Little House on the Prairie Chapter 11

In chapter 11 of Little House on the Prairie, we see the American Indians entering the Ingalls home. This chapter is important as it is the first time that the readers encounter the Indians and from this, we get the first perception of the Indians though Laura's eyes as well as the way in which the Ingalls family view them. 

First of all, the chapter is called 'Indians in the House', and in my opinion this has underlying racial implications. This because the title puts an emphasis on 'Indians', implying that the Indians were, perhaps, not seen as having been on the same intellectual and humane level as other people, and the Ingalls family. 
The first detail describing them is that 'their eyes were black and still and glittering, like snakes' eyes.' This representation from Laura shows the American Indians as animals which is unsurprising considering that they were seen as savages and not civilised humans like the Ingalls' were. This description also represents them as evil because at the time it was the norm for people in America to have Christian beliefs, this being said, the use of 'snakes' as a description of the Indians could be a biblical reference, to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, it may have been a conscious decision by Laura to associate them with this concept.

In this chapter the American Indians do not seem to be portrayed in the dangerous and destructive way that we would immediately expect, given Ma's hatred and hostility towards Indians throughout the novel. They show little threat to the family and leave peacefully after they have eaten the cornbread made by Ma. This does not mean however that the family do not feel frightened by them, they are scared because of the stories they have heard about how harmful they can be if agitated. This is why Pa says 'the main thing is to be on good terms with the Indians' because he knows that they can destroy his whole family if they are not treated correctly. This reveals to us the attitude that working with the American Indians is the most productive way of keeping the peace, a view that is rarely reflected by the actions of the government during the settlement of the west in the nineteenth century. 

When we look at how the dog, Jack, reacted to the Indians, with such anger, it seems that the reaction was somewhat of an overreaction, which could have been written by Laura as a way of, perhaps, making the Indians out to be even worse than they were, by making mans best friend react negatively. This could also show, again, that the Indians were not thought of as being the same level of human due to the way that in this chapter the Indians do nothing to suggest that they were a threat to the Ingalls family, but the dog's negative reaction would suggest that they were more of an underlying threat. Jack is trained to protect the Ingalls and warn them when there is a threat to their safety, it is because of this that he 'growled a fierce, deep growl' trying to scare the Indians away.