After reading “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man” and Sigourney’s poem “Indian Names” plus the past readings I traced one major common theme: the mistreatment of minorities. Apess’ entire story is basically saying how hypocritical some Christians are. He says “Who are the children of God? Perhaps you may say, none but white. If so, the word of the Lord is not true.” He basically says that white people think they are better than everyone else even though the Bible that so many of them read clearly says otherwise. He says how the Indians are mistreated by the whites “…many of them are unfaithful and care not whether the Indians live or die;” Sigourney’s poem is similar to Apess’ story. Her poem says that even though many Indians are being wiped out or moved, their names remain on many landmarks, which is true even to this day. Sigourney was a devout Christian and she was firmly against the Removal Act of 1830. Although the two stories aren’t the same, they basically say that Indians are being mistreated by the whites, but that they are somehow managing to survive. Looking back at some of the other stories, such as “The Tenth of January”, this theme of mistreatment and survival of minorities is very present. It is important to remember women were basically minorities at this time which is apparent in Phelps’ poem. Even the very first stories we read at the beginning of the semester pictured “minorities” as being mistreated and often having to survive by the scrape of their teeth. de Crevecoeur’s Story also to me made it seem like an American is basically a white man and that anyone else isn’t an American. Although he did not write about minorities, it is clear that he thinks they are not as good as white people.
Really fine posting!
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting how you talk about not only the mistreatment of Indians throughout “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man” and "Indian Names", but also the mistreatment of women throughout this time period. I had never really thought about the fact that women were treated just as badly as many of the other humans that were not a white male. Yesterday in class, was the first time I had really put any thought into that issue.
ReplyDeleteIn my post for these readings I made many of the same connections you did.. I talked about the fact that Indians were very mistreated, as did you. However, I also brought up the fact that the whites really could not live without the Indians. As Apess states in reference to the whites: "Another reason is because they haven no education to take care of themselves, if they had, I would risk them to take care of their own property” (Apess 641).
I think this is very interesting because it is so true. The whites were dependent on many of the people of whom they looked down upon.
In reference to the Biblical comparisons, there was a quote that I thought was very intriguing that you did not bring up. Apess compares the Indians to Jesus because Jesus did not have white skin, just as the Indians did not have white skin. Apess says: "Now, if the Lord Jesus Christ, who is counted by all to be a Jew- and it is well known that the Jews are a colored people, especially those living in the East, where Christ was born- and if he should appear among us, would he not be shut out of doors by many, very quickly? And by those too who profess religion?" (Apess 644) This is a very bold statement to make but it really paints a great picture for the reader!