Indian Camp Sexism

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In the early 20th century, Native Americans had suffered endless discrimination and persecution from the European settlers. Native tribes were being kicked out of their ancestral lands so the white man can live there. At times, Native Americans were killed because they had a dark skin tone and they believed in different gods than the Christian belief. By the 1900’s less than 300,000 Native Americans live in the United States. How would being a Native American woman during this time be more difficult that living as a Native or White man? In the short story “Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemingway, an Indian woman is having a baby. A white man and his son come in to help deliver the baby, and the cycle of life and death is recognized by the boy. Although …show more content…

As Nick and his father were walking up to the shanty, he noticed “the men had moved off up the road to sit in the dark and smoke out of range of the noise she made.” The men in the village seemed to be more annoyed that they couldn't smoke in quiet than the pain the woman was being caused. When Nick and his father got into the shanty, the woman was screaming out in pain. Nick asked if his father had anything that could stop her screaming. His father said, “ Her screams are not important. I don’t hear them because they are not important.” This could mean that because she is a woman he doesn’t care that she is in pain. Once the baby was delivered Nick’s father said “ought to have a look at the proud father. They’re usually the worst sufferers in these little affairs.” Nick's father seemed more concerned that the father was quiet during the entire procedure than the well-being of the mother. This is suggesting that Nick’s father wants to make sure that the father wasn’t too annoyed with the mother’s screams. If the father wasn’t injured he could have gone and smoked with the other men of the village but instead he was stuck in the shanty with the screaming woman. The screams of the mother could have been more of an inconvenience to the father’s healing than to the pain of the