In "Indian Horse" by Richard Wagamese, a quote displays the theme of identity through the lens of cultural connection and heritage. Saul Indian Horse, the main character, heavily struggles with the complexities of his Ojibway identity, pending the intruding influence of colonialism. The quote really dives deep into Saul's inspiring journey, exploring his lineage and connection to northern Ontario's landscapes. Accordingly, throughout the chapters, Saul's heavily observed journey, in the quote, really goes deep into his lineage and the traditions of his people, connecting him to the landscapes of northern Ontario, and showing how his identity is heavily involved in the land, spirits, and stories of his ancestors. Moreover, the physical attributes
In this excerpt from a work of satire, Dr. Rayna Green proposes the establishment of a “Museum of the Plains White Person” and goes on to explain how, where, and why it should be built and what the museum will include. Dr. Green wrote this speech so that white people could experience the disrespect the Native Americans receive when they are talked about. Dr. Green effectively satirizes the beliefs of white people about Native American through the use of an insensitive and ignorant tone which is emphasized by assumptious diction and syntax. The location of the museum is over an “abandoned ceremonial ball court” which is extremely disrespectful to the ceremonies held on it and to those who performed them. Dr. Green ignores the fact that it is ceremonial ground that holds importance to other people.
Little after did he know he was carried to the “white people’s country” to work for them. He hasn’t seen such cruelty towards blacks, but also some whites. When he was there he couldn’t hide the fact that he was scared. He thought the white people had a special spell to put in the water to stop the vessel. He was amazed and thought they were spirits.
This painful history is reflected in Richard Wagamese's novel Indian Horse, in which he draws upon his own family's experiences to create a powerful literary exploration of reconciliation and the reclamation of identity. Richard Wagamese's childhood experiences were unsettling, especially
Richard Wagamese's novel "Indian Horse" delves deep into the profound impact of trauma on the protagonist, Saul Indian Horse. Set against the backdrop of systemic oppression and cultural erasure, Saul's journey is marked by a series of harrowing experiences that shape his identity and sense of self. In this essay, we explore the multifaceted traumas Saul endures and their enduring effects on his psyche. "I knew it was wrong to want to be Indian, to want to stay Indian when everyone else was trying to leave that part of themselves behind. I knew it was wrong because I was weak and looking backward, and I was wrong because I didn't care.
James Weldon Johnson's book, Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, is a brilliant and masterful piece of fiction written in the notion of an autobiography. Within the “autobiography,” James Weldon Johnson constructs a fabricated account of a young biracial man in turmoil with his racial identity within a highly prejudiced contemporary 19th-century America. As you would expect, the story contains numerous different themes of racial identity, sense of belonging, and even of racial “passing”. However, despite all these persistent themes, one stands out the most. The theme is music.
“The Half-Skinned Steer” – The setting in this story starts out with an old man who is headed back to where he grew up so he can attend his brother’s funeral. As the story progresses, he gets closer to his old home, and the memories of what happened before he left get more intense and come into the narrative closer together. The more miles he puts behind him, the closer he gets to the ranch both physically and mentally. The setting, in this sense, drives the plot as it causes the main character to examine his life and the choices he has made. After the long drive, he says, “For years he believed he had left without hard reason and suffered for it…(but) it had been time for him to find his own territory and his own woman” (528).
This is evident through Dave’s attitude towards Mr. Hawkins, his boss and owner of the murdered mule. Dave senses that Mr. Hawkins only wants to keep him working and treating him like a mule, and it is this realization that causes Dave’s want to take a goodbye shot at Mr. Hawkins’s “big white house” (Wright, Page 282) to put a little fear in him. In "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," Wright makes the main character Dave Saunders a servant to racial hardship. He demonstrates how whites always have an upper hand over blacks.
Identity crises are a common theme in literature and in everyday life. One such literary account of this issue is found in Charles Chestnutt’s “The Wife of His Youth”. This is a relatively short story that gives an account of a light skinned black man who is seeking to integrate into white society, but ultimately chooses to embrace his black past. Despite the story’s short length, an audience can learn a lot about human nature and the racial/historical customs of the time.
The story “What You Pawn, I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie is about a Spokane Indian man named Jackson who could not get his life together despite being given the opportunity to do so. Jackson struggles with being an outcast to society in the story. Jackson had lost a light in his life, mostly due to his own stubbornness. ‘’Piece by piece, I disappeared. I’ve been disappearing ever since.’’
Throughout chapter three of The Myth of the Negro Past, Melville Herkovits writes about the African culture back before slaves were brought to the Americas. He refutes many previously thought ideas that African Americans have no past or shared culture which the myth in the title of the book. In chapter three entitled, “The African Cultural Heritage,” Herskovits argued that African Americans descended from a people with a rich series of cultural traditions (Willaims 3). One of the aspects that Herkovits looks into is death in the African family and funerals rites. The ties between ancestors and gods are extremely close in Dahomey and the Yoruba cultures, he even says the power of man doesn’t end when that person dies,
The man convinces the narrator that when they see the first white guy come by, they’ll kidnap him and rob him. The two men finds a white couple together going towards a big party. While the women hollered at the man asking if he can get her purse and items she left in the car, he went and the two men kidnapped the rich man. They both called him “white boy” and they threatened him for the “white boys’” money. While time passed, both men gave up and decided to leave but the narrator stayed behind to watch for cops as the men told him to do so and got nothing in return from the man who robbed the “white boy”.
In the short story “Almos’ a Man” by Richard Wright, the protagonist Dave is a 17-year-old African-American boy living in the Deep South after the abolishment of slavery. Although slavery has been abolished, a race dynamic is clearly still at play in the story. Dave thinks that he is being treated like a boy by those around him, but he wants to become a man. He does this by convincing his mother to let him buy a gun from the local white storekeeper, Joe. This “shortcut” to manhood leads him to make many enormous mistakes that negatively affect his achievement of autonomy.
He goes on to show how different white men and Native Americans are; by how they collect food by hunting, where they choose to live is not in the same place for long periods, and although white men have everything they did not have the right to take away liberty.
This point is brought forward quite well in The Crow which forms part of a collection of stories called Coming of the dry Season by Charles Mungoshi where two young boys engaged in the senseless killing of a crow [1]. This story creates a paradox in the eyes of the viewer, it depicts an unjustified sense of cruelty but also shows the resilience and determination of the African man by portraying the relentless in manner which the endeavoured to complete their “mission”. The melanin in the African man’s skin is so often misunderstood and judged as a taint or a sign of inferiority. He has always been a pawn in the white man’s game: the game of monopoly. He has been forced to vacate the land where he has buried his ancestors and been traded like a mere possession in the paralysing slave trade that separated parent from child.
