Early Indigenous Literatures

Deployment of motherhood as disguise

Tusee once again uses tactics of deception in order to get closer to her lover, here pointedly deploying the image of an elder woman holding a child. Tusee becomes at once the child her father raised, a young warrior woman, and a elderly mother-figure to an imagined child. The "bundle" on her back is metonymic for the larger resonance of her mission; while the rescue revolves around her lover, it that doubles as a key strategic move on behalf of her nation.

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