Christine as Volare in A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris

Michael Dorris in A Yellow Raft in Blue Water makes a strong connection between Christine and her car, the Volare, in order to make another disconnection from the stereotypical views of Indians not being connected to technology as well as giving the reader a comparison to get further depth on Christine’s character without him specifically stating it in the text.  

One translation of the Volare from Italian is: rush, speed, hie, hurry, scud. Another is: drive, fly, pilot (freedict). Those perfectly describe what Christine is doing through the whole beginning section of the novel when she flee’s from Elgin and her problematic life in Seattle. She’s running, flying away from her problems and her Volare is what takes her. 

Throughout the beginning of the novel Dorris puts in several instances that discredit the stereotypes of Indians; that they are connected to the land innately and are an alcoholic nation among other things. The one related specifically to Christine in this paper is that Indians are connected deeply to the land and not technology. The fact that she has such an intertwined relationship with her car refutes that. 

It states that she’s riding in her first Volare when she’s driving to her brother’s funeral. It is the first time that she is truly on her own in life. She had always before been living vicariously through her brother Lee, but he was now gone and thus she was alone for the first time - in her Volare. From the first time she got a Volare Dorris connected them together so that they represented each other equally.