Race to the Sun

Nizhoni’s turquoise pendant takes on a dual resonance in the novel as both a physical reminder of her mother and a symbol of her courage. In the first half of the text, Nizhoni clings to the pendant as a rare reminder of the mother who abandoned her as a toddler and about whom her father refuses to speak. She never takes off the necklace, even when she is playing sports at school (where jewelry is prohibited). In this way, Nizhoni imbues the necklace with significant emotional value, leading it to become a suitable sacrifice to Spider Woman when Mac fails to secure an equivalent offering from the sacred mountain—an act that emphasizes Nizhoni’s Courage as Separate From Fearlessness.

After Nizhoni has relinquished the necklace, however, she experiences her own personal growth and learns more about her mother, helping her to increasingly understand Bethany. Over the course of Nizhoni’s character arc, the necklace becomes a relic of their past relationship. Hanging on to the necklace signifies hanging onto the past in which a relationship with or greater understanding of her mother was impossible. Once Nizhoni experiences Bethany’s memories through the mirror, she no longer thinks about the necklace or its absence—filling that place instead with a new understanding that allows her to rescue Bethany from being a “lost one” and move forward in their relationship while still leaving space for anger and pain.