Journal 5- Common Themes

One of the common themes in our past few readings has been the idea of using writing as a portal for societal reform. We saw this in Phelps' short story, "The Tenth of January," and we see it again in the writings of Apess and Sigourney. In the last two readings, we see specifically a theme of reform for the treatment of Native Americans. When I began reading William Apess' "An Indian's Looking-glass for the White Man," I saw Apess as an assimilated Native American who had abandoned his culture. He used Christian ideals in his piece, and he spoke ill of the culture from which he came. He said that one reason they were uncivilized was because "they have no education" (Belasco 641). At first, I took this as a bash on the Native American lifestyle, but when I looked closer and thought about his life a little more, I realized that his overall mission in saying this was to advocate for assimilation. He was able to address the White Men of the time because he was a product of their society, not his Native American one. He was educated and was converted to Christianity, giving opportunities that he would not have had if not for his adaptation to the white culture. He seems caught between two worlds in his writing; he wants to take steps to bring his fellow Native Americans out of the lack of civilization he sees in their society, but he still wants to be accepted by white men.
Lydia Sigourney, however, was on the other side of the river fighting for better treatment of Native Americans. Like Apess, she wanted Native Americans to be treated humanely, but unlike him she didn't want them to be treated as equals to the white men. She didn't want them to lose their culture or their territory or be forced to assimilate to the white man's culture. Her poem, "Indian Names," shows that she sees a never-ending presence of Native American culture in America; all of the places she names in the poem were named by the Native Americans, and many of the names have withstood the test of time. It is also evident in her poem that she blames the presence of white people for the poor treatment of Native Americans when she says, "Your mountains build their monument, Though ye destroy their dust" (1205). In a way, she is saying that Native Americans held onto this land we live in for so long, but now white people came in and tried to erase the Native Americans completely. She sees the error in this, but she also sees that their contributions to America (even before it was called America) will never be completely forgotten.
Just from these two readings, we can see that many different people fought for better treatment of Native Americans. However, there was not a united effort, nor was there a common concept of what "better" treatment was. Should they be forced to assimilate? Or, would it be better to leave them alone and give them back their land?