A Theme of Racial Purity, Honor, Family, and Miscegeneraton in The Searcher by Ethan Edwards

1181 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: how movies sterortypes ethnic groups

The Searchers contains a central theme of racial purity, honor, family, and miscegenation. Ethan Edwards, the main character of the film, is a Civil War veteran who returns to his brother’s, Aaron Edwards’, ranch three years after the war. What was supposed to be a friendly family visit turns into a disaster. During the turmoil that Ethan is put in and has to witness, we are able to infer some characteristics about this mysterious man. It can be concluded that in moments of stress and frustration, Ethan becomes protective, contains a lot of racial hatred, and possesses his personal code of ethics and morals. Each of his characteristics play some part in the values he represents: racism, family, and miscegenation. For example, the protective part of Ethan is shown moments before the Comanches massacre his family. This characteristic represents family values. Family members are usually protective of each other. After the massacre, taking in all the remains of the fire, Ethan doesn’t allow Martin from going inside the house to prevent him from the seeing the bodies of his murdered family. He looks out for Martin because even though Martin and him and don’t get along due to the fact that Martin is part Native American, family looks out for family; this value is something that all people around the world share. The value of racial purity plays into action through his characteristic of being racist toward Native Americans. This aspect of Ethan can be seen when he shoots the dead Comanche’s eyes. It gives a sense to the audience that if Ethan could get rid of all the Native Americans in a second, he would without a doubt. He goes as far as trying to kill Debbie because “she is one of them”. This gives us a mental picture that racial supr...

... middle of paper ...

...ill go on with their lives regardless of war and regardless of Comanche raids. Newer generations are starting to put the wall of miscegenation behind them such as Martin and Laurie. Through all this, Ethan doesn’t see his search is pointless. Others even tell Ethan to give up and that Debbie is as good as gone, and the past isn’t worth living for, but that is what Ethan does. He lives in the past and can’t adapt to the future. This is also the reason why he doesn’t enter the house at the end, because he knows he doesn’t fit in. He might be able to accept Martin and Debbie, but the hostility will always exist.
It can be concluded that The Searchers clearly portrays our past society in Westerns’ relationships with Native Americans, shows the tension between a rugged individual and his community, and pins down values of honor, family, racial purity, and miscegenation.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis of Inventing The Savage: The Social Construct of Native American Criminality by Luana Ross

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    Inventing the Savage: The Social Construct of Native American Criminality. Luana Ross. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1998.

    Read More

  • Indian From The Inside Native American Culture Summary

    529 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pages one to sixty- nine in Indian From The Inside: Native American Philosophy and Cultural Renewal by Dennis McPherson and J. Douglas Rabb, provides the beginning of an in-depth analysis of Native American cultural philosophy. It also states the ways in which western perspective has played a role in our understanding of Native American culture and similarities between Western culture and Native American culture. The section of reading can be divided into three lenses. The first section focus is on the theoretical understanding of self in respect to the space around us. The second section provides a historical background into the relationship between Native Americans and British colonial power. The last section focus is on the affiliation of otherworldliness that exist between

    Read More

  • First Peoples: A Documentary Survey Of The First People By Colin Calloway

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    The depiction of Native Americans to the current day youth in the United States is a colorful fantasy used to cover up an unwarranted past. Native people are dressed from head to toe in feathers and paint while dancing around fires. They attempt to make good relations with European settlers but were then taken advantage of their “hippie” ways. However, this dramatized view is particularly portrayed through media and mainstream culture. It is also the one perspective every person remembers because they grew up being taught these views. Yet, Colin Calloway the author of First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History, wishes to bring forth contradicting ideas. He doesn’t wish to disprove history; he only wishes to rewrite it.

    Read More

  • In the White Man's Image and The Real American

    608 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film, “In the White Man’s Image” and Sally Jenkins’ narrative, “The Real All Americans” both discussed the controversial issues and historical significance of nineteenth century social policies dealing with cultural integration of Native Americans, yet while “In the White Man’s Image” covered the broad consequences of such policies, it was Jenkins’ narrow focus on the daily lives of students involved that was able to fully convey the complexities of this devastating social policy. Jenkins’ recreated the experiences of students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, bringing the reader along with her as students were stripped of culture, language, and family to be remade into a crude imitation of white society. “...Now, after having had my hair cut, a new thought came into my head. I felt I was no more Indian…” (Jenkins, pg 75). Richard Henry Pratt, the creator of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School that became the inspiration and model for many similar institutions across the nation, intended to save a people from complete destruction, yet the unforeseen consequences of his ...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Lame Deer Seeker Of Visions

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this essay I will be doing a brief overview of the book Lame Deer Seeker of Visions, by Richard Erdoes. Within this book a monumental task has been achieved, which turns out to provide unparalleled information and a concrete depiction of the Native American Indian. This aspect has been portrayed through the eyes of a Sioux medicine man throughout the book and to many individual’s dismay, paints an accurate picture of both events that occurred and how Native American Indians were being treated at the time. Capturing the true essence of hours of in depth interviews, which have both been written out in detail and videotaped, years of friendship between Richard and Lame Deer, we are able to read upon a magnificent

    Read More

  • "Custer Died For Your Sins" Analysis

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although the work is 40 years old, “Custer Died for Your Sins” is still relevant and valuable in explaining the history and problems that Indians face in the United States. Deloria’s book reveals the White view of Indians as false compared to the reality of how Indians are in real life. The forceful intrusion of the U.S. Government and Christian missionaries have had the most oppressing and damaging affect on Indians. There is hope in Delorias words though. He believes that as more tribes become more politically active and capable, they will be able to become more economically independent for future generations. He feels much hope in the 1960’s generation of college age Indians returning to take ownership of their tribes problems and build a better future for their children.

    Read More

  • Indians in Unexpected Places

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    Deloria, in the introduction, begins with the picture of an American Indian using a modern bubble-style hair dryer at a hair salon. This image often evokes a chuckle, as Deloria states, because of our inherent expectation for an Indian to be wearing buckskin in the plains, rather than in a hair salon. Often, once the topic of stereotype, malice, and expectations are brought up, the chuckle or grin is gone. The preconceived ideal of what an American Indian should be is so deeply ingrained within us that we do not even give it a second thought when judging a supposed anomaly as the woman under the hair dryer. Deloria organizes his work into five sections, in the form of essays. These tackle the issues surrounding the stereotypes and expectations that we have for the Native peoples, in a variety of different aspects. The first one focuses on the idea of violence, and the popular notion of a savage depiction of the Indians. The second focuses on the Native American view of themsel...

    Read More

  • American History Textbooks: Omission and Misrepresentation of Facts?

    2067 Words  | 5 Pages

    Sanchez, Tony. 2007. The Depiction of Native Americans in Recent (1991-2004) Secondary American History Textbooks: How Far Have We Come?. University of Toledo: Toledo, OH.

    Read More

  • Sherman Alexie A Native American Writer

    1190 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sherman Alexie has made a name for himself as a prolific contemporary Native American writer, taking inspiration from his own past and experiences with modern Indian life. While there are many enduring themes throughout Alexie's writings: Native identity, modern reservation life, alcohol abuse etc. when it comes to his collection War Dances, the most apparent motif is fatherhood. Community and family are the heart of Native American cultures, with the father archetype holding great honor and expectation. However with alcohol abuse, poverty, and school drop rates running rampant through Native American reservations it is no surprise that more and more Native children are growing up in broken homes. In an alarming poll by the Kids Count Data Center, a national census, in 2011 out of 355,000 polled 53% live in single-parent homes. The lack of a leader, a strong male role model is a major factor in many of the abysmal statistics facing modern reservation children. The despotism of Native American culture has always been based on the deprivation of power, status, equality, and home. This presents a paucity of male dominance, many of these men feel helpless in a society where they have no real identity. They are forced to live in the idea they have no personal potential so it is understandable why the majority of Indian males may feel inadequate and unable to care for their families. Alexie himself struggled in a home with an alcoholic and neglectful father, and like many Native children he almost gave into a similar chain of abuse and alcoholism. This is what inspires him to write, to expose the corroding inner workings of the modern Native peoples brought on by centuries of autocracy. Oppression and the idea of fatherhood is a common ...

    Read More

  • The Myth of the Old West

    2022 Words  | 5 Pages

    All in all, the treatment of the American Indian during the expansion westward was cruel and harsh. Thus, A Century of Dishonor conveys the truth about the frontier more so than the frontier thesis. Additionally, the common beliefs about the old west are founded in lies and deception. The despair that comes with knowing that people will continue to believe in these false ideas is epitomized by Terrell’s statement, “Perhaps nothing will ever penetrate the haze of puerile romance with which writers unfaithful to their profession and to themselves have surrounded the westerner who made a living in the saddle” (Terrell 182).

    Read More

  • Summary Of Roger Jack's 'An Indian Story'

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Essay, I have chosen to read from is ReReading America was An Indian Story by Roger Jack. The topic of this narrative explores the life of an Indian boy who grows up away from his father in the Pacific Northwest. Roger Jack describes the growing up of a young Indian boy to a man, who lives away from his father. Roger demonstrates values of the Indian culture and their morals through exploration of family ties and change in these specific ties. He also demonstrates that growing up away from one’s father doesn’t mean one can’t be successful in life, it only takes a proper role model, such as the author provides for the young boy.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Thomas King's 'The Inconvenient Indian'

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were

    Read More

  • Examples Of Racism In The Searchers

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    He mentions that despite Ethan’s animosity towards the Comanche, the act of not killing Debbie may have been a momentary act of weakness (Pippin 2009:239). Although, it is ironic that Ethan cannot conform to his racist ideologies (Pippin 2009:239). Furthermore, Pippin (2009:239) proposes that this ‘impulsive act of weakness’ option does not seem likely, as a bit before, Ethan was ready to shoot Debbie and had to be stopped by Martin and an Indian arrow. In addition, why is it that Ethan is struck by a sense of ‘weakness’ after executing the most brutal act of racial hatred, him scalping Scar (Pippin 2009:239)? Additionally, Pippin (2009:239) mentions that Ethan’s character has not shown any evidence of ‘weakness’ throughout this film and therefore it is too easy of an explanation (Pippin 2009:239). This option does not seem viable since Ethan is portrayed as a very strong headed character whose actions match his intentions. Throughout the film Ethan does not show any evidence of weakness, he is a ruthless character that will do what he wants. Furthermore, Ethan shoots out a dead Comanche’s eyes, scalps Scar, uses Martin as bait to lure Mr. Futterman all his actions is fueled by

    Read More

  • Reading Moby-Dick as Ethnic Allegory

    2738 Words  | 6 Pages

    Berkhofer, Robert F. The White Man's Indian: Images of the American Indian from Columbus to the Present. New York: Vintage Books, 1979.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes Of Native Americans In James Fenimore Cooper's The Last Of The Mohicans

    1395 Words  | 3 Pages

    For most Americans, their knowledge of Native Americans and their culture of both past and present are based predominantly on outdated labels and stereotypes. Over the past 7 weeks, we have covered several sources that have contributed to the continuous development of the stereotypical images that have unsettled the Native Americans over time. These misleading pictures, novels, Hollywood films, professional sports mascots, and other mediums have misrepresented and alienated the indigenous peoples within in each respective time period regarding the current Euro-American centered culture. In order to empathize with their situation one need to understand how and why these stereotypical images of Native Americans were first created in the first

    Read More

More about A Theme of Racial Purity, Honor, Family, and Miscegeneraton in The Searcher by Ethan Edwards

Open Document