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Post by mjunious on Jul 8, 2024 3:57:32 GMT
"Again I felt that helplessness of being in a world of stalking white men. But those Indians down at Gable's were no bargain either. I was a stranger to both and both had beaten me." -Winter in the Blood pg. 96.
Although the protagonist is speaking about a specific incident in the novel, this quote expresses, the [social] isolation that he feels. Not being able to feel genuinely connected to either group around him leaves him left in a sort of cultural limbo. I believe this could be one of the main sources of the isolation that he seems to feel. The death of his father and brother seem to serve as a symbolic death of his Native American culture when compared to someone like Lame Bull, leaving him struggling to form a self identity in this area. I see this, as a very uniquely American existential idea: "how do we identify?", "what constitutes 'American'?", etc. and I think the American policies towards minority groups, including the policy of termination with regard to Native American tribes in the past, helped contribute to the feelings in people like the protagonist in Winter in the Blood, as well as fuel the aforementioned questions that we still struggle to answer today.
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jul 8, 2024 15:14:59 GMT
Yes, this is a good quote to explore further, Mitchell, especially when looking at the narrator's parents and their relationships with white men. We know that John First raise used to sit at the bars talking to the white men whose machines he fixed. Meanwhile, his mother, Theresa, continues to parley with the local Catholic priest, a relationship the narrator seemingly disapproves of since he rips up the letter addressed to her. These characters, who are of a generation previous, seem to feel that they need something from the white characters.
Yet the narrator has a very different set of interactions. Throughout the novel he does not regularly talk with white men, nor does he have any use for their religion. While he does interact with them at bars, and for a time gets involved with the airplane man, he ultimately refuses to take the vehicle that had been purchased for him, and winds up spending a lot more time on his horse anyway. He really doesn't fit in the white world.
But to your point, as well, Mitchell, he seems to be at odds with the local Indians and doesn't quite fit there either! This is a lot of the in-betweenedness that plagues him throughout the novel. What is the American Indian (or Native American) at this juncture of history?
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Post by gillianlaird on Jul 8, 2024 16:43:50 GMT
The topic that you're discussing, Mitchell, is one that I see explored by many writers and their protagonists over several different texts. Obviously, the reasoning for this is because it is quite a relevant feeling among individuals who have a background comprised of different cultures. When looking at America as a whole and determining what American culture actually is, I don't think there is any right answer---which is what makes it such an existential question. This is a country built off hundreds, if not thousands, of different cultures, all coming together to live side by side. However, instead of allowing each individual culture to thrive, we have tried fitting everyone into a box that is supposed to be this so-called "American Culture" but, to me, is actually a whole lot of nothing. I think American culture is allowing each individual the freedom to celebrate their own culture, without judgement. I wonder if individuals, like the protagonist in Winter in the Blood, would be spared feelings, such as a lack of belonging, if all cultures were allowed to live and thrive under the umbrella of American culture.
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Post by connorswauger on Jul 10, 2024 2:20:29 GMT
I do agree that the narrator is left in a sort of limbo. The narrator functions in this “in between” where he doesn’t connect fully with people from the city. Like in the conversation about fish being in the river, the narrator knows and tries to tell the airplane ticket man that there are no fish, but he is completely written off. At the same time though he is trying to connect to his past through the stories of his grandmother and Yellow-Calf. As a result of assimilation, norms have completely changed and the narrator is still being perceived as the other. This makes me think of the stranger that gave the narrator a ride home from town and asked to take a picture of him. Kind of made me feel like he was collecting a souvenir.
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Post by mjunious on Jul 10, 2024 15:07:50 GMT
The topic that you're discussing, Mitchell, is one that I see explored by many writers and their protagonists over several different texts. Obviously, the reasoning for this is because it is quite a relevant feeling among individuals who have a background comprised of different cultures. When looking at America as a whole and determining what American culture actually is, I don't think there is any right answer---which is what makes it such an existential question. This is a country built off hundreds, if not thousands, of different cultures, all coming together to live side by side. However, instead of allowing each individual culture to thrive, we have tried fitting everyone into a box that is supposed to be this so-called "American Culture" but, to me, is actually a whole lot of nothing. I think American culture is allowing each individual the freedom to celebrate their own culture, without judgement. I wonder if individuals, like the protagonist in Winter in the Blood, would be spared feelings, such as a lack of belonging, if all cultures were allowed to live and thrive under the umbrella of American culture. I agree, a very existential question indeed! It's also a question that we, as Americans, are constantly searching for an answer for but will never receive one. It makes me think of the phrase "'they/that' threatens our way of life" which I believe came about during the Cold War referring to communism, but it can be heard by people talking about almost anything, without even having a definitive understanding of what our supposed "way of life" is. As opposed to the protagonist who is still relatively close to his culture, I wonder what those feelings would be like if we fast-forwarded say five generations. Would there still be a connection to the original culture or would that person feel so generationally removed that the original culture is irrelevant to their "way of life"? |
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Post by Dr. Nemmers on Jul 10, 2024 15:53:14 GMT
Right, there does always have to be a "they/them" who are an existential threat and who must be blamed and prevented from adulterating "our" prosperity and way of life. These groups function as a necessary scapegoat for society-- and if it wasn't one group, it would be another--- we've seen this over and over again in American history.
Even now in certain parts of the country Native Americans are this group. (Connor, that scene was both so hilarious and tragic! It's like those people caught a glimpse of an exotic species of animal or something...)
Although to be fair, we could also say that for some Native Americans, white Americans are that scapegoat also.
I do think that's a fascinating aspect of the novel here, that it paints a more nuanced version of what it means to be white/ Native and living in this community.
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