As siblings do, they fight. In futile attempts to uphold their buffer duties, parents and guardians sit their children down on separate sides of the couch and command them to apologize and occasionally, horrifically, hug. Begrudgingly, the siblings hug but continue their squabble at the breakfast table the next morning on a school day. A single apology to solve all counts of intermittent hostilities is of no effect to disgruntled siblings. The titular characters in A Yellow Raft in Blue Water had their fair share of mending to execute. However, reconciliation is best gifted in small amounts than one half-hearted apology. The small details of attempted reconciliation impacted relationships between characters the most.
Christine, however ruined she may be, found means of reconciliation with Rayona through spending quality time with her daughter. Without fail, Christine managed to push Rayona away at every rightful moment of worry, such as when Dayton brought Rayona to Christine after the rodeo, to Rayona she had screamed, “‘I thought you were dead!’” (Dorris 280). The short reconnection ended in Christine lashing out. Sometime after, Rayona and Christine find an unusual pattern where they’d spend time with each other in the morning, Christine used that …show more content…
In the restaurant, Christine gave Rayona her silver turtle ring. “‘He always reminded me of me,’” she said, “‘Slow but gets there in the end’” (Dorris 292). Christine understood how difficult she was but still had hope for herself. The rings she had pocketed to Dayton, Ida, and Elgin were apologies to them but also her coming to terms with her jumbled past. For much of Christine’s story, the duration of her recollections described her rambunctiousness, her bold and dangerous personality which ultimately led to her nearing demise. With her own mortality staring her right in the face, Christine gradually forgives herself and everyone