A Red Girl's Reasoning By Thomas King Summary

In The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative, In the second and third chapter Thomas King discusses the difference between the literary Indian and the Indian of fact. In the second chapter, King describes how the “literary Indian” was the idea of an Indian that was dying – which, in reality, didn’t exist. King describes this in his second chapter saying, “To be sure, while many of the tribes that lived along the east coast of North America, in the interior of Lower Canada, and in the Connecticut, Ohio, and St. Lawrence river valleys had been injured and disoriented by the years of almost constant warfare, by European diseases, and by the destructive push of settlers for cheap land, and the vast majority of the tribes were a comfortable distance

Pauline Johnson, is more about representing Native women and giving a realistic characterization to Native women in literature. A Red Girl’s Reasoning is a direct response and criticism of the “Winona” character that flooded literature in the nineteenth century. Christine is the complete opposite of a “Winona” character; she isn’t the mindless, over-emotional, dishonest, and deceitful woman that other portrayals of Native women were. She stayed true to her cultural beliefs while still compromising with Charlie to make their marriage work. When Charlie questions the legitimacy of her parent’s marriage and implies that Christie was born outside of marriage even though her parents were married by Indian rites. Christie flips Charlie’s logic back onto him and says, “’I tell you that we are not married. Why should I recognize the rites of your nation when you do not acknowledge the rites of mine” (9)? When Christie challenges his authority Charlie responds with violence and is only stopped from breaking her arm when his brother steps in. Johnson gives power to Christie that other women in other stories were not given. The power of logic and reason formed every decision Christie made in the story. Instead of being consumed by her emotions, she makes her decisions based on logic; even though her heart still calls for Charlie she chooses to stay separated even when he is begging her to take him