Preview

Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
627 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman
The fraud in the story "Skinwalkers" was committed for the sole purpose of getting back at the American government. The reasoning behind the fraud was because a treaty that was signed at Fort Summer decades ago. This treaty promised things to the Indian people things, which were never delivered, such as one teacher for every thirty residents. Basically Dr. Yellowhorse was now making the government reimburse the hospital for the bills of people who had already been released and even for people who were already deceased. The reason this was done so easily was because there were no death certificates for the deceased and many people that were dead had no date of death along with there name. The cases where Dr. Yellowhorse easily covered up people that were still living because he worked in the hospital and had access to the financial data. This meant it was almost effortless for him to file faulty reports as often as possible.
The only problem that Yellowhorse ran into was that some people were starting to catch on. Onesalt had caught on to the hospital fraud and was building a case against Dr. Yellowhorse and the hospital. This is also the reasoning for why Endocheeney, Wilson Sam and Roosevelt Bistie had all been killed and furthermore why an attempt had been made on Jim Chee's life. Yellowhorse feared she would expose him so he had her murdered by making up a story that she just like the others was a skinwalker and they had put a curse on whomever did the particular killing (the mother). Before being shot Onesalt had spoken to officer Chee and Yellowhorse assumed that now he knew as well or would find out with time.
Chee probably should have caught wind of what was going on long before the end of the book. He was the detective on the case and I even realized what was going on before he did. The hardest part of putting two and two together was finding a motive, which throughout most of the book there didn't seem to be one. This was of course until

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    The discovery of a murder in Philadelphia in October 1894 opened the door to a case that few could believe. Marion Hedgepeth, a one-time cellmate of a man who went by the name H.M. Howard, informed police about a recent scam. It involved insuring a man named Benjamin Pitezel for $10,000 with the Fidelity Mutual Life Association in 1893 in Chicago, and then faking his death in a laboratory explosion by substituting a cadaver. All participants were then to split the insurance payment, but Howard had reneged and run off with the money. Hedgepeth was informing on him as payback, and his detailed letter about the scheme was passed along to the company. In short order, they…

    • 5132 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    People fight. Do you fight? This is a girl named Janet and she is trying to get on the baseball team but richard said no. In concha the two boys were playing a game and they see an ant hole and they ask for help and they ask from comcha. These realistic fiction short stories southpaw by Judith viorst and concha by Mary helen ponce have many similarities and differences between them.…

    • 181 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hatchet By Gary Paulsen

    • 158 Words
    • 1 Page

    With a book filled with crazy things like a plane crash, wild animal encounters, and struggling to survive, Brian is hanging to the hope of seeing his family again. The book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen was extraordinary. It take place in the Canadian woods when his plane crashes. Brian is around the age of 13 with no survival skill, but he will soon find out how survive in harsh conditions. It is a good realistic fiction book, and author make the book so real.…

    • 158 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Turtles give hope “Slower than the rest” by Cynthia Rylant is a realistic fiction about a boy named Leo. In the beginning, Leo and his family are in the car driving Leo yells, “There's a turtle.” The car halts Leo gets out of the car to pick up the turtle. Soon Leo feels happy and names the turtle Charlie. In the end Leo has to make a presentation on wildlife and uses Charlie as an example of a slow animals.…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hatchet By Gary Paulsen

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the novel Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen the theme is survival of the fittest. In Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen the book binds you to continue reading it until the very end. It like you are there with Brian and had a very descriptive image what it would look like standing next to him. “ A book is a magical thing that lets you travel to far-away places without leaving your chair” - Katrina Mayer. The plot of Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen is very interesting because of how you could imagine yourself right next to Brian like a seeing everything he sees.…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This chapter which introduced me to Lia’s family was interesting. I was shocked to read that in her mother’s country of Laos, Lia would have been born by her mother squatting on the floor! They also used special created remedies to solve health issues without relying on hospitals or clinics. It was also interesting to read how important the Hmong people believed in sprits and how their life decisions where decided around the sprit actions. For example, they believed that male sprit’s held up their house roof, if the male’s placenta was buried near the central pillar of the house. Lia was even blessed by the elders because her parents believed that it was a way of protecting her from ever getting sick. If anything, reading this chapter quickly gave me a quick preview of the clash that Lia’s cultural beliefs will have with the American doctors when she gets sick in the future chapters. However, I’m hoping that this book will pick up a little faster and have less history moving forward (being honest lol)…

    • 2519 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tangerine by Edward Bloor

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the book Tangerine by Edward Bloor, a legally blind 7th grader named Paul Fisher, moves to Tangerine County, Florida and has to deal with many new situations. Paul had made some decisions that made a huge impact on his life as a middle schooler. Paul made the choice to defend himself against a soccer defender and stand up to his parents, neighbors, and even local officers.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Flyboys By James Bradley

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Title: Flyboys, what the title means to me is that it's about pilots in a war fighting enemies. The title sparks my interest a little. Yes, the title does fit with the text of the book. Author: James Bradley, I have read another book from this Author before called “Flags of our Fathers”.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Black Boy is an autobiography of Richard Wright who grew up in the backwoods of Mississippi. He lived in poverty, hunger, fear, and hatred. He lied, stole, and had rage towards those around him; at six he was a "drunkard," hanging about in taverns. He was surrounded on one side by whites who were either indifferent to him, pitying, or cruel, and on the other by blacks who resented anyone trying to rise above the common people who were slaves or struggling.…

    • 1806 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Arrival By Shaun Tan

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout the book called The Arrival Shaun Tan added many symbols and hidden easter eggs that presented what the characters were trying to say. Tan’s story was about a family who lived in a very dangerous place where people were killed and there was no money to make because of this the father left to find a place where they could move to and live a better life. After a long journey of almost a year the father found a very magical place where everything was different and there were creatures that he had never seen before. The father went through a series of check ups and tests to get into this magical place. Once he was in he started to try to get a job, When everything wasn't going so well the man found a family which showed him the ways he got a job in a factory and met new friends.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his novel, Eaters of the Dead, author Michael Crichton shows how the Volga Northmen were able to defeat their foes, the wendol, by using their intellect instead of their weapons. This is seen in four aspects. The theme of the novel is that physical courage is not enough to preserve your culture and lifestyle: intelligence and superior knowledge are absolutely essential. Conflict between the wendol and the Northmen shows which group has the intelligence to eliminate the other. Symbolism of wisdom, knowledge, and the lack of such things are used by Crichton to illustrate this moral. The juxtaposition of characters emphasizes the cleverness of the Volga Northmen compared to the Venden Northmen.…

    • 1841 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ironman by Chris Crutcher

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why I chose this reading ….is because it seemed relatable. It seemed like an interesting book, one that I could relate to myself, I think that all teenagers could relate to this. The book explains about respect, and how adults don’t really understand teens. And talks allot about anger and how to control it.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay I intend to explore the narrative conventions and values, which Oliver Smithfield presents in the short story Victim. The short story positions the reader to have negative and sympathetic opinion on the issues presented. Such as power, identity and bullying. For example Mickey the young boy is having issues facing his identity. It could be argued that finding your identity may have the individual stuck trying to fit in with upon two groups.…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The article that I was read is called, The wild schemes people will use to commit tax fraud, written by Matt Pearce. The article talks about schemes that people use to get out of paying their taxes and crimes commit with tax fraud. The main purpose of this article is to show that tax fraud is a massive problem in the United States and there are consequence to face for committing the crimes.The article starts off by introducing Michael D. Brandner, an Alaskan plastic surgeon with a wife, who filed a divorce. Brandner does not want his wife getting her share of both their money, so he goes to hide it. In 2007, he drove to Central America to cache 4.7 million dollars in a Panama shell corporation. He also went to Costa Rica to store 350,000 dollars in bank accounts.…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Blackrock by Nick Enright

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The impact of difference that is revealed in nick Enright’s text ‘Blackrock’ and Ed Fischer’s ‘go to the closet’ is that gender difference and those who are of different belief can majorly impact a group/individual severely. In particular being a female in a young male’s society, or having the belief that homosexuality is acceptable in society.…

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays