History Literature / GivesLight

* NotGoodWithPeople: Rafael, he was pretty isolated for much of his childhood and until Skylar befriended him, and can be socially awkward as he's pretty shy underneath his brooding exterior and not used to interacting with people.

* IneffectualLoner: Rafael is largely a loner at first, even at the evening meals in which the whole reservation gathers, Skylar notes him sitting apart from the others. It's partly due to being judged for his fathers crimes by certain members of the community, and partly because he's dealing with his own pain and feelings of betrayal, and is aware of how the others largely feel about him. He can also be moody, but is mostly just confused and surprised by Skylars' first overtures of friendship.
** MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold : Rafael is often isolated by his peers and even some adults, and viewed by many in a negative way because of his fathers crimes. But although he has a temper, he is very protective and loyal towards those he cares about, does not intend to harm anyone, and leaves memorial drawings on the graves of his fathers victims, and sometimes their old houses too.

* BrattyHalfPint: Lila Little Hawk,

* DoggedNiceGuy: Aubrey. [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan He gets the girl.]]

* CoolOldLady: Catherine and Nola. Catherine's (Skylar's Grandmother) reaction to him getting a tattoo is first to ask if Rafael did it, then say to Skylar to tell Rafael she wahts a yellow rose.

* CoolOldLady: Catherine and Nola.

* IneffectualLoner: Rafael.
** MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold

* NeverMessWithGranny: Skylar's grandmother.

* NotGoodWithPeople: Rafael, he was pretty isolated for much of his childhood and until Skylar befriended him, and can be socially awkward as he's pretty shy udereath his brooding exterior and not used to interacting with people.

* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Annie towards Aubrey, although Skylar has to point out Aubreys attraction to Annie firs, as Annie too distracted with everything going on in her family life, seems oblivious to begin with.

* BadassBookworm: Rafael.
* BadassGay: Rafael, again.

* BookDumb: Skylar.
* BrattyHalfPint: Lila Little Hawk.

* NotGoodWithPeople: Rafael.

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan

* SiblingYinYang: Annie and Lila Little Hawk. Also, the At Dawn twins.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Annie toward Aubrey.

* StraightGay: Both boys.

* AllegoryAdventure: In a very loose sense. Skylar compares [[BlindMusician himself]] and [[NatureLover Rafael]] to Daphnis and Pan.[[hottip:*: Pan was the Greek god of nature. Daphnis was the son of a Sicilian nymph who abandoned him when he was a baby, leaving a group of caring shepherds to raise him. Daphnis was rendered blind by another jealous nymph. Pan took pity on him and taught him how to play the panpipes. When Pan heard the beautiful songs Daphnis created, Pan fell in love with him.]]

* BilingualBonus: When Skylar gives a pair of windchimes to Shaman Quick as a present, the shaman says something to him in Shoshone, which Skylar doesn't understand. [[hottip:*:"Aikwehibite, aishen."]] The shaman is actually saying, "Violet? Thank you." Presumably, the windchimes were violet in color. But [[spoiler: [[{{Tearjerker}} Violet was the name of Shaman Quick's daughter, who, like Skylar's mom, was murdered by Rafael's dad.]]]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: The atlas moth tattoo that Rafael gives to Skylar obviously represents Skylar himself.[[hottip:*: When the atlas moth hatches from its cocoon, it emerges without a mouth. It starves to death within a couple of weeks.]]

* [[IWillProtectHer I Will Protect Him]]: Rafael towards Skylar.
--> ''"I won't let anyone take you away. I won't let anyone hurt you. I'll protect you. I'll always protect you. I don't care how. I just will."''

* ShinyMidnightBlack: Rafael, though his hair is lank as opposed to well kept.

-> ''The sky tinged slowly blue-black with dawn, Rafael looking alert. The first sign of sunlight appeared above the horizon, dim, the color of saffron. It spread like wildfire into the night and lit the walls of drifting clouds, previously invisible, with a fiery haze. The sun was soon to follow, rosy when it peeked shyly above the distant cliffs and crags, white-gold when it caught up with its own aura. Now the sky was gritty and blue, like ocean slate--[[MidnightBlueEyes like Rafael's eyes]].''

* MidnightBlueEyes: Rafael has 'em.

* NotGoodWithPeople: Rafael. [[IGotBetter He gets better.]]

* ManChild: Thomas Little Hawk turns out to be something like this, because he's sustained brain damage from a stroke.

* TheStoic: Skylar, surprisingly. Because he's sunny and sensitive, he wouldn't seem like a likely candidate. However, in one of his flashbacks to his early childhood, a spoke went clean through his leg when he fell off his bicycle, and he didn't shed a tear.

* StepfordSmiler: Skylar.

* [[IWillProtectHer I Will Protect Him]]

* AlliterativeName: Skylar St. Clair, Bethany Bright, Gabriel Gives Light, Liz Little Hawk, Lila Little Hawk, Mavis-Marie Whitler...

* {{Matriarchy}}: The Plains Shoshone depicted in this story are matrilineal, like many Plains tribes are. In addition, most of the badasses in this book (including the leader of the tribe) are women.

* LukeNounverber: ''Many'' of the Shoshone have names like this. Rafael Gives Light, Annie Little Hawk, Paul Looks Over, etc. Historically, this has something to do with Indian ancestors passing on their given names (and they were all [[ThemeNaming theme named]]) as surnames to their later generations. Meredith Siomme and Morgan Stout are notable exclusions.

-> ''The sky tinged slowly blue-black with dawn, Rafael looking alert. The first sign of sunlight appeared above the horizon, dim, the color of saffron. It spread like wildfire into the night and lit the walls of drifting clouds, previously invisible, with a fiery haze. The sun was soon to follow, rosy when it peeked shyly above the distant cliffs and crags, white-gold when it caught up with its own aura. Now the sky was gritty and blue, like ocean slate--like Rafael's eyes.''