Pushing the Bear

923 Words4 Pages
Many people throughout the history of mankind have faced hardships that couldn’t be explained with anything but symbolism. A specific hardship a group of people faced more specifically the Cherokee Indians was the Trail of Tears. In the book Pushing the Bear author Diane Glancy narrates the hardships encountered by the Cherokee’s and also sneaks in the symbols for the reasons why the Cherokee think that they’re being moved away from their land. The symbols described in the book are the bear itself, corn and the Cherokee phoenix. The title and numerous passages throughout the novel point to a bear, which the Cherokee feel themselves pushing against during their hardships on the trail. This imagery comes from an ancient bear story in Cherokee mythology. In this myth, bears cause a tribe of Cherokee, the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi, to turn to greed and individualism, thinking only for themselves and satisfying their hunger. Maritole is the first to mention the bear, and says, “It was as if a bear sat on my chest all the way to camp. I felt air would not come into my lungs. It was a heavy grief I couldn’t push away” (Pushing The Bear, 15). She also says “the bear we pushed would not move away. Each day I felt his ragged fur” (80). The true meaning of the bear does not come clear until page 176, and the myth of the bear is summarized. The bear symbolizes both greed and a desire to protect oneself over the unity of the Cherokee people. The horrific hardships the characters face on the Trail of Tears change their priorities to self over the whole. This displayed the lack of unification the Cherokee knew they would face in Indian Territory. In the end, Maritole specifically faces the bear, saying, “The bear had once been a person. But he was not conscious of the consciousness he was given. His darkness was greed and self-centeredness. It was part of myself, too. It was in all of us. It

More about Pushing the Bear

Open Document