Summary Of Charles Eastman's From The Deep Woods To Civilization

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Darrnell Houston Dr. Iwen World Literature 11/2 Battle of the Paradigm In Charles Eastman’s From the Deep Woods to Civilization we are introduced to Ohiyesa. A Native American who in his appointed adolescence is experiencing a shift of conscious thought and ultimately the merger of western standards of living amongst his people. The text reads through the eyes of Eastman himself but he decides to use his native title Ohiyesa in the text. From the Deep Woods to Civilization illustrates an individual that is having battles with his own perception, at odds between two major paradigms, and eventually adopts some of the values he tried to curb. Eastman begins his narrative by giving a description of the morals instilled in him during childhood. The very values that would shape his personality, Freud would argue this as a critical part of one’s development: […but after this I was trained to be a warrior and a hunter, and not to care for money or possessions, but to be in the broadest sense a public servant] pg.351 However with the introduction of western values and imperialism, it becomes difficult for Ohiyesa to hold on to his own principles. Instead of being a public servant, he…show more content…
However the battle of the paradigms was evident as he began to go to the “mission school”. While racing with two other native boys he notices the boys taking to the white man’s riding style “I soon saw that the two strange boys were riding erect and soldier like.”pg.356 Making fun of two people he could now call his peers, for their progression. Meanwhile they are all going to the same place. Ohiyesa because of the respect he has for his Father continues to merge into the ideas. His Grandmother on the other hand warned him of the issues of western paradigm. She even tried to make it clear that he has developed a false consciousness. “It is a sham. I cannot bear to see my boy live a made-up

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