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Native american culture and spirituality
Native Americans the story of their culture
Native american culture and spirituality
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James Welch’s novel “The Death of Jim Loney” was a peephole into the life of a Native American whose thoughts robbed him of a good life. James Welch unfurls the protagonist‘s daily routine of destruction and inward self-hatred. James Welch slowly delineates the protagonist‘s steps towards of an unsound mind, isolation, and death.
Jim Loney’s daily routine of destruction is apparent throughout the novel. Jim suffers from a serious case of alcoholism and is addicted to smoking cigarettes. He is very well known at every bar and liquor store in Harlem. Jim is never too far away from a glass of his favorite poison. Jim is nearly drinking himself to death. Jim is drunk most of the time, so his days basically merge together as one. Jim considers alcohol
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Jim constant habits of smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol did nothing more than destroys his body. Cigarettes were something that was going to surely but slowly go to lead him to the grave. Alcohol is known for altering the mind, thus leaving Jim in the state where he is unable to care for himself. These two components would either leave Jim in a state where he is mentally dead or where he is physically dead.
The History of the Native Americans was filled with fractures of their heritage and assimilation of the Englishmen way. According to the film, “Our Spirits Don’t Speak English,” the Indians were wrenched away from their culture and their way of life. The kids were reprogrammed and taught trades that would be useful to the white men, but useless to the Indians. This definitely caused a rift between the parents and the children. A prime example of this would be Jim and Ike’s relationship. Jim attended a boarding school where he might have been subjected to the lost identity and individuality because in the boarding school they had to have the same haircuts and uniforms. Jim was facing several issues as a child. Jim was robbed of his culture and left unsure
In the beginning of the novel, Jim had a family but was soon abandoned by them do to both of their deaths. He was then on his way to his grandparents house in Nebraska to begin a new and different life. At this point, he began a union with both his grandparents as well as Antonia.
He risks his freedom to help the doctor save Tom’s life and help Huck successfully escape the Shepherdsons’. Jim shows his appreciation for Huck bringing him on this journey toward freedom by telling him he will never forget him for helping him and lying to protect his hope. On the other hand, Jim can be considered intelligent due to his belief in ghosts. But, he also posses great common sense in situations where he must protect others such as Huck. Just as Jesus Christ shed light on all things human, Jim put important aspects of his life on the line and when others so that for him, he shows how thankful he is through
In this essay, McFarland discusses Native American poetry and Sherman Alexie’s works. He provides an overview of Alexie’s writing in both his poems and short stories. A brief analysis of Alexie’s use of humor is also included.
Because of his rolling stone like upbringings, conformity is not a part of his forte. In some ways he takes after his father, the infamous town drunk who hasn’t attempted to contact Huck in years. But despite all of the complications and seeming misery, he is a decent boy who only gets himself into a bit of mischief. Therefore, with the difficult life he’s already had at such a young age, it’s a miracle he isn’t either depressed or a delinquent. Jim also hasn’t had it easy. Being a black man living in the south during pre-Civil War times means daily persecution. He lived a life that he could never fulfill because of the metaphorical chains he never got to take off. So he was left no other choice but to run until he found freedom. Although this would be deemed as “reckless” to society, he did it out of love for his family and fear of his life. Every decision Jim made was done with the hope that he would one day be reunited with them. His intentions were pure, and the positive light that’s cast upon him gives the readers a heartfelt sympathy for what he’s going through. Both Jim and Huck had to overcome great struggle until they found solace in the
Throughout the novels we have read this semesters, one can makes observation that many of the characters from each novel have gone through fear whether it was due to racial strife or threat to life. We then see the characters go out and find their salvation or in some cases leave their homes before being faced with the consequences they have brought upon themselves.. Finally, most character are then faced with their fate in life where in most situation it is death or freedom. We see these variations first develop by author Richard Wright 's in his novel and movie Native Son. Each variations can been seen within different characters from both Cane and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. The variations are shape within
“Quantie’s weak body shuddered from a blast of cold wind. Still, the proud wife of the Cherokee chief John Ross wrapped a woolen blanket around her shoulders and grabbed the reins.” Leading the final group of Cherokee Indians from their home lands, Chief John Ross thought of an old story that was told by the chiefs before him, of a place where the earth and sky met in the west, this was the place where death awaits. He could not help but fear that this place of death was where his beloved people were being taken after years of persecution and injustice at the hands of white Americans, the proud Indian people were being forced to vacate their lands, leaving behind their homes, businesses and almost everything they owned while traveling to an unknown place and an uncertain future. The Cherokee Indians suffered terrible indignities, sickness and death while being removed to the Indian territories west of the Mississippi, even though they maintained their culture and traditions, rebuilt their numbers and improved their living conditions by developing their own government, economy and social structure, they were never able to return to their previous greatness or escape the injustices of the American people.
Jim is one of the most underrated and most understood characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. There are many arguments that people can use about the way Twain portrays Jim. Even for the best arguments that readers can have, there is always an argument to rebut with, unless the readers completely understand Twain’s purpose for writing Jim in such a way. Twain shows Jim in a complex environment that helps strengthen him as a character. In Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain depicts Jim to be a kind, loving, and trusting family man who, against all odds, challenges the social norm that black and white people are different.
The way Jim acts tends to depict blacks in a negative light, based on his language throughout the novel, that makes the African American character sound ignorant. Fishkin debunks this argument by saying “Jim’s speech represented Twain’s ‘pains-taking’ efforts to accurately record, to the best of his ability, “Missouri Negro Dialect.”...His use of eye dialect (like ‘wuz’) is minimal. His primary concern is communicating Jim’s very pain.” (Fishkin
...efers back to Marie’s hostile statement. Although not every Indian feels as Marie and Reggie do, certainly not John Smith in his dream, the ominous metaphor of the owls marks Alexie’s prediction for the future: unless hate can be reconciled, the spirit of murder and blood shed will continue to plague man kind. While the title of the work serves to encompass victims of both white and Indian cultural backgrounds and closes on the image of the ambiguous killer, (could it be Wilson dancing wildly with his store bought cassette tape? Or could it be Reggie living large in his bloody victories?), the content of the novel is a living account of human actions to historical contexts. Alexies’ work is exaggerated beyond reality, to be sure, yet his assessment of Native American identity is intriguing and universal in the story of recovery from human inflicted violence and hate.
To most Americans today, life on the reservation is not at all like is glorified to be. Sherman Alexie uses his literary talent to expose the truth inside the reservation. In particular, in his short stories, “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation No Longer Flashes Red,” “Every Little Hurricane,” and “Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” Alexie reveals the ever continuous cycle trend of alcoholism, poverty, and racial injustice from one generation to the next. As the trend continues, the earlier it seems that the Native American youth are falling into the habits and life choices of their parents. Thus, each of the previously stated short stories addresses the negative turn-of-events that lead to the Native American youth following the same corrupt path as the generations before them from a different angle to expose the truth within the reservation.
Jim and his people are regarded by the society at the time to not have feelings. This is evidently not true as Jim specifically shows that he has feelings. Jim has the most feelings for his family, “head down betwixt his knees, moaning and moaning to himself… he was thinking about his family” (Twain 155). This quote shows that Jim felt feelings for his family that he so dearly missed. What Jim had done to his daughter was unfortunate and he knew that felt bad for this. Jim highly values his family and tries to fuel his quest for freedom only to be able to return with his family. “The first thing he would do when got to a free state he would go to saving up money and never spend a single cent, and when he got enough he would buy his wife, which was owned on a farm close to where Miss Watson lived; and then they would both work to buy the two children, and if their master wouldn't sell them, they'd get an Ab'litionist to go and steal them." (Twain 88). From this quote, I can concur that Jim was solely out on the search for freedom in order to live with his family in a free State and that he happened to grow a strong friendship with Huck.
...all along Jim was free but being the adventurous boy he is he wanted Jim to turn out and be a hero like the one’s he reads about. Tom knows Jim could have been freed multiple times if he didn’t put him up to all of the childish games. Jim had stayed by Tom’s when he almost died and would do anything for him but Tom couldn’t give Jim the same respect back. His foolishness behavior caused Jim more pain and almost didn’t get him freed. Jim was a father figure to both boys and he stood by Huck’s side since the beginning of the novel.
During times of slavery, every African American in the south was either a slave or a free African American. “She treated me with respect” (Twain 5). Jim said when he was asked about how the Widow Douglass treats him. This shows that the life of Jim was not that bad, he had everything a slave at that time could want, and his owner did not disrespect him. Also most slaves were abused and almost beaten to death. Twain tries to represent the hardships of slaves on a daily basis when he doesn’t portray Jim’s life to be much difficult “Even though Jim was a slave, he was treated like a family member” (Ralph 6). Jim was a house slave and did not have to do hard work in the fields for long hours. In page 3 in Ralph’s Article, he says “Jim had to no motive to leave, he wanted freedom but it would be harder for him because he wouldn’t have all the amenities he had when he was a slave” (Ralph 4).
First, the search for freedom had a major impact on Jim throughout the story. At the beginning of the story, Jim was living his life as a slave. Jim was content with his life until his owner; Ms. Watson was talking about selling him to New Orleans. That is when Jim’s search for freedom actually began. Jim ran in terror, becoming a runaway slave. That is where Jim and Huck met. Jim, like Huck, was also trying to escape from civilization. Jim had been treated poorly the w...
... tobacco, so he went to the craven to get some, and finds a rattlesnake. Huck kills it and curled it up and put it on the foot of Jim's blanket. Night came and Jim flung himself on the blanket and the snake's mate was there, and it bit Jim on the heel. Jim tells Huck to chop off the snake's head, then skin the body of the snake and roast a piece of it. He took the rattles off and tied them to Jim’s wrist. Jim said it would help him. Huck says "I made up my mind I wouldn't ever take a-holt of a snake-skin again with my hands, now that I see what had come of it".