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Model Midterm1 answers 2018 Essay 1: Begin Minority Identification & Analysis (American Indians) Index to Essay 1 Sample Answers |
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Brad
Cannon
The Will To Survive
It has become much clearer to me, after much reading, thought, and
discourse that the subject of American minority literature, especially in
reference to Native Americans, is very difficult for an “outsider,” like myself,
to understand completely. To understand it completely would be to have lived it
and since that is not possible, I rely on the knowledge that Native American
works have provided. They have taught me a great deal. The vast and varied
works, oral and written down, provides great insight into the experience which
is unique to Native Americans. Their experiences of suffering and loss,
isolation, forced assimilation and unwanted contact, and resistance to outsiders
all contribute significantly to understanding Native American culture, values,
attitudes, perspective on life, and artwork alike.
Before the white ever came to the Americas (feels funny to write it that
way considering they were here beforehand), their oral stories and religion
flourished. These traditions provide a foundation for many Native Americans
ideals and cultural values. The land, nature, and spirit are all powerful forces
to them. In the Zuni (Myths and legends about California and the Old Southwest)
and Jicarilla (James Mooney – “American anthropologist”) creation stories, we
see the balance of light and dark and of good and bad. In the Iroquois Creation
stories, although they vary in details, it is always the world that is created
on the back of a turtle in an ocean. Their connection with nature and animals is
deeply felt. Even their isolationism is evident before the white man when you
think of their world as being on the back of a turtle in an ocean. Although
these seem quite different than the major religions of the world, there are many
similarities (duality in brothers, light and dark for instance) that pose the
question of if these stories are all based off some single ancestral story
before the Native Americans came from Asia ten thousand years ago.
Native Americans were indeed the first people to settle the Americas;
however, their claim held no meaning to most Europeans. Over hundreds of years
and through disease and battle, the white men had pushed the Natives further and
further off their natural lands. We can see the Native feelings on the subject
in the poem with the five vices brought to America from Europe; almost unaware
of the destruction and mayhem they would bring. Eventually, the Trail of Tears
occurred and almost every native was no longer native to where they now lived.
Again, they were isolated from the white man because the white man said it so.
This has had a major psychological effect on their identity and who they are and
how they respond to those they deem outsiders. Much like in Chrystos, “I Have
Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government” we can clearly see the
thought stream out of him. It was not his choice to have them here but it is
being imposed on him all the same. This is difficult for anyone to process, let
alone a whole race of people.
They never asked for us to come to their villages and towns. They never
asked to be pushed off their lands. They never asked for our ‘help’ but we came
to help them regardless. To tame them of their wild ideas and customs, it was
said. We thought by giving them our culture and telling them to disregard their
own, we were doing them a favor. That we were being sincerely and genuinely
helpful when opening Indian Board Schools. As we can see from Louis Erdrich. the
boarding schools and other government run native facilities pushed the white
man’s culture and even religion on its’ students. Yes, they were teaching
students and that has brought a lot of good to the world, however their
implementation and methodology are certainly in question. As far as those who
ran the facilities (or perhaps more accurately who supported or paid for them)
were concerned, the more they could assimilate them, the better. Although, they
could shape the brains of the Native American students, they never quite took
away their Native American heart, spirit, or fight.
We see the very same heart, spirit, and fight within Louis Erdrich’s “The
Round House.” Suffering and loss, although extremely sad, is an important
fundamental idea about Native Americans. This suffering they have been through
has made them strong but quiet and defiant yet still peaceful. In “The Round
House,” we see this through the actions started by Linden to Joe’s mother,
Geraldine. Linden’s ruthless nature and crimes are a symbol for what the white
man had done to the Native Americans, to the defenseless and good hearted
Geraldine. Joe experiences this loss and suffering through his mother’s ordeal.
All of his actions are then later affected because of this attack – much like
how Native Americans feel to this day. We also see loss and suffering that
happens to white people. When the Lark’s turned down their deformed baby Linda,
a Native American janitor adopted the baby as her own. Their loss, or lack
thereof, shows us how callous the Natives believe the whites treat each other;
so why in the world would they do better to a Native? This is a prevailing
attitude and shows us just how the Native Americans turned their loss and
suffering into good traits. They lost their land and many people but they never
lost their identity.
Suffering and loss were side effects of the forced isolation and unwanted
contact with the new people. Even still in “The Round House,” Joe and his family
live on the reservation and most of their wanted interaction is between
themselves and their native friends. Seldom were whites included on the
reservation. The only times whites came onto the reservation were to conduct
business, like FBI agent Bjerke doing his job or the Larks attempting to price
gouge Native Americans, or even the church priest. All of these whites serve an
important symbolic purpose – to cover whites from every base (the government,
the angry white man, and the church) so as to portray these differing
interactions from all sides. Geraldine exemplifies this idea of unwanted
interaction between whites. The prevailing theme throughout the novel, it shows
how (much like white men to her ancestors) she was put through on her own sacred
land, the ordeal she endured, and how she came out the other end still intact.
It seems only natural to pass culture on to others that are willing, but
forcing culture onto others, especially when they do not want it, is a hardly a
great idea. With the idea that we are going to help the Native American people,
we have in fact done much of the opposite throughout the United States of
America’s rule and dominion over Native Americans. We kicked them out of their
land and then asked them to join our great society. We enacted Indian Boarding
schools to help teach, or assimilate, the Indian students. These were around for
decades and had countless students taught white man material from those classes.
Erdrich herself is a product of this system. Also in “The Round House,” was an
association affiliated with the church called the Y.E.C. – or Youth Encounter
Christ. This was a movement where faithful churchgoers would go on a mission to
the Dakotas (or wherever necessary) to teach everyone the word of Jesus. They
wanted to spread the good word of the white man Lord. This devoutness to
Christianity affected Natives immensely as they were pressed very hard into
converting. Native peoples have survived a whole host of problems since their
first meeting of the white man, and complete assimilation is not something many
Native Americans seem to care for at all.
