Instead of a epic version of a people destroyed, Dorris focuses on individual characters whom he develops until a story speaks from their experiences. To his characters, the coming of Columbus is a minor footnote. Their concerns reflect their values, rather than sensational global dramas. Dorris grew up reservation reading of Native peoples were unlike anybody he knew or wanted to know. He shares the gifts of his heritage in Morning Girl where these values are an integral part of the book's structure.
Family members know and understand each other completely.
Even struggling in the war of sibling rivalry, Morning Girl aids her brother, Star Boy, when he needs her support. Humor helps siblings and parents through the difficulties of miscarriage, separation, and the rockiness of two children coming of age. The drama of every day life eclipses events outside their known world. Part of the way readers become part of the Taino world is through the fresh vision of Morning Girl and Star Boy. Their responses to the world bring Dorris' work poetry, but most of the book is written in colloquialisms.