Betty

Landon changes after Trustin’s death. He does not find joy in life the way he used to, and he spends time drinking moonshine.

Betty turns 13 that winter and puts on makeup for the first time. Flossie tells her that it looks bad and then redoes it, adding streaks of red lipstick on her cheek as war paint. She tells Betty that she will always be prettier than her.

Landon says that a woman is different when she starts wearing makeup and asks Betty to stay a child. That night, he gets drunk, and when Betty finds him, he runs up a hill, and she chases him. At the top, he asks the sky why it took his boy, and Betty cries, confessing that she killed him. Landon tells her that it is not her fault and picks up rocks to throw down the hill to represent their sins.

At school, the boys constantly pull Betty’s skirt up, so she wears shorts one day despite the rules. She is sent to the principal’s office, where he tells her that when a woman wears pants, everyone looks at her crotch. He also says that the reason the Cherokees were conquered is that women are not strong leaders.