Belagana-Belazana: An Outsider’s Quest in the Navajo Nation

Man versus Nature or man versus his own nature-which is the greater battle? Belagana-Belazana (Bilagaana-Bilasaana) and its central character make no pretense of understanding the Navajo people, but the story is reminiscent of the blunt social issues in Sherman Alexie’s novels set on a different Indian reservation.Sean Noland-a middle-aged, recently-divorced high school teacher takes a job teaching English at a remote U.S. Government Indian school in the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. An outsider to the Navajo as well as his employer, Sean begins to bond with at-risk youth despite common distrust of the belagana, white man in the Navajo language. Some bitter staff members and an oblivious bureaucracy complicate matters.Sean forms a surprising connection with his half-Navajo dormitory assistant, Leonard Santos. When Leonard and Sean discover that the school’s water is contaminated, they covertly set up a temporary drinking system but know they will eventually have to answer to their agency supervisors.One frigid night, two boys flee from the dormitory because one fears his family’s lives are being threatened by his father, who struggles with alcohol abuse. Sean and Leonard embark on a manhunt to find the boys before they freeze to death. Their desperate search is complicated by a disabled vehicle, the ensuing trek in a frozen wilderness, and Sean’s worsening hypothermia. They struggle on toward the boy’s house, not realizing a hostage situation awaits them there.Can the men and the runaway boys survive the forces of nature and the volatility of human aggression?