Chal the main character was born into a time and place where his culture was being destroyed. His blood is not pure Osage, mixed with white, but the Indian blood is powerful inside him. The blood that runs through him takes him to days of the past, days lost, heritage lost, role models lost, and a dying culture. Chal is a perfect example of a lost sole.
             Throughout this book, Sundown, by John Joseph Mathew, Chal is faced with choices. Challenges, may be the right word though. His father John named him Chal, short for challenge, "He shall be a challenge to the disinheritors of his people," (Pg. 4). Maybe his name led his life in other directions, and challenges were to fill his life. In his choices he is torn between the mixed bloods that are running through him. The Indian blood and culture, in the expanding, dominating, white mans society.
             Chal is filled with confusion, it the theme of the book and his character. He represents that generation of turmoil. The transition to white America, through his euro-american education and loss of the warrior role has clouded his mind. The novel starts with Chal as a young child daydreaming of fighting the English. He is a General, a warrior, leading the charge and then giving an inspirational speech to his men. Chal knows only the stories of the past, going on hunts and wars against "England." The wars against England taught to him by his father. He knows nothing of the roles of the future because his culture has no role models of Eastern white dominated society to come. He hasn't grown up with the Eastern white society role models. Chal sees his father trying to be a businessman, and he enjoys listening to that kind of talk throughout his life. It may be because his father is the only role model he has seen. For the most part though while he is young and throughout the book he looks to the past, those glorious stories of the past.
             Chal is educated in the euro-america...