Summary Of Indians By Jane Tompkins
analytical Essay
977 words
In Jane Tompkins essay, “Indians”: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History” she describes the issues on how history can be flawed by being told from the observer’s point view. She also goes out to question the validity of history in certain historical books. All through the essay, Tompkins’ central message is to let the historical writers know that morality should be the crux of their decision making if they want the truth. It is crucial to know that when learning history you are subject to that person’s narrow point of view. In her essay "'Indians': Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History", Jane Tompkins discusses the problems she encountered while doing historical research about Indians. Not too fond of the plethora of biased accounts, Tompkins initially concluded that because the perspective of historians were muddied by their cultural background, it was essentially impossible to recreate a valid explanation of what truly occurred between …show more content…
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes jane tompkins' essay, "indians: textualism, morality, and the problem of history," which explains how history can be flawed by being told from the observer's point of view.
- Analyzes how jane tompkins' argument is about expanding your research on different interpretations of historical aspects.
- Analyzes how tompkins' argument is sound, but there are flaws in her thinking. she cites a distinct case of english protestant settlers who recognize the indians as barbarous savages.
- Explains that two people can have varied speculations about the same topic, but can't accept either of them as the complete truth. to collect the most authentic "truth," one must take all the different points of view.
- Compares the "banking" theory, where the student is subject to the prejudices and beliefs of the educator, while learning history.
- Opines that reading tompkins is not meant to discourage you from learning from history. it is important to learn from the past to know things about the present.
- Explains that once they are able to see these different perspectives, they can learn more about the people who have them and detect their language and method of developing them.
- Explains that in order to learn about the other people and their surroundings, it is essential to bear in mind that different people produce different beliefs on certain subjects.
- Opines that jane tompkins' essay is essential to understanding how history can be false or watered down throughout different books.
Due to Jane Tompkins’ frustration on bias historical facts, one can come to a realization on the importance of honest historical accounts. “This essay enacts a particular instance of the challenge poststructuralism poses to the study of history. In simpler language, it concerns the difference that point of view makes when people are giving accounts of events, whether at first or second hand. The problem is that if all accounts of events are determined through and through by the observer's frame of reference, then one will never know, in any given case, what really happened (Tompkins). According to the article, “Indians”, by Tompkins, it is not possible to find the truth in history and if the perspective is bias it will become a perpetuation of inaccurate history. Jane Tompkins supports this argument by using the example of the Europeans “colonizing” the Indian land and how they were
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how mary louise pratt and jane tompkins probe the difficulties of the reading and writing of history, specifically at the problems of bias and contemplative historical accounts.
- Analyzes how the historical accounts pondered by pratt and tompkins through historical text allow them to realize that every account that a historian calls fact is real perspective.
- Analyzes how pratt uses the concepts of "contact zone," "autoethnography," and "entropy" to support her essay about history.
- Analyzes how vega's ethnographic text illustrates the relationship between the incas and the spaniards during the conquering of their land, while poma’s autoethnographic text contains conflicting ideas.
- Analyzes how poma's letter to the spanish king, de la vega, is written in eloquent, standard spanish, without illustrations. the spanish people, the main target for his essay, read and understand the history.
- Analyzes how tompkins' essay deals with the various writings of historical accounts. the "contact zone" of the puritans and indians tells a different story about the conflicts between the two groups.
- Analyzes how the "contact zone" between the puritans and the indians is viewed differently by each author.
- Argues that tompkins' conclusions about facts and perspectives in history apply to pratt's way at looking at historical texts.
- Analyzes how tompkins' view of the story as a droll anecdote or curious information is evidence of values.
- Analyzes how pratt agrees with tompkins' view about factualism and subjectivity in historical accounts.
- Explains that the majority of people would not understand the text if it was written.
- Compares pratt's and tompkins' strategies to read history, stating that each author is biased in their own nature.
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- Analyzes how zitkala-sa's book american indian stories combines autobiography and fiction to merge cultural critique with aesthetic form.
- Analyzes how the book reflects her empowerment, but also speaks eloquently in a conquering culture's language of what it is to have no power over your destiny.
- Analyzes how in 'the great spirit' she demonstrates her rhetorical savvy in embedding palatably her critique of oppressive hierarchy. she illustrates that the question of cultural and spiritual identity goes deeper than notions of civil rights.
- Analyzes how zitkala-sa's insistence on the dignity of indian religion and exposure of christian hypocrisy manifests itself in her activist life.
- Analyzes how this collection of stories and the autobiographical account of her school days at white's manual institute and earlham college provide insight into the struggle of indian peoples in the early twentieth century to protect their heritage while developing a modern indian identity.
- Analyzes how zitkala-sa makes the reader feel how shocking and horrifying our comfortable culture was to children who grew up in a different culture.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the arguments of shepard krech iii in his book, the ecological indian, which argues that the noble savage was an invented tradition that began in the early 1970's.
- Explains that shepard krech iii's main argument is that the image of the ecological indian is not historically accurate. he argues that in order for this image to be true, native americans must be ecologists and thus had to think of their environment in systematic ways.
- Analyzes krech's argument that conservation requires conscious thought and effort whereas sustainability does not. native americans lived sustainably, but did not practice conservation. reincarnation shows that native american societies believed that animals they hunted were infinitely renewable
- Analyzes how darren j. ranco argues that krech has tried to hide the political aspects of his findings.
- Analyzes how krech's arguments are more convincing than ranco’s criticism. he does not seek to undermine the environmentalist image of modern day native americans.
- Analyzes how ranco's argument misses the point. krech mainly refers to historical native americans, not modern populations.
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- Explains the story of the cherokee people, a group of indians from the southeastern united states who were removed from their homelands in tennessee and south carolina.
- Explains that before the last ice age, a land bridge existed between alaska and russia. as hunters came to the new land, they discovered that life was easier.
- Explains that the cherokees developed a very advanced civilization. the social structure consisted of seven clans-bird, paint, deer, wolf, blue, long hair
- Explains that europeans had little contact with the cherokee, but they saw them as savages. sequoya invented an alphabet, taught it to friends, and helped the lost cherokee in mexico and texas.
- Explains how the cherokee were dragged from their homes and gun-point, rounded up and forced into stockades to await their fate.
- Explains that the government provided a small ration for the indians in the stockades, but the food wasn't the type they were used to eating. many died of malnutrition and heartbreak.
- Narrates how a few mountain cherokee hid out in the forests. they refused to leave and escaped into places the soldiers could not find or get to.
- Describes how helpless people were forced into wagons or walked on foot and began their journey west. many died of pneumonia, exposure to the cold, or poor treatment.
- Describes the six-month journey known as "the trail of tears". the indians were forced to leave their homes in october and arrived in oklahoma in may.
- Opines that the cherokee indians were strong, smart, and protective over others. their tragic removal from their own lands and forced to leave causing the trail of tears made them one of the most well-known native americans.
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