Chapter Thirteen: How to Fly – Summary & Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

After being shot, Orvil lies in bed and searches online for stories of other shooting survivors. He discovers a community of school-shooting survivors on YouTube and feels seen. One video mentions that Lenape warriors committed the first school shooting in 1764. Orvil researches further and finds a list of school shootings throughout American history. He also reads the claim that schools were originally designed to control people, but cannot locate the source again.

Orvil’s doctor tells him a bullet shard shaped like a star remains in his body and might “wander.” Orvil recalls printing inspirational quotes—mostly fake Native proverbs—and feels embarrassed. His grandmother brings him an old acoustic guitar from an estate sale. At first Orvil ignores it, but his increasing reliance on painkillers leads to a cycle of taking more than prescribed. He experiences violent dreams, including one where he eats a horse and feels its heartbeat. A memory or dream resurfaces of injecting his mother’s heroin as a child. Over time, Orvil turns to the guitar, playing open strings and feeling that it might become a language that could save him.

Key Events

Orvil watches YouTube videos of school-shooting survivors and feels an unexpected connection.
He learns about the 1764 Lenape school shooting and other historical incidents.
A doctor describes the star-shaped bullet shard and warns it could migrate.
Orvil’s grandmother gives him a guitar from an estate sale.
Orvil begins taking more painkillers than prescribed, entering a cycle of addiction.
He has a graphic dream of eating a horse and waking with its heartbeat inside him.
He recalls or dreams of injecting his mother’s heroin as a child.
Orvil starts playing the guitar, first just open strings, and senses a possible lifeline.

Character Development

Orvil Red Feather moves from passive victimhood to actively seeking stories like his own. His addiction deepens, but so does his openness to art. The guitar represents a fragile step toward self-expression and healing.
Orvil’s grandmother acts as a quiet source of care, offering the guitar without pressure.
Orvil’s deceased mother haunts him through addiction and memory, reinforcing cycles of trauma.

Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

Flight vs. Falling: The chapter’s title “How to Fly” echoes Orvil’s childhood belief that getting high means flying above weight. But flight also becomes dangerous—a loss of ground.
The Star-Shaped Bullet: A symbol of lingering trauma that can “wander.” It embodies how violence remains inside a person, shaping future health and identity.
Intergenerational Addiction: Orvil sees his mother’s addiction as “wired into him” before birth. His own reliance on painkillers repeats family history.
The Guitar as Language: Orvil compares the guitar’s open strings to a mouth singing. Music offers a non-verbal way to process pain.
School Shootings and Native History: The 1764 Lenape attack contextualizes school violence within colonialism, challenging simplistic narratives.
Dreams and Memory: The blurred memory of injecting heroin as a child suggests trauma so deep it lives in the body.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter deepens Orvil’s interior life, showing how his trauma connects to larger historical and familial patterns. It sets up his addiction crisis (which will escalate later) while introducing the guitar as a potential anchor. The juxtaposition of digital connection (YouTube survivors) and ancient violence (Lenape warriors) links personal healing to collective Indigenous trauma. The chapter also lays groundwork for Orvil’s later relationship with art and recovery.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does Orvil feel such a strong connection to school-shooting survivors on YouTube? Although Orvil was shot randomly, not in a school, the experience of surviving sudden, senseless violence feels identical. Their confessional, unprocessed tone matches his own numbness and search for meaning.
What is the symbolic meaning of the bullet shard shaped like a star? The star shape is unusual and beautiful, but dangerous—the doctor says shards can “wander” and poison the body. Like trauma, the fragment remains inside Orvil, both a mark of survival and a constant threat. It connects him to a violent history he cannot fully expel.
How does the guitar represent a possible path forward for Orvil? At first an object of indifference, the guitar becomes a “mouth” that sings. Orvil’s shift from pills and screens to playing open strings suggests that creative expression might offer a healthier escape—a language that could save him from cycles of addiction and silence.