From the Deep Woods to Civilization

1228 Words5 Pages
I love how this story and the last 2 stories, Things Fall Apart and Marriage Is a Private Affair, all share the common theme of embracing Christianity. Eastman's "From the Deep Woods to Civilization” seems to embrace the religion much more so, however there are still questions as to why the Indian people should follow the ways of those who stole from them. The Indians also question why the Whiteman does not even follow their own religion faithfully so why should they? They feel that the second coming of Jesus Christ will punish the white man for failing to carry out His teachings. Throughout the story, Eastman challenges racism by comparing the values of white middle- and upper-middle-class men, as well as stereotypes of Native men. From my perspective, despite the mistreatment of the Native people (Wounded Knee), the Christian faith is still looked to as a solution rather than the problem. to show the errors of colonization. “These children of nature once had faith in man as well as God. To-day they would have suspect even their best friend” (p. 183) Work Cited: Eastman, Charles Alexander. From the Deep Woods to Civilization: Chapters in the Autobiography of an Indian. Lincoln: U of Nebraska, 1977. Print. For our final reading assignment I thought it was a nice change to switch to a work of nonfiction. I found From the Deep Woods to Civilization to be especially fascinating due to the fact that it was written by a Native American about his life experience which is an extremely rare viewpoint to hear from. To see events through that frame of reference reminded me of when we read "Things Fall Apart" and how hearing the story from the characters perspectives helped humanize them and their actions. Like when Charles Eastman's father expresses on pages 27-29 a desire for him to learn "the way of knowledge". His father's understanding of the need for education
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