Summary and Analysis
Part 2:
Los Angeles 1952
As "The Longhair" is a title for Francisco, "The Priest of the Sun" designates Tosamah. In the two chapters of this section, Tosamah acts as a peyote priest and conducts a peyote ritual. However, his association with the sun draws more directly on older Kiowa tradition, which centered on reverence for the sun through the sacred sun dance and the figure of Tai-me, a holy image that, according to legend, came to the Kiowas as a gift from the sun.
The year is 1952, seven years after Abel's return to Walatowa and the murder of the albino. This part of the story will find Abel in Los Angeles after his release from prison, living among a group of other American Indians who have been displaced to urban locations by the policies of Relocation and Termination.