing ritual—a custom of caring for the dead—accidentally revealed that James was alive, directly altering his fate. Later, his burial in a buffalo robe rather than a casket honored his identity and connected his life and death to cultural continuity.
- Why does Jance frame the request for another Walker Family story as a “sacred charge”?
James’s words came as a personal appeal through a friend at the end of his life. Jance interprets them as a spiritual obligation because they ask her to use her platform to counteract the scarcity of Native heroes in popular fiction, making the novel an act of service rather than mere entertainment.