Inconvenient Indian Summary

The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King is a non-fiction story about Native people in North America. Thomas King relies on a multitude of sources for his work, such as historical events, movies, films, TV, politics, art, and Indian-White relations. King also, puts his own taste in the Inconvenient Indian and brings his own experiences in the story. He accomplishes this by being ironic and sarcastic throughout the entire story. King prefers to reflect on contemporary issues.

Beginning in the sixteenth century, Europeans made the voyage to a “new world” in order to achieve dreams of opportunity and riches. In this other world the Europeans came upon another people, which naturally led to a cultural exchange between different groups of people. Although we commonly refer to European and Indian relations as being between just two very different groups of people, it is important to recognize this is not entirely true. Although the settlers of the new world are singularly referred to as Europeans, each group of people came from a different nation and with different motives and expectations of the new world. Similarly, the Indians were neither a united group nor necessarily friendly with each other. Due to the

Thomas King’s The Inconvenient Indian tells the story of Indigenous people in Canada and the United States, it challenges the narrative on how Indigenous history is taught and explains why Indigenous people continue to feel frustrated. King’s seeks to educate the reader as he provides a detailed accounts of the horrific massacres Indigenous people endured, yet he simultaneously inserts humorous moments which balances out the depressing content and enhances his story. The books highlights the neglect and assimilation that Indigenous were subjected to and how their survival was seen as an inconvenience to western culture. King directs his message at a Euro-centric audience to offer an accurate explanation of Indigenous culture and

Colonialism has a historical context that has long obscured and distorted the experiences of indigenous people, particularly those who endured the brutalities of the California Missions. Although indigenous people are portrayed in history as docile people, who openly embraced invasion, Deborah Miranda dismantles this depiction in her memoir, Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir, through two stories called “Dear Vicenta” and “Novena to Bad Indians”. Throughout the stories run various narratives of survival and resistance, which form new understandings of colonization and missionization. Miranda practices decolonization through oral history in order to form new and ongoing indigenous identities. Evidently, through decolonial practice and deconstructing dominant narratives about “colonized” peoples and replacing them with stories that use traditional memory and practice, Miranda disrupts the commonly accepted narrative of indigenous peoples by reconstructing the dichotomy between good and bad Indians through acts of resistance and survival.

Although stories are a universal art form, they hold a more significant role in Native American culture, and literature. This occurs due to the millennia spent in isolation from the rest of the world, and having stories as the main source of entertainment. Thomas King’s statement, “stories can control our lives,” is an important notion, because it embarks on the idea of molding the diseased into more interesting versions of themselves. The statement is prevalent in many pieces of literature which fuse reality into the imagination, and cause people to lose themselves in the fictitious realm. Native literature is all closely related, and they all hold messages within their stories that show their great culture; both the good and the bad. Story

Deborah Miranda’s Bad Indians utilizes a unique blend of writing styles to piece together a clearer and more distinct view on the Mission system, Gold Rush, and settlement of California. Through this revolutionary collection of writing, we receive a detailed account of the treatment that California Indians had to endure during the Missionization era and are able to draw our own conclusions in regard to whether the missions were a positive or negative aspect of California history. Although Miranda’s ancestors suffered and survived horrible conditions, she, in my opinion, does not villainize the Mission system, but rather displays the facts as they are, therein allowing us to reach our own conclusions in relations to this history. Because there

“Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie gives insight into his early life of being Spokane Indian living on a reservation who taught himself to read at a very young age. Despite his ability to read so early he was treated as an outside or “oddity” in his community and the world surrounding him because of cultural diversity and issues between his peers and those who weren't part of his culture. The author specifically states “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and Non-Indians alike”; which informs the reader that an educated Indian isn't accepted in really either cultures which sets him as an outcast in both societies. The author describes his younger self as smart, arrogant, Indian boy who without books wouldn't be educated and wouldn't be what he is today.

Turning to the first page of the book that I chose, titled “Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians – But Were Afraid to Ask”, the dedication page reads “For Isaac, with high hopes that the world in which you raise your children will be kinder and more understanding than this one” (Treuer, n.p.). The first sentence I read out of this book hooked me instantly, as it relates to almost everything that we have discussed throughout this class, from undercover cops at the University, to the discovery of America. It seems that no matter what the subject matter is, someone in today’s society is going to disagree, it’s sad to live in a world of such ignorance.

He states that “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike...” (Alexie, 13). He presents evidence on the stereotype laid upon Indians aimed at keeping them uneducated such as the expectation to be stupid and not answer any questions in class. From White‐Kaulaity’s perspective, the culture of reading was taken as less important and it was rare to find Indians reading at home (White‐Kaulaity, 3). As such, it seems that the stereotype barred the progress of literacy among Indians.

“At St. Jerome’s we work to remove the Indian in our children so that the blessings of the Lord may be evidenced upon them” (Wagamese 46). These words provide the exact mindset the white people had toward the Indians. In the novel Indian Horse written by Richard Wagamese, the protagonist Saul grows up and is accustomed to the period of time where there is a pro - white bias. A bias so strong that the racism becomes institutionalized. This bias in all its forms and degrees crushes Saul’s spirit and turns what could have been a terrific athletic career to years of fighting, searching and drinking. Through the definite racism of his taking, the sexual and verbal abuse he receives from high religious figures, as well as the hierarchy created within the National Hockey League it is clear Saul believes his people are inferior to the whites which, in tail, develops the racism and prejudice central theme in the novel.

When first read by the reader many different things could be going through their minds, one assumptions could be that the “Indians” that the author is

North America. A land of acceptance, or so one would think. With the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the native inhabitants of this land became the scapegoat for many issues that settlers faced. In retaliation, European’s practiced genocidal behaviour, marking the beginning of a distrustful and hateful relationship between the two groups. As a result, American Indian society is looking to preserve its traditions and not allow them to be swept up in the rapid change of the modern age after being ravaged by the Europeans. One story wherein a stigma against a group is present - demonstrating the long term effects of this treatment - is “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie. Within this modern era lives Jackson Jackson, a Spokane Indian

Indian Horse, a novel by Richard Wagamese, is a realistic and tragic story of a First Nations child named Saul who is taken to residential school. Saul Indian Horse goes through a multitude traumatic experiences at a young age; experiences consisting of losing his family, experiencing sexual abuse, and violent racism. In the novel, a theme the reader is always brought back to is Saul’s connection to, and longing for the land. Saul’s relationship with the land is meaningful to his character because it helps him understand his family history, connects him with his culture, and comforts him in times of need.

The book “Lakota Woman,” is an autobiography that depicts Mary Crow Dog and Indians’ Lives. Because I only had a limited knowledge on Indians, the book was full of surprising incidents. Moreover, she starts out her story by describing how her Indian friends died in miserable and unjustifiable ways. After reading first few pages, I was able to tell that Indians were mistreated in the same manners as African-Americans by whites. The only facts that make it look worse are, Indians got their land stolen and prejudice and inequality for them still exists.

The Indian does not exist. It is an imaginary figure, according to Daniel Francis (The Imaginary Indian), invented by Europeans that originated in Columbus's mistake, as he believed he had landed in the East Indies, and developed into fantasy. "Through the prism of white hopes, fears and prejudices, indigenous Americans would be seen to have lost contact with reality and to have become 'Indians'; that is anything non-Natives wanted them to be," (5). Thus they were attributed a wide range of conflicting characteristics, simultaneously seen as noble savages, full of stoicism, the last representatives of a dying race and blood-thirsty warriors, void of emotion and dull-witted, reflecting European