American Studies Blog Post 8

American Studies Blog Post 8

Select a chapter from Little House on the Prairie and write a detailed analysis, giving particular attention to one of the above themes (your group tutor will allocate these to avoid duplication).  You can enhance your analysis by including reference to secondary sources as well as relevant images and illustrations.

What attitudes are revealed through the representation of American Indians? With a focus on Chapter 23.

The fascination of American Indians is captured at the beginning of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s novel within her own character. Laura can be described as the disobedient child in comparison to her elder sister Mary, who was “always good”. (Page 35) She is always questioning her parents, despite the ideas of children being be seen and not heard. Interestingly, the two daughters are allowed a certain freedom, especially from their father, Charles Ingalls. This is evident through their games but also through speech, “where is a papoose?” (Page 35). Despite this, both Mary and Laura are portrayed as naïve with the Indians, through their childlike fascination.

Chapter 23 captures the violent stereotype of the American Indians. Previous to this, the novel has portrayed them as harmless but intimidating, seen through the meetings between the Indians in the house but also the “tall Indian”. Furthermore, despite this the Indians have not presented a threat, especially in comparison to the wild Wolf pack, which at the beginning of the novel provides a larger threat to the Ingalls family. The chapter witnesses an increase of Indians seen at the Creek, the atmosphere in the Ingalls’ camp changes, “there was an uneasiness about the Indians.” Laura’s Pa consequently:

“Sat for a long time on the hearth, melting lead and making bullets. He did not stop till he had used the last bit of lead.”

This quote is interesting due to not only the change in dynamics of the Ingalls household, but also how it captivates the advances of the settlers who lived in essentially a wilderness at this time. Pa is also able to create more bullets through lead, reinforcing how far the technology has improved. As the chapter continues it is again interesting to note that Laura states that they haven’t seen any Indians for days. The stereotypical image is that the Indians and the new settlers did not interact, although through the emotive language that Laura uses, there is an indication of attachment and fascination that the Indians provide to the young child. Laura would have been aged 4 at this time in the book, and therefore this interaction with the Indians presents a strong image, which has remained in her mind until adulthood. This fascination helps with engaging with her younger audience. However, Laura’s attitude towards the Indians being once intriguing at the beginning of the novel, transfers to one of suspicion, “she was afraid of the Indians.”

The climax in the novel is when Laura wakes in the middle of the night due to the Indians, “out in the night” whose “drums were beating” and they “were wildly yelling.” The American Indians are portrayed as animalistic, through their unconventional ways of discussing war. 

(Source: http://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Garth-Williams/DE5295719FF3F976/Artworks?Params=3936382C43757272656E74506167652C312C31)

The image above is the only one in the chapter and shows the Indians war cry. The Indians are sat in a circle, with some standing and dancing. The elder Indians are sat down, almost leaving the younger Indians to contribute and discuss, but with their wisdom there. To me the image is a typical representation of an Indian tribe, with their tipi’s, the central fire and the Indian dress of headpieces, cloaks and feathers.

The war cry continues for “the next night, and the next night and the next night” which continues to get “worse and worse”. Despite the Indians being represented as a completely different culture, Laura’s Pa is able to distinguish, “they are quarrelling among themselves. Maybe they will fight each other.” Again this is fascinating as although both Indians and the white’s depicted the idea that they stayed away from each other, the Ingalls knew a great deal about the Indian tribes. One morning Laura awoke to the news of Indian tribes moving “Pa said that two big parties had gone west that morning. Now this one was going south.” That night they managed to sleep peacefully. The next day Charles Ingalls ventured to the Creek to meet an Indian refereed to as an “Osage” who states that all the Indian tribes had decided to kill the white settlers, all apart from his own. However due to the Osage tribe and their great soldier, who declared that if the other tribes, were to start a massacre, “the Osages would fight them”. This is the most significant representation of the American Indian as despite the negative, intimidating, portrayal they faced, the Osage stand up for the white settlers. Even Pa recognises this as he concludes the chapter stating, “that’s one good Indian”. Contradicting stereotypical white settlers, who like Mr Scott, would say, “The only good Indian was a dead Indian.”

Looking at the context of the Ingalls family from the “Pioneer girl”, the book implicates that a newspaper in Kansas misunderstood about the troops moving white families from the Osage lands that Laura and her family lived in. Which at the time was further reinforced with agent Isaac Gibson who announced that the government had decided, “to remove all settlers and intruders in the Indian Territory.” This led to confusion between the settlers living in this land, however Charles Ingalls left anyway. “In reality, the family had settled fourteen miles west of the reserve’s eastern boundary and six miles north of its southern one… Wilder cleared Charles Ingalls of wrongdoing in squatting in Indian land: the government had misled him.” This is interesting as Charles Ingalls does not represent the idea that America offered free land, as once he heard of the land potentially belonging to someone else, he moves his family away.

Interestingly, to contradict the challenge of stereotypical gender roles is the line of “we will be alright” (page 162) from Caroline Ingalls, when Charles leaves for Independence. This indicates that through domestic jobs, the roles have reversed. Also, that Caroline can look after her family without the input of a man.