Essay on John Richardson's Wacousta

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

The Indigenous people are people to and they live in the forest in homes not of brick or concrete and ‘Myth of Progress’ identifies it with a colonial imaginary as people believe they have better condition; “‘Despite everything, even the First Nations should be grateful that the Europeans came here’ - this, after a discussion about residential schools.”(Myth of Progress, 118) this is especially argued as we take to the perspective of hudson and he he views his home and their home of the forest as “He loaded the CD player, sprayed the pine scent around the doorways, and turned up the heat just a little…the house had a warm and festive air to it...The indian camp was clogged with ferns and nettles and cedar bush.”(King, 12-13) The satirical piece uses this information to create a juxtaposition from the indoor house and the wild forest even the grammar is improper like how Hudson and friends see the Indigenous peoples they owned. It can be argued that it is just two cultures living side by side and in many culture can also be juxtaposition making this not important like how the desert region can juxtapose the pine vegetated forest. This doesn’t denies the fact that the Aboriginals and Hudson are two different people with two different lifestyle only connect by the similar regions in where they live in. The comedy comes in on how the scene began in a warm and cozy environment to a cold and uncomfortable area they have to search

Her use of color and elaborate expressions signifies a significant break from the stereotypes of the stoic native. Star uses color throughout her work to demonstrate the vibrancy of her culture, contrary to persisting stereotypes. This provides stark contrast to those stereotypes. Considering the recent creation of this piece, it could be easily reasoned that this indicates a commentary on the persistence of those stereotypes in to today. In addition to a commentary on native stereotypes, this piece also contains a commentary on subjugation of women. Both the original White Squaw and Star’s interpretation contain slurs of very sexist and objectifying statements, to the point of treating women as sex objects. This component reaching Star’s modern interpretation suggests an underlying message of the continuation of these ideas into modern culture today, and how those are analogous to the stereotypes that Native Americans

The main points of the book are little harder for me to pin down and the author himself states in the preface “Most of all, I wanted to write a story.” Indians at this time were considered savages and were to be feared. Their savagery is shown with the attack on Deerfield and the subsequent journey to Canada. But he then questions the idea in the same space with statements like “They can leave her by the trail- where she would soon perish from exposure and exhaustion. Or they can kill her “at one stroke”- quickly without much pain.”

Violent imagery characterizes the ruthless and cruel forest by describing how the forest has been eating itself to live forever. “...a choir of seedlings arching their necks out of rotted tree stumps, sucking life out of death” (Kingsolver 5). The setting in this novel is defined by this quote. In order to survive, one must be willing to put their needs first, or else they will suffer the consequences. In this world, nothing is safe. The forest

The main idea of Sawaquat’s essay is the importance of realizing your identity. Growing up in Michigan deprived Sawaquat of his Native American heritage. What little he knew about his Ottawa ancestors was of stereotypes such as when he attended a powwow only to find out that white people were the attendees (paragraph 10). Sawaquat also talks about his time in the army and how in order to fit in with his fellow white soldiers he had to act like them which further diminished his identity (paragraph 7). The final story Sawaquat discusses in his essay is when his neighbor questioned why he did not look like a real Native American and at that point, Sawaquat realized that he was trying too hard to become what others envision a Native American to be and he is the only one who can shape his identity.

He also portrays the natives with lucid terms so as to shed an innocent light on them in an attempt to instill into his readers why it is so wrong for the Indians to be treated as they are by the Europeans.

These immediate images provoke other images in the Indian’s mind; these images are far more spectacular than those immediate images pointed out by the white woman. The two hundred year old house on the hill is linked in the Indian’s mind to the structures of his tribal ancestors which he describes in stanza three as “whose architecture is 15,000 years older”.

“The drink had me snared. I spoke less and drank more, and I became the Indian again; drunken and drooling and reeling, a caricature everyone sought to avoid,”(Wagamese,181). This stomach-turning quote displays what several First Nations thought their identity to be. With this in mind, to begin, “Indian Horse,” by Richard Wagamese is a somber and intriguing novel, with many thought-provoking points within the book. To illustrate this, the book follows a First Nations boy through his youth to adulthood. It is filled with traumatic events, depressing stories and even a few joyful moments. In addition, the novel takes place from around 1960-1980 throughout Ontario. Furthermore, this essay will explore several events and factors which impacted, Saul, the main character's identity.

Scott’s poem, “The Onondaga Madonna”, is such an example of a racist piece of literature that rejects the acceptance of a multicultural and cultural diversity within society. It emphasizes the differences between the Euro-centric society within Canada and the savage society of the Onondagas and promoted Scott’s belief that the death and eradication of Indigenous culture were “beneficial to individual Indians” (Weis 28). He believed that the government could educate and mould Aboriginals into “a fully enfranchised and Westernized member of English-Canadian society” (Weis 30), and he pushed forth his beliefs to his readers through “The Onondaga Madonna.”

For this month’s book report I read a book called ‘The Indian in the Cupboard’ by Lynne Reid Banks. This book was about a boy named Omri and his small Indian toy.

Indian horse by Richard Wagamese allowed me to open my eyes on the issues of Aboriginal people dealing with all the horrible pains and abusive trauma from the residential school. Before reading this book, I felt like I was educated well enough to understand how much aboriginal people suffered through generations and how much they have lost compared to what they had before. However, after reading this book I was able to see through First nation’s perspective and realized it's not just knowing about what aboriginal people have been through throughout the history. In this novel, the author allowed me to see Saul’s life transitioning ,where in the beginning saul was living the indigenous way of life with his family, but eventually forced to be

It is easy to see that current events and issues of the world around them have had an impact on authors and what they have written from the stories in this time period. The Native American authors wrote stories describing life during and after white man came to America. We read Oratory’s by two Native American’s COCHISE and CHARLOT. They gave heart-wrenching speeches, giving great details into the history of the tribes and the devastating effect the white man had on them. Author Zitkala Sa gave us a powerful interpretation of her life as a Indian and how the white’s coming to America affected her life.

In one of George Orwell’s famous works The Road to Wigan Pier the man famously quoted “In order to hate imperialism, you have to be a part of it. (goodreads.com)” This quote symbolizes George Orwell’s attitude toward imperialism that is clearly expressed in two of his most famous essays, Shooting an Elephant and A Hanging. The quote also makes one think about what being a part of imperialism really means; For example, in both stories George Orwell’s character is portrayed as an English figure of authority in the occupied area of Burma. In both of George Orwell’s writings the groups of people that are split from each other are the British and native Indians. Orwell used many Symbols throughout his two famous writings to describe

Wynema by Sophia Alice Callahan published in 1891, was the first novel attributed to a Native American author. Callahan, who was a mixedblood Creek, was aware of tribal issues at the time and therefore devoted most of her novel to native issues. Since then many novels by distinguished Native American authors have been published. One of the most important writers among Native Americans in the 1930’s was D’Arcy McNickle, a member of the Flathead tribe of Montana. His first novel The Surrounded was published in 1936, two years after the Indian Reorganization Act was passed near the end of the Depression in the United States. His novel is the poignant story of a mix-breed family and the tragedy of their exclusion from both the red and the white worlds. Because of cultural misunderstandings, which begin between the Indian mother and Spanish father, suspicion, fear, and finally death take their children. The novel is a history of alienation.