Abstract This paper analyzes the four stories assigned for analysis in Gerald Vizenor's anthology "NativeAmericanLiterature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology". ( "Return to White Earth" by John Rogers, ?A Good Chance,? by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, "The Little People" by Maria Campbell and ?Someday Soon,? by Paula Gunn Allen). The author discusses their common themes, adaptability and the finding of identity. The writer illustrates how the four stories represent a wide variety of writings about a wide variety of Indian peoples, help the reader understand the history of the NativeAmerican experience, and to some degree, today's reality of that changed experience.
From the Paper "The four stories assigned for analysis in Gerald Vizenor's anthology (Native American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology) are each, to begin with, quite different, in terms of the point of view and the tone the authors have set. "Return to White Earth" is a very pure and charming story of the homecoming and coming of age of a Chippewa boy, returning to his native northern Minnesota following a stay at a boarding school in South Dakota. This story, by John Rogers, is as much an education in how Chippewa Indians lived, hunted, worked, interacted, and survived, as it is a story merely about characters and events. Beautifully written, and loaded with similes about the natural world and why Native Americans respect that world, this story is an up-tempo, pleasurable experience to read."
Abstract This paper examines the attempts of Native-American Tribes to retain their cultural heritage despite many years of repression and attempts by the colonial majority to force its culture on them. The paper looks at the major means whereby NativeAmericans are trying to preserve and even spread their culture amongst the various groupings and tribes living today in the United State of America. The author then goes on to examine the historical background to the American Indian's cultural repression. He examines, in some depth, the rebirth of Native-Americanliterature and oral history and its impact on the Native-American population and attempts to evaluate its success.
From the Paper "Individual Indians seek to define who they are through culture in varied ways, and are frequently challenged by distance. The revival of culture is centered around reservation life. Reservations schools attempt to transmit the traditions of the past, along with language through native reservation schools that teach language through a bilingual system or through submersion programs and yet many Native Americans live far from home and family, as a result of the pressures of modernization and the fact that economic and higher education opportunities are limited on many reservations. To many Indians it is a challenge to meet the goals of a highly connected social network of family and nation as distance creates change that challenges their ability to meld their historical culture with the white culture they frequently live within. Yet, it is also clear that individual definitions of self are strongly associated with family and cultural connections and traditions. It is for this reason that Native American creativity is expressed in novel ways through many avenues and medias as well as the reason why individual and collective vision become a constant recurring theme in many of these interpretations."
Tags:nativeamericans, indians reservations history culture assimilation tradition
Abstract This paper examines how the themes in "Power" by Linda Hogan are centered around nature and the unity of nature and human beings and how these are also themes that are touched upon in "Sacred Hoop" by Paula Gunn Allen. It analyzes how, for the NativeAmerican, all creatures are united in a "sacred hoop", all events are cyclic ,and how the symbolism used by Hogan focuses on images from nature. It looks at how most prominent among these are the panther, the snake, the tree called Methuselah, and the storm.
From the Paper "Both the healthy and the sick panther are connected with Omishto's Taiga tribe of the "Panther Clan". Omishto and Ama are representative of a people who is dying, like the panther. She attempts to explain this in an essay for a class assignment, but gives up, knowing they will not understand. This shows that she is experiencing the unfamiliar sensation of being disconnected from other living beings. She cannot identify with the white people, their religion or their traditions. She is unable to adapt to the invasion, and experiences a kind of sickness imposed upon her and her people."
Abstract Often people have the wrong concept of an American Indian. Children 's conception of NativeAmericans often is developed from the media. Often NativeAmericans are sent to school and lose their concept of the NativeAmerican as well as the language of their people.
Abstract This paper addresses the continued controversy surrounding the use of NativeAmerican persons and images as sports-team mascots. The paper presents cogent reasons why these cultural images should not be used because they destroy more pride (in the NativeAmerican people who find them offensive) than they create for the sports fans in the community. The paper approaches the issue from a psychological and anthropological perspective. 4 pgs. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Abstract This paper evaluates the alternatives, which are available for members of the NativeAmerican population that face alcoholism in their daily lives. The author anticipates that these problems are difficult to overcome due to the massive distrust and apprehension of other people, both within and beyond the NativeAmerican culture. The paper relates that, within NativeAmerican communities, it is expected that there are varying degrees of support for this complex problem of alcoholism.
From the Paper 'Native Americans are a unique group of individuals that possess their own distinct culture, one that has experienced tremendous turmoil and strife over the years. In many instances, Native Americans have faced much adversity within their personal and social lives, and the exclusion of this culture from many standard offerings in America has led to considerable weaknesses amongst personalities. In many cases, Native Americans are not able to face their personal and social problems without the assistance of drugs or alcohol as a means of coping with reality. Within Native American communities, it is expected that there are varying degrees of support for these processes, and many individuals within these groups possess a variety of complex problems and circumstances.'
Abstract This paper looks at NativeAmerican Women and focuses on the changes in life that the Europeans brought to NativeAmerican women, and the struggles that began. It further discusses the stereotypes that forever influenced these women's lives and relates how these misconceptions still affect NativeAmerican women of today.
From the Paper "The perceptions that have historically been applied to Native American women have often been that they have always been subservient beings, abused by their husbands, who have no choice in their personal destinies (Hoxie). Throughout time various individuals have contended that Native American women were mere shadows in the existence of tribal men, and that slavery was not uncommon for them because it was an element of the world that they were born into. Yet, the research will demonstrate that these philosophies about Native American women were subjective analysis of females that were unknown to those providing critique. It will further show that beneath these suppositions existed the lives of people that historically made tremendous contributions to their cultures, and who currently are the greatest strength that continue the traditions in the Native American tribes. "
Abstract This paper examines the conversion of NativeAmericans to Christianity within Massachusetts as asserted by the Puritans. The author points out that, from the beginning, the religious refugees from Europe into the New World, the majority of whom ironically had left England because they were religious or otherwise social outcasts, attempted to make this world a reflection of their own ideals. The paper relates that their most intense focus for religious conversion (and thus, promulgation) were the NativeAmericans.
From the Paper "European religious assertion upon Native Americans is a fact of American history. From the beginning, the religious refugees from England, the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain who fled to the New World had attempted to make their world a reflection of their own ideals. Ironically, the majority of colonists left England because they were religious or social outcasts. Instead of seeing themselves as the meek, once "freed" to the North American continent, they began to assert themselves in grand fashion. While their efforts occasionally changed another's mind, their most intense focus for religious conversion (and thus, promulgation) were the Native Americans. It is the intent of this paper to examine the conversion of Native Americans to Christianity within Massachusetts over the course of time. The Puritans were an agricultural people. Initially, all successful colonizing efforts from the "old" world were agricultural. "
Abstract This paper discusses the issue of NativeAmerican slavery during colonial times in America. It references books and professional publications to determine the cause of this slavery, how it existed in relation to the slavery of African Americans, who was involved in the slave trade, the politics of the issues, and how the slave trade for NativeAmericans came to an end.
From the Paper "Americans are taught that there have been many injustices throughout history with regard to civil rights. While we learn about the plight of the African American who endured slavery, and the Japanese that were imprisoned in this country after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, there is little that has been written about the enslavement of Native Americans by the British when America was in its infancy. Though the information that is now available is incomplete, it presents a picture of the lives of the Native Americans during this time period that was unbearably harsh and unnecessary. Yet, it is a part of American history that should not be ignored. As colonists began to settle in the United States from England, they had originally begun a trading relationship with Native Americans in South Carolina (Perdue, 2003, p. 670). Native Americans offered labor to the colonists in exchange for manufactured goods from Europe."
Abstract This study is restricted to consider only those NativeAmerican cultures in North America, that are well-known and which provide certain insights into the construction of the spirit world for these particular people. This is still a relatively broad group of people. Nevertheless, there are common themes that run throughout NativeAmerican mythology in North America with regard to the spirit world.
From the Paper "It would be ridiculous to suggest that Native American mythology, specifically regarding the belief in a spirit world, is monolithic. After all, when we are speaking of Native Americans, of whom are we speaking? Should we broaden our discussion to include all the various tribes and cultural groups throughout North and South America? Can we actually expect that beliefs in the Spirit World would remain consistent across such great geographical, climatic, and cultural divides? Of course, such an argument would be reductive and would provide very little useful information regarding the spiritual beliefs of any Native Americans. For the purpose of this study, I will restrict myself to consider only those Native American cultures in North America, and even then I will restrict myself further to those cultures that are well-known and which provide certain insights into the construction of the spirit world for these particular people."
Abstract This paper describes the differing beliefs and outlooks of the NativeAmericans versus the European Colonists in the early 1600s. This author evaluates their differing views on such topics as technology, religion, the environment, women's rights, and slavery. The paper gives an honest appraisal of both sides' views and prejudices about the other. The author concludes that these base differences between the two sets of peoples, the Europeans and the NativeAmericans, were what sparked the distrust held by both nations that endured for hundreds of years.
From the Paper "The European colonists and the Native Americans of North American had very different views on nearly everything they encountered in their lives. Living in vastly different cultures lead both groups to generally have two extremely different outlooks on four main topics; religious beliefs, the environment, social relations, and slavery, differences which the colonists used this to their advantage when conquering the peoples of the New World."
Abstract The evolution of literature in America has been an extraordinary process, where its development from humble descriptions of exploration to extraordinary works of fiction demonstrates a comparable form of development within the American people. This paper explores the concept of "AmericanLiterature" in respect to its evolution from the Columbian period through the Ante- Bellum period.
Abstract This paper looks at how literature mirrors the social and psychological nuances of the culture of which it is a part. Fiction that bases itself in reality can often be unrealistic in its portrayals, local color can be exaggerated to prove a point or simply to entertain. After the Civil War, the assimilation period of NativeAmericans was one filled with turmoil and tragedy for this people. This paper discusses how writers of this period would often sympathetically take up their plight or ruthlessly portray them as dangerous and evil characters in their works. Some mixed the two and made social commentary without perhaps even realizing it. The paper also assesses the Age of Realism in Americanliterature with its interwoven romanticism. The paper asserts that this conflict between the two styles also mirrors the conflict between the NativeAmerican's natural world and the oncoming civilization's world of reason. The three writer's analyzed within this paper are, Helen Hunt Jackson, Mark Twain, and Walt Whitman.
From the Paper "Another version for Twain, and one that has some interesting social relevance, is the character of Injun Joe in Tom Sawyer. Also portrayed as evil and despicable, Injun Joe, however, is a 'half-breed' and in some sense this mixing of the two races together has an even more disastrous effects in the creation of an immoral and deadly spawn. 'Say, Huck, I know another o' them voices; it's Injun Joe.' 'That's so -- that murderin' half - breed! I'd druther they was devils a dern sight. What kin they be up to?' (Twain, 1920, p. 84). Was this Twain's intention? Perhaps not but the message is clear that these two races cannot at any level mix together. Here we have the darker side of both realism and romanticism. Certainly there were many conflagrations between Whites and Native Americans both in the early pioneering history and in the Post-Civil war period. Twain seems fixed on portraying the negative in the Native American and siding on the part of the government's imposed innate right of eminent domain upon the Native American's land. He mirrors the comments from a court decision, the United States v. Luccero in1869 as is seen in this excerpt:
"The idea that a handful of wild, half-naked, thieving, plundering, murdering savages should be dignified with the sovereign attributes of nations, enter into solemn treaties and claim a country...as theirs in fee simple, because they hunted buffalo and antelope over it might do for beautiful reading in Cooper's novels or Longfellow Hiawatha, but is unsuited to the intelligence and justice of this age, or the natural rights of mankind. (McQuade, Atwan, Banta, Kaplan, Minter, Stepto, Tichi, & Vendler, 1999, p1322).'"
Tags:american, nativeamerican, characters society realism conflict
Abstract This paper analyzes the themes of culture, dignity and self-respect in Native-American short stories. "Borders" by Thomas King, for example, is a short story about a mother and a boy who belong to the Blackfoot tribe living on a Canadian reservation. The story is told from the boy's perspective and is a remembrance of an experience he and his mother endured while trying to cross the border between Canada and the United States. Other stories analyzed within this paper include "How to Write the Great American Indian Novel" by Sherman Alexie, "Captivity" by Lousie Erdrich, "Captivity" by Lousie Erdrich and "Indian Boarding School: The Runaways" by Lousie Erdrich.
From the Paper "To analyze 'How to Write the Great American Indian Novel' by Sherman Alexie, it is important to understand the term 'horse culture' because it is a metaphor mentioned throughout the piece time and time again. The term horse culture is metaphorically used to sarcastically imply a superior culture--stronger, braver, more prosperous, and more beautiful.
"The term 'half-breed' is also used over and over again. The author mentions that the hero should be a half-breed--half white, and half Indian. This implies that being half white makes the Native American look less ethic, more commercially appealing, more acceptable as a human being to the dominant white culture. The author further brings this message home by saying that the Indian woman '...should be compared to nature: brown hills, mountains, fertile valleys, dewy grass, wind, and clear water.' Here he is trying to emphasize a Caucasian commercialized perception of a beautiful Native American woman--something from Disney's Pocahontas--not a real woman."
