Liana Laskin
English 48B
"Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims" by Sarah Winnemucca
January 21, 2009
"I am a shell flower, who could be as strong or as beautiful as me."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Winnemucca
Summary:
In the first chapter, Winnemucca talks about her childhood and how her tribe first ran into white settlers heading west for California. Her grandfather believes these people are the tribe's "white brothers" come to reunite with them; of course, this is not the case. In the end, the tribe begins to fear when the whites will come through their land and kill them. Chapter two talks about how the tribe has the "Festival of Flowers" in the spring, a time when young men and women court each other. The last section (chapter eight) takes place after Winnemucca has become an interpreter for the American army. The chapter ends with those in the Bannocks relocating to the Yakima Reservation on Major Cochran's orders.
Response:
Although this is a translation of what Winnemucca originally wrote (therefore, the legitimacy of everything in the story is put into question by many), I have a feeling the only person who may or may not have twisted the story is Winnemucca herself. Early on she talks about a dream her grandfather had: "In the beginning of the world there were only four, two girls and two boys" (Winnemucca, 503). There could be a connection made to Genesis and the story of Adam and Eve because this may have been a part of her lectures, where she would have been in front of a white audience whose perception of Indians was that they were savages. Of course, the reference could be a coincidence as many cultures have similar creation stories. I believe that Winnemucca, like Booker T. Washington, had to appeal to her audience just to be heard. It is possible that she could have twisted her words slightly to make it so the connotation of some of the things she says could depend on who is listening to her speak and what their perception of Native Americans is. As for her editor, Mary Mann, writing and changing most of the story, I just do not see that being the case.
20/20 It's not exactly a translation of what she originally wrote, Liana -- there is no written Paiute language. Instead it's a translation of the speech as she first heard her grandfather speak it.
ReplyDeleteBTW your journal posts are only about 1/2 to 1/3 as long as your peers. You'll need to write quite a bit more if you want to continue to receive credit next week and beyond :)