Summary Of A Red Girl's Reasoning

“Discrimination is a disease” that will never be cured (Staubach). Charlie by Lee Maracle is about a young Native American who has to abandon his roots to go to a catholic school. While leaving the school to get outside Charlie faces the brutal chill of winter and dies from the cold. One, two, three little Indians is about a family of native Americans whom have to work for the white men. They go through heartbreak and bigotry, but in the end there’s nothing they can do to save their family.

This primary source, John Rolfe’s Letter to Thomas Dale about marrying Pocahontas, is from the settlement era and was written in 1614. The European settlers in this era, early 1700s, wanted land and to displace the natives not intermarrying with them. Most settlers remained separate from the Indian society. Some settlers married Native women as a way to gain access to the native societies. It was a way to gain an economic relationship. Indians were being forced off their land because they had no real claim of it. Settlers would establish their towns on sites previously cleared by the Indians. The marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas was a rare and unique circumstance in the 1700s. The letter to Thomas Dale is a window to a period of uncertainty between the white settlers and the Native Indians in North America. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the importance of this letter and its effects to the society in the time period after it was written. John Rolfe’s decision to marry Pocahontas proved to be vital at the time. John Rolfe’s letter to Thomas Dale for approval on marrying the Indian Princess Pocahontas reflects on how much society in the early 1610s depended on such thing as intermarriage between a white man and an Indian woman to help keep peace between the white settlers and Native Indians in North America.

Some historical events that are mentioned in American Colonies by Alan Taylor that are dramatized by the film include the relationship between the Jesuits and the Indians and the love story. While, to an extent, the relationship between the two parties had many moments of accuracy, the film also made it seem like no matter what the Jesuit priest always was only looking out for the Indian people in order to convert them. The film ignores the side of the relationship where the French Jesuits primarily colonize the Indians, which ultimately leads to the death of thousands of Indians. Also, the love story between Daniel and Annuka who is the daughter of Chomina, who is accompanying the French on their mission, was dramatized. Recognizing that this love story’s purpose is to entertain the viewer, the way the cultures collide is not as accurate as it could be. Overall, however, the film does deal with these dramatizations in a responsible and fairly accurate way.

Analyze characters settings, events, and ideas as they develop and interact within a particular context

The long history between Native American and Europeans are a strained and bloody one. For the time of Columbus’s subsequent visits to the new world, native culture has

The relationship between the English and the Native Americans in 1600 to 1700 is one of the most fluctuating and the most profound relationships in American history. On the one side of the picture, the harmony between Wampanoag and Puritans even inspires them to celebrate “first Thanksgiving”; while, by contrast, the conflicts between the Pequots and the English urge them to antagonize each other, and even wage a war. In addition, the mystery of why the European settlers, including English, become the dominant power in American world, instead of the indigenous people, or Indians, can be solved from the examination of the relationship. In a variety of ways, the relationship drastically alters how people think about and relate to the aborigines. Politically, the relationship changes to establish the supremacy of the English; the English intends to obtain the land and rules over it. Socially, the relationship changes to present the majority of the English settlers; the dominating population is mostly the English settlers. Economically, the relationship changes to obtain the benefit of the English settlers; they gain profit from the massive resource in America. Therefore, the relationship does, in fact, change to foreshadow the discordance of the two groups of people.

Another social conflict underlined in this book was the conflict between the Irish-American citizen and the citizens of Indian origin. Typically, Irish people looked down upon the Indian citizens. The writer notes that the Irish people were slowly forgetting their own fate of how they too were the subject of discrimination and callous victimization in the

Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel, Ceremony, reveals how the crossing of cultures was feared, ridiculed, and shunned in various Native American tribes. The fear of change is a common and overwhelming fear everyone faces at some point in their life. The fear of the unknown, the fear of letting go, and the fear of forgetting all play a part in why people struggle with change. In Ceremony the crossing of cultures creates “half-breeds,” usually bringing disgrace to their family’s name. In Jodi Lundgren’s discourse, “Being a Half-breed”, is about how a girl who struggles with understanding what cultural group she fits into since she is a “half-breed.” Elizabeth Evasdaughter’s essay, “Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Ceremony”: Healing Ethnic Hatred by

As a comparison between tribal and western communities, a brief story is shown about a marriage in Canada. This marriage is the man’s second but the woman’s first, although she already has two children. This part of the film shows the man and woman getting ready for their wedding and talking of how they knew it was the right time to get married. Their wedding marks a right of passage separating them from the dating world and bringing them into the married world. Like the Nyinba tribe, a gift is given in the wedding ceremony to show this but instead of coins they exchange rings.

An idea that arises No Great Mischief[, is MacLeod’s ability to prove to the readers that it is impossible to talk about the Scottish-Canadian heritage without mentioning family history, loyalty and bonds. It is common for an individual to discuss all three factors when discussing family or one’s past in general. However, in No Great Mischief, MacLeod successfully

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

Traditions and old teachings are essential to Native American culture; however growing up in the modern west creates a distance and ignorance about one’s identity. In the beginning, the narrator is in the hospital while as his father lies on his death bed, when he than encounters fellow Native Americans. One of these men talks about an elderly Indian Scholar who paradoxically discussed identity, “She had taken nostalgia as her false idol-her thin blanket-and it was murdering her” (6). The nostalgia represents the old Native American ways. The woman can’t seem to let go of the past, which in turn creates confusion for the man to why she can’t let it go because she was lecturing “…separate indigenous literary identity which was ironic considering that she was speaking English in a room full of white professors”(6). The man’s ignorance with the elderly woman’s message creates a further cultural identity struggle. Once more in the hospital, the narrator talks to another Native American man who similarly feels a divide with his culture. “The Indian world is filled with charlatan, men and women who pretend…”

When European settlers arrived, they had a pre-decided vision of what women ought to behave like based on the European women, which the indigenous women didn’t align with. Indigenous women were comprehended and characterized in ambiguous and conflicting terms. They could firstly be viewed as “noble savages” where they were seen as classic Indian Princesses, virginal, childlike, naturally pure, beautiful, helpful to European men, and open and willing to

These are only a handful of stereotypes that are made in the book. Alexie points out the romanticized/savage portrayal of Indians in the past century. Not only are the stereotypes made by the white Catholic Priest, but by the Natives people themselves. This illustrates that the representations have ricocheted onto the Natives themselves. They also believe they are supposed to represent the Hollywood version of Indians.

There are times when assimilation is not a choice but rather something is forced. In circumstances such as being taken hostage, the ability to survive must come at the price of assimilating one's own customs into another lifestyle. In February of 1675 the Native Americans who were at war with the Puritans obtained hostage Mary Rowlandson of the Plymouth colony. During this time she must perform a role that is uncommon to a colonial woman's way of life so that she may live among them. With the need to survive, how can a person accommodate a second culture? The actions of Mary Rowlandson demonstrate how a person can gain,