Short Story: Dansir's Comanche

Overall The Absolutely true diary of a part Time indian strongly reinforces the concept of survival through many techniques and quotes. The many situations that the narrator finds himself in have an enormous effect

The Comanches, exceptional horsemen who dominated the Southern Plains, played a prominent role in Texas frontier history throughout much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Anthropological evidence indicates that they were originally a mountain tribe, a branch of the Northern Shoshones, who roamed the Great Basin region of the western United States as crudely equipped hunters and gatherers. Both cultural and linguistic similarities confirm the Comanches' Shoshone origins. The Comanche language is derived from the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family and is virtually identical to the language of the Northern Shoshones. Sometime during the late seventeenth century, the Comanches acquired horses, and that acquisition

“Last Thursday evening, I watched rather helplessly as nine Indians were thrashed and battered about by just as many men in blue and white”

Mercy spoke in fragments of sentences punctuated by long silences, and I worked hard to piece together her traumatic history. Though born in the United States, Mercy did not identify with American customs or values; nor did she connect with her family’s endless mourning for the traumatic loss of their country. The seemingly unbridgeable gap in our experiences remained on the outskirts of my awareness, a dull but insidious preconscious impression that our differences could destroy any approach at mutual understanding. I instinctively dealt with this perceived threat by trying to completely immerse myself in Mercy’s experience, in effect, attempting to hold back any aspects of myself that could obtrude or offend,

the pain that the readers must feel as they witness as the tribe’s erosion under the influence of the

When most of us think of the great Indians of the last century, we think of a thin, well-defined figure standing stern and serious. When we think of a modern Indian, we

The Omaha Chief Big Elk commented on the effect of the white migration to the West across the Overland Trails while visiting Washington D.C. He stated eloquently, “there is a coming flood which will soon reach us, and I advise you to prepare for it.” An estimated 500,000 people made the journey West to California and the Willamette Valley between the years 1840 – 1870. However, much like the first rains in a wet season, benefits were found in the first storm of white emigrants heading west. Native people were able to cooperate with white emigrants and benefit from trading with them. But the storms continued, emigrants as plentiful as rain drops came through the Indian lands and eventually, the prophecy of a great flood Chief Big Elk spoke of came true. Overtime, whites used up the limited resources of the plains tribes, depended on one another instead of Indians for help, and used force rather than compromise to clear the way for the expansion of the West.

Many were forced to evacuate to other regions within the country and endure the infamous Trail of Tears. While Native Americans are not forcibly removed from their homes anymore, this story shows a modern-day example of mistreatment or borders that Native Americans deal with. While the mother faced many different conflicts, externally and internally, she readily accepts the challenge and is not willing to step down. She displays the pride of the Blackfoot Indians and is not willing to let the government tell her who she is and let them define her. She sets an example for Native Americans, standing up against a government that has held them down for so long. That they should always have pride in who they are, and where they came

"Their (Natives) present condition, contrasted with what they once were, makes a most powerful appeal to our sympathies…By persuasion and force they have been made to retire from river to river and from mountain to mountain, until some of the tribes have become extinct and others have left but remnants to preserve for a while their once terrible names. Surrounded by the whites with their arts of civilization, which by destroying the resources of the savage doom him to

Likewise, The Comanche Empire began forming alliances and agreeing to terms of peace with certain tribes on the plains and were influenced by what these agreements and treaties would bring for the Comanche peoples subsistence. “Treaty of Camp Holmes” signed between the Comanches and Osages and related tribes was the first agreement with the U.S. and plains Indians that kicked off treaties that promised indigenous peoples goods in return for peace and land. “Particularly in this respect was the 1835 treaty of Camp Holmes, in which Comanches granted Osages and the populous immigrant tribes of Indian territory access to their lands in exchange for trading privileges.” The Comanches agreed to treaties that allowed Osages tribe and other parties of the treaties access to their land and to remain at peace with one another, and affiliated tribes, because of the agreement the Comanches were granted new trade networks in

With deflated shoulders, Elizabeth drew a breath and bowed her head. “I’m sorry to admit that I was not innocent of those feelings. After having my family savagely murdered in front of me, I too had a deep hatred and fear of all Indians for a time.”

So, in search for his identity, Abel looks to break away from his Indian life on the reservation enrolling in the U.S. Army. He is part of the only generation of Native Americans sent off to fight for the U.S.A. during the 2nd World Wide War. According to Kumar, “Almost no Indian generation or Abel's generation escaped that dislocation, that sense of having to deal immediately with, not only with the traditional world, but with the other world which was placed over the traditional world so abruptly and with great violence” (163). So, after many years being away at war, many Native Americans originating from this generation saw their cultural and social identity shattered on their way back home. These young adults had to analyze and comprehend the many layers of the present American society and reinterpret this culture among their past traditional Native American culture. So, while leaving the reservation initially represented an enriching attempt for Abel to build his own identity, the war seems to the contrary, an extremely disturbing episode of his life, which only contributes to strengthen his sense of alienation from his heritage and dislocate his identity already

The life one treasures and takes for granted today can be so easily erased in the blink of an eye and gone tomorrow. Therefore, not only is it important to cherish how one lives for today and now, but it’s also important to how one can overcome the misfortunes and hardships they may suffer; tragedy can make a person or break a person. Mary Rowlandson’s experience during her eleven weeks of captivity as documented in “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” is a perfect answer to the above argument. The eleven weeks she experienced as a prisoner of her Indian captors proves to be a pivotal occasion in her life, which changes her feelings, lifestyle, and attitude as well towards her abductors. By the end of her horrifying experience, she rises more profoundly grounded in every way: mentally, physically, and spiritually with a new outlook on life, closer to God, and a newfound opinion of the Indians.

Throughout history, Native Americans in early America have been viewed as primitive and violent people. Artwork often depicts them engaging in barbaric behavior such as eating other humans and engaging in violent wars. However, this view of early Native Americans has been created by the works of people belonging to the “civilized world” of early America. Lucy Terry’s poem “Bars Fight” retells the story of when a group of Indians attacked two families that she knew. Terry’s work can be compared to those of Christopher Columbus and Thomas Jefferson in their portrayal and perception of Indians.

This is what Temsula Ao writes about in her volume of short stories “These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone”. Ao’s stories take us to the heart of a trouble-torn land which is historically and politically located. She describes how ordinary people cope with violence perpetuated by various militant outfits as well as the armed force. Temsula Ao’s stories echoes her protest against such atrocities.This paper is an attempt to foreground and highlight the underlying theme of violence in the short stories of Temsula Ao. In the introduction to her book These Hills Called Home, Temsula Ao says about her stories that “Many of the stories in this collection have their genesis in the turbulent years of bloodshed and tears that make up the history of the Nagas from the early fifties of the last century”. (Ao x) Referring to the violence inflicted on the people she says “for the victims the trauma goes beyond the realm of just the physical maiming and loss of life --- their very humanity is assaulted and violated, and the onslaught leaves the survivors scarred both in mind and soul.” (Ao