In the novel Montana 1948, Larry Watson described the arid land of Montana. He takes us on a journey with our narrator and protagonist David Hayden. David has matured throughout the novel because he goes from being a carefree young child to a more knowledgeable young adult this is shown when he realizes racism is a thing in the world and a big part of the community around him, the effect his family has on the town they live in, and that people who you think to be one thing can be completely different in bad and surprising ways. Racism is a driving force in David’s town specifically towards Native Americans. Uncle Frank is accused of raping young Indian girls who he is supposed treat medically, Wesley the town sheriff interviews Ollie Young …show more content…
Come on boy. You know Frank's always been partial to red meat”(Watson 72). Uncle Frank is also accused by Wesley to have murdered Marie but Weslely realizes that it would probably not hold up in court so he drops that charge and focuses on Frank’s raping of Indian girls. Frank is locked up inside of Wesley’s basement because he did not want to get locked up in jail not in town at least. Wesley and Frank’s grandfather, Julian, thinks that it is unnecessary for Frank to be locked up at all and demands that Wesley releases him. Julian thinks its no big deal to rape a girl maybe just because it is an Indian girl and he does not have much respect for them. Eventually, Franks breaks a pickle jar and uses the glass to slit his wrists making it the event that David believes will fix their family Uncle Frank’s action needed to be punished because he was racist and did not have respect for women and especially the Indian people. This transforms David from the young clueless boy into a young even maybe adult person he is by the end of our novel knowing more than maybe even modern day adults about how hard life is and how cruel the world can
In contrast, the narrator of David Goes to the Reserve has been living off the reserve for a great portion of her childhood. She does not feel as though she has deep roots in her First Nation heritage, as she has stopped practicing her culture. Throughout the story, her friend David begins to learn more about the life on the reserve and starts to understand the culture associated with the place. While he learns about the aspects of First Nation life, the narrator also delves into her past and sees that she has been misguided for the entirety of her life. The narrator seems to have a revelation to how she has been living a life that has been unfulfilling to her. She begins to understand that she needs to revert back to her Aboriginal roots to live a more wholesome life.
Montana 1948 a series of tragic events were to have a major impact on David and his parents. David’s shocking revelations lead to his painful gaining of wisdom. When David’s story begins, his life is a stable and happy one, and his family are close and loving. It is this stability and respect though, in which the much loved and admired Frank is held by both the townspeople and David, that make the events which occur so shocking, particularly for David.
The book Montana 1948 written by Larry Watson, continuously throws something new at you. It is about the small town of Bentrock located on the very northeastern edge of Montana which has changed through a series of events that many didn’t even know the whole truth about. Tensions arise within both the family and the community which causes people to be forced to take a side. During hard times it is important to be loyal because that can help one another persevere the endeavor.
In the short story, Compatriots, one would read about Lucy and Hilda - two women who vastly differ from each other. Lucy has grown up on the reserve her whole life, where Hilda had just arrived from Germany and is seeking to observe “real Indian culture”. In comparison, David Goes to the Reserve also features two fairly diverse people of opposite cultures: the Aboriginal narrator of the story, and her Caucasian friend David.Within the story, David travels to a reserve to observe the culture of the First Nations people. Both stories contain wonder and excitement, but also presents a sense of culture that the First Nations have; it is this culture that the main characters struggle to grasp.
Unlike in Montana 1948, we must make decisions based on our morals, justice, fearing nothing. In the book, Wes protected Frank’s immoral behaviors surrounding the Native American women by justifying that it could not happen since you could not prove anything that Frank had done. However, there was proof by the Native Americans. However, instilled by `his loyalty to his prejudice father, Julian, Wes could not trust or believe the beliefs of the Native Americans. Wes never feared the wrath of Gail, who supported the Native Americans, since the power he received came from Julian. This power that he received, the loyalty he had, was overpowering justice. Dave
The film frequently demonstrates racism and prejudice within the small-town as gossip and rumours are spread based upon race or appearance. Jasper Jones is a young aboriginal boy who is accused of
In Montana 1948, yes David’s father was criticizing the indians, he did also say how he treats them with all the respect as he treats everybody else. David's father says “ He could treat indians with generosity,kindness and respect”(Watson,22). David’s father is on both sides treating the indians. So, David’s father is proving how he can live with his own culture and act the same way with the indian culture. Also, how Uncle Frank’s status was high so people wouldn’t think about committing him as rapping idian women.
“Native Son” composed by Richard Wright was revolved into an American drama picture in 1986 by director Jerrold Freeman. This piece caused a lot of controversy on whether the protagonist, Bigger Thomas, is guilty or innocent in the unfortunate events that have occurred. The purpose of this argumentative essay is to examine Richard Wright’s film adaptation of Native Son and prove his innocence based on how society deceived and deprived African Americans, his living and social environment, and his fears.
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Unfortunately Native Americans have deep roots with racism and oppression during the last 500 years. “In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven,” Sherman Alexie tries to show racism in many ways in multiple of his short stories. These stories, engage our history from a Native American viewpoint. Many Native Americans were brutally forced out of their homes and onto Reservations that lacked resources. Later, Indian children were taken from their families and placed into school that were designed to, “Kill the Indian, save the man.” In the book there are multiple short story that are pieces that form a larger puzzle that shows the struggles and their effects on Native Americans. Sherman Alexie shows the many sides of racism, unfair justice and extermination policies and how imagination is key for Native American survival.
According to Alexander’s statements in “The New Jim Crow”, the institutional racism persists. And that is in fact very true, as we can see it in racial profiling today. People, mostly people of color are victims of racial profiling every day. We rely on the police to protect us from any sort of danger, but racial profiling has led many people to live in fear. Racial profiling is patently illegal, and is breaking the U.S constitution, but it is still present, mainly in the small towns and states. People of color are generally just stopped by the police and undergo a series of humiliating and degrading interrogations, detentions, and searches, without any criminal evidence. Just as in Alexander’s book, she illustrates how racial profiling erodes the fourth amendment, and this includes: “Voluntary Cooperation,” stop-and-frisk, and pretext stops.
David Hayden, an innocent 12-year-old boy takes a journey from boy to man. Along the way realising not all people are good, and those that are can do bad things. Montana 1948 is a historical novel written by Larry Watson. It depicts the hard, cold landscapes of Montana during the summer of 1948, and the family vs. justice conflict, the Hayden family experiences. David at the beginning of the story is childish in many ways and is until he starts to become entangled in the adult world. When the magpie is shot by David, it becomes the symbol for David’s change. At the beginning of the text, David possesses many childish traits; slowly becoming entangled with the adult world, David matures; towards the end of the text, you can clearly see the change
In Sherman Alexie’s novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” the narrator portrays both internal and external conflicts throughout his journey to success. Arnold Junior Spirit is a fourteen-year-old boy who believes that in order to pursue his dream he will have to choose between staying in his Spokane Indian reservation or moving out to an all-white school in the neighboring farm town. But things aren’t as easy as they seem when Junior tries moving schools because he know has to be part of two communities. Many conflicts form within the Spokane Indian reservation and the Spokane Indian reservation as well comes into conflict with the white community.
One of the themes used in the book is of racism towards the Natives. An example used in the book is of Edward Sheriff Curtis who was a photographer of 1900s. Curtis was interested in taking pictures of Native people, but not just any Native person. “Curtis was looking for the literary Indian, the dying Indian, the imaginative construct” (King, 2003; pp. 34). He used many accessories to dress up people up “who did not look as the Indian was supposed to look” (King, 2003; pp.34). He judged people based on his own assumptions without any knowledge of the group and their practices. Curtis reduced the identity of the Native Americans to a single iconic quintessential image of what Native meant to white society. The idea related to the image of this group of people during the 1900s consisted of racism in terms of the “real looking Indian”. This is not
Though David represents a seemingly common boy at the time, he has several qualities that make him stand out. However, these character traits are never simply told to us. Instead, the implied author uses David’s actions, decisions, and beliefs to
Education —an institution for success, opportunity, and progress — is itself steeped in racism. In Sherman Alexie’s short story “Indian Education” from his book The Longer Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is set in two places, the Spokane Indian Reservation and a farm town nearby the reservation. The story is written in a list of formative events chronologize Victor’s youth by depicting the most potent moment from each year he is in school. Alexie addresses the issue of racism in education by examining examples of injustice and discrimination over twelve years in a boy’s life. Victor faces his initial injustice in first grade when he is bullied by bigger kids, but his understanding of injustice becomes much more complex in grades two through twelve as he experiences discrimination against his American Indian identity. Familial experiences of a Native woman, Alexie’s style and humor, and Victor’s awareness of discrimination from grade one to twelve all reveal the grim reality of growing up and being schooled on an American Indian reservation.