Showing posts with label Walk On Earth a Stranger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walk On Earth a Stranger. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Debbie Reese at Chicago Public LIbrary, Edgewater Branch, November 7, 2015

I am pleased to be the keynote speaker at the Chicago Public Library, Edgewater Branch, on November 7, 2015, as the library system there kicks off its programming for Native American Heritage Month.


Della Nohl took that photo of me a few years ago when we were both at a Culture Keepers gathering. Do hit that link and see what Culture Keepers is all about. You'll learn a lot about working with Native people and you'll come to know people like Omar Poler of the Sokaogon Chippewa Tribe of Wisconsin, who was named as one of Library Journal's Movers and Shakers in 2014. And, check out Della Nohl's page. Right now (October 28, 2015) the photo at the top of her page is of the Indian Agency House in Portage, Wisconsin.

Knowing about Culture Keepers and knowing about Della Nohl's work is part of my world. Earlier today, I submitted a comment to Betsy Bird's blog post at School Library Journal. There, she is making the argument that people have to read a book in its entirety to say anything meaningful about the book. I disagree.

I don't, for example, need to read every page of Meg Rosoff's Picture Me Gone to say I don't recommend it. My reason? I got to the page where her main character is in a coffee shop with unusual decor. As her character looks around, she describes what she sees, including:
A painting in a big gold frame of an Indian squaw kneeling by a fire needs dusting.
Rosoff's Picture Me Gone is not about Native people. It is, however, a best selling book, and part of what I do is read some of those bestsellers so that I stay abreast of the happenings, so to speak, in children's and young adult literature.

Rosoff used "Indian squaw" -- a term most people view as offensive. Did Rosoff know it is offensive? Did Rosoff's editor know it is offensive? My guess is no. I speculate that they don't know because they don't step over into the world that I am in.

So many Native children don't do well in school. Might they do better if the textbooks they read were ones that honestly presented their nations, past and present? Might they do better if they didn't come across terms like "squaw" as a matter of course, in the literature they read?

As I write this blog post and think about what I'll say in Chicago, I'm thinking about Rosoff's book, and I'm thinking about troubling books that are being discussed as possible winners of prestigious children's literature awards: Laura Amy Schlitz's The Hired Girl and Emily Jenkins and Sophie Blackall's A Fine Dessert troubling. And Rae Carson's Walk On Earth a Stranger has, perhaps, some of the most damaging content that I've seen in a very long time. It was on the long list for the National Book Award.

I do--of course--know of some terrific books that accurately and beautiful present Native peoples, and I will share those, too, on November 7th. I shared some--for teen readers--in a column that went live a few hours ago at School Library Journal. And I shared even more, there, two years ago. Here's the graphics SLJ's team put together, using the book covers for the books I recommended in that column:




My guess is that people who come to my talk on the 7th will be people who care about Native peoples, our histories, our cultures, and our lives. They will likely want me to talk about good books. It isn't enough, however, to know about books that accurately portray who we are; people have to know the others, too, because in the publishing world, they take up a lot of space.

Please put this day of events on your calendar! Bring your friends! Step into my world, and help me bring others into it, too, so that the status quo changes... So that best selling writers and books deemed worthy of awards are not ones that denigrate Native people.

Below is the press release Chicago Public Library is sending out.
_____________________


CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY CELEBRATES NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH IN NOVEMBER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2015

Chicago Public Library is "Celebrating Diversity," with its annual observance ofNative American Heritage Month. Throughout November, the Library offers a variety of programs highlighting the history, culture, traditions, and contributions Native Americans have made to Chicago, the state of Illinois, and to the U.S.  In addition, a selected bibliography and the Library’s 2015 Native American Heritage Month Calendar of Events are available at chipublib.org.

The opening program for Native American Heritage Month takes place on Saturday, November 7, at 11:00 a.m., at the Edgewater Branch, 6000 N. Broadway St.  Debbie Reese, author, lecturer, and blogger will be the keynote speaker. Ms. Reese is tribally enrolled at Nambe Pueblo and has a PhD in Education from the University of Illinois and an MLIS from San Jose State University. Her research articles and book chapters on American Indians in Children’s Literature are used in Education, Library Science, English, and Creative Writing courses in the U.S. and Canada. Andrea Perkins and the Chi-Nations Youth Council will provide drum performances. A film screening of, From Old to Modern, which focuses modern activism will also be presented by the Chi-Nations Youth Council.

During Native American Heritage Month, the Library will present interesting, entertaining and informative programs for all ages, including storytelling and crafts for children, lectures, film screenings, art exhibitions and workshops, and adult book discussions.

Here are some highlights from the 2015 Native American Heritage Month Celebration:

  • Archery for Beginners
Al Eastman, a certified archery coach with the Olympic Committee’s USA Archery program will teach the ten-step form of safety techniques for a hands-on archery demonstration with Olympic-style recurve bows. Eastman started the archery program at the American Indian Center in 2010 to help youth learn about math, science and history through archery.

  • Ehdrigohr: A Role-Playing Experience
Allen Turner, creator of Ehdrigohr—a table top role-playing game—will present this fun and challenging game that incorporates Naïve American themes. Turner has been involved in storytelling, games, play design, and education for most of his adult life. His work includes coordinating youth and adult programs focusing on literacy, storytelling, role-playing, and team dynamics for developing inference and problem-solving skills.

  • Create a Dreamcatcher
Artist and musician Dan Pierce will explore the meanings Dreamcatcher components and instruct participants in how to use materials to craft Dreamcatchers that they can take home. Pierce has taught music and art in the Chicago Public Schools for more than 20 years.

  • Film Screenings
The Library presents five selected feature films spotlighting Native American culture including:
·         The Exiles by Kent Mackenzie
·         Up Heartbreak Hill by Erica Scharf
·         Sun Kissed by Maya Stark and Adi Lavy
·         In the Light of Reverence by Christopher McLeod and Malinda Maynor
·         Stand Silent Nation by Suree Towfighnia and Courtney Hermann

For more information about the film series, or for the complete listing of Native American Heritage Month events, dates and locations, please visit chipublib.org.

Throughout every calendar year, Chicago Public Library “Celebrates Diversity” and its importance to a sustainable society, during all of its ethnic heritage and diversity month celebrations including: African-American History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, LGBT Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Polish American heritage Month and Native American Heritage Month.

Thursday, October 08, 2015

Not recommended: Rae Carson's WALK ON EARTH A STRANGER

First, some basics.

Rae Carson's Walk On Earth A Stranger begins in 1849 in Dahlonega, Georgia. The protagonist, 15-year-old Leah Westfall and her parents are living on a plot of land her father got through a land lottery. Leah's dad, Rueben Westfall, his brother, Hiram, and the woman who would become Leah's mom are originally from Boston. The three were friends there and moved to Georgia for its gold rush in 1829.

Let's step out of the book to ask a question: what do you (reader) know about that lottery?

As a Native woman and professor who taught American Indian Studies courses at the University of Illinois, I know a lot about Native history. I know about that lottery. For decades before Georgia held that land lottery in 1832, the Cherokee Nation fought with the State of Georgia and its citizens who had been encroaching on Cherokee land.

The Cherokee Nation went before the Supreme Court where it was decided, in 1832 (yes, same year as that lottery) that the Cherokee Nation was a sovereign nation and that Georgia and its citizens had no standing or claim on that land. President Jackson, however, defied the Supreme Court and ordered the removal of the Cherokee people. At the Cherokee Nation's website, you can read some of the history. Forced removal started in 1838.

Leah would have been a little girl when that forced removal started. As a little girl, she was likely unaware of Removal and unaware of what that lottery meant to Cherokee people. For her, it is her daddy's land. Someone else in Walk On Earth A Stranger, however, knows about removal, first hand.

Leah's potential love interest is a guy named Jefferson McCauley. His father is an Irish prospector who drinks and beats Jefferson. His mother? She's Cherokee, but in 1839 (removal, remember), she fled Dahlonega with her brothers and left Jefferson behind. He remembers her and a Cherokee story she told him, too, that is significant to how Jefferson thinks about himself.

The story Jefferson tells is about eight boys who are brothers. Angry at their mother, they run away from her, and leap into the sky. She grabs one, bringing him back to earth. The seven brothers who got away become the Ani'tsutsa (Pleiades). Jefferson imagines he is the brother who was pulled down, that he stayed, and that he has something like brothers out there somewhere, and that he'll find them someday. When he leaves Dahlonga (Leah and Jefferson will soon be headed to California for the gold rush), he feels that he's done wrong, because he is supposed to stay.

The story Jefferson tells, however, isn't like the one the Cherokees actually tell.  The way they tell it, the boys that run away are not brothers, and the one that is pulled to earth strikes the earth so hard that it swallows him. He's gone, too. His mother sheds tears on that site and eventually, a tree sprouts. It becomes the pine tree. Quite different from the story Jefferson tells, isn't it! Regular readers of AICL know that I object to writers using/twisting Native stories to fit the story they want to tell.

In the Author's Note, Carson lists sources for the emigrant stories she used to create Walk On Earth A Stranger. She obviously found the Ani'tsutsa story somewhere, but doesn't tell us where.  She doesn't list any sources specific to the Cherokee Nation, at all, which makes me wonder how she created Jefferson and his voice. Could we say that she didn't need any Cherokee sources because Jefferson is sufficiently assimilated and is no longer Cherokee? Maybe, and yet, he remembers that story and thinks fondly of his mother. As the wagon train crosses the midwest, he never thinks of or expresses an interest in going to find his mother and his uncles. Maybe he's mad at them for leaving him behind.

Or maybe he is, as I suggested above, assimilated. That would explain why he is headed west to be a prospector, just like all the other people who did that. Certainly, it is plausible that a Native person would want to do that, but I find it unsettling to create a Native character--who lost his mother because of gold--wanting to head West to be a gold prospector on lands that belonged to other Native peoples.

That said, Jefferson looks Native, with black hair and sharp cheekbones. Along the trip west, he is conscious of his Native identity and concerned that people will figure out who he is. People know he's not White but don't know just what he is. Sometimes he is angry when racist men talk about Indians stealing from the wagon trains and kidnapping children, but he keeps that anger to himself. At another point, however, he speaks in a matter of fact way, saying that people are afraid of Indians. Leah is aware of all these incidents and his emotions. She commiserates with him--but sometimes she wonders about Indians, too, and hides those feelings from Jefferson.

Because Jefferson is seeking gold, and because his way of speaking/thinking about Indians is inconsistent, we might say he is conflicted about his identity.

Or... maybe something else is going on. Maybe he is just a device in the story. What he endures makes it possible for readers to view Leah as a Good White Person, worried for him and his well-being. She does this for other characters, too. "Free Jim" is one. The runaway slave, Hampton, is another. And the bachelors who are headed to San Francisco where they can live as they choose... Native people, Blacks, Gays... I think all are devices by which readers see this girl who gets across the country dressed as a boy, as a Good White Person.

~~~~

Thus far, the problems I've described are familiar ones that occur in depictions of Native people, culture, and history. By that I mean stereotypical and biased storylines that omit key points in history.

Carson does something that--for me--is reprehensible. Yes, that is a strong word, but let me explain.

People hold two kinds of images of Indians in their head. The noble one (that's Jefferson) and the savage one (that's the ones who steal and kidnap kids). Both are problematic because they shape what people know about us. When writers in children's and young adult literature do it, they're shaping what kids know. They are teaching something to readers. Through their words, writers are, in effect, touching the future (wise words from Christa McAuliffe). They are creating images for their readers. What kind of images of Indians--beyond Jefferson--does Carson give her readers? What did I find reprehensible?

Carson's Grave Robbing Indians

The image that Carson adds to what people carry around in their heads is one of Indians as grave robbers. This starts in chapter twenty. By then, Leah/Lee and Jefferson are working for Mr. Joyner. On his wagon are his household goods and his family. Carson has been presenting him as a racist white man.

We see his racism again when the wagon train comes upon a grave. Men from the wagon train investigate. When Joyner returns to his family's wagon, he tells them that Indians did it. Jefferson, "tight and coiled like a thunderstorm about to let loose," asks "Indians killed him?" (p. 234). Joyner says it wasn't a him, but a her. Lee wants to say there's no way to know what she was buried in but thinks it won't do any good. Joyner says (p. 235):
"Truly, these savages have no fear of God nor love of the white man." 
Jefferson rides away at that point. Further down the page, Lee thinks (p. 235):
I don't know what to think about the Indians. Seems to me we don't really know anything about them. We don't even know what we don't know.
There is, for me, an irony to those words. They're meant to ask readers to pause and question what they know about Indians. But to get there, Carson introduces a new image: Indians who rob graves of Whites.

Did that happen?

One of Carson's sources is Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey, edited by Lilian Schlissel.

In it is the diary of Catherine Haun. She writes of a woman named Martha. On the night of the 4th of July, Haun's wagon train is having a celebration. In the midst of it, Martha and a young child stumble into camp, incoherent and disheveled. The next day, Martha tells them what happened: her husband and sister got cholera. Because of that, the rest of their wagon train left them behind, in their own wagon. Martha's husband and sister died. Martha and her brother were burying her sister when Indians attacked. Martha fled with her little girl. Two days later, Haun's wagon train comes upon Martha's abandoned wagon. They find that her sister's grave is still open and Martha's husband is where they left him, dead, in the wagon. Their clothing is missing and there is no sign of Martha's brother or Martha's little boy. Later on the page, Haun writes that Indians spread smallpox among themselves by digging up bodies for their clothing, and later in Haun's diary, we learn that Martha was reunited with her son. Indians had taken him and traded him for a horse.

Hence, in Haun's account, Carson has a source for the grave-robbing Indians she depicts in Walk on Earth a Stranger. But take a look at this page from Schlissel's book. The column on the left is from Cecilia McMillen Adams's diary. On the right is an excerpt from Maria Parson's Belshaw's diary.

On the next page (not shown) is the account of Caroline Richardson. On June 1 she wrote "Graves now are often partly dug up." She doesn't say Indians did it. Might she have thought that? We don't know. Angeline Ashley noted 47 graves. Esther Hanna noted 102. Neither Angeline or Esther notes graves that have been dug up. Overwhelmingly, I think Carson's source notes a large number of graves, but ones dug up by Indians? No.

Enter, again, my own identity as a Native woman and scholar. Do you know about NAGPRA? That is a law passed in the United States Congress. It is all about graves being robbed. Native graves, that is. For literally hundreds of years, people have been digging up Native graves. Human remains and artifacts, dug up and sold on the black market, or collected and deposited in museums.

Through NAGPRA, those remains are being returned to Native Nations for reburial. That sort of thing is still happening. It was in the news just this week. Actors in the film, Maze Runner, were shooting at a Native cemetery. They took artifacts because "who doesn't?"

But let's come back to Carson's sources.

In the introduction to Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey, Schlissel writes that the letters and diaries in her book are "accounts of singularities" and that only "when the patterns emerge with regularity can one believe the responses are representative" (p. 11). Is Haun's singular account one that ought to be introduced to young readers as Carson has done?

In Walk on Earth a Stranger, she introduces that image and leaves it open-ended for her readers to sort out.

Therein lies the problem. This image of grave robbing Indians fits what people think they know about Native peoples: primitive, depraved, less than human, savages. Carson doesn't come back to tell us that, in fact, it is not representative of the historical record.

What she did is quite the opposite. In the preface to Schlissel's book, Carl N. Degler writes that (p. xvi):
Whereas men usually emphasized the danger from the Indians and told of their fights with the native peoples, the women, who admittedly often started out fearful of the Indians, usually ended up finding them friendly in manner and often helpful in deed. Women, it seemed, had no need to emphasize Indian ferocity. 
Friendly Indians? Helpful Indians? That is the image of Indians women had at the end of their journey. It is not the image of Indians that readers have when Lee and her group get to California. Let's look at another episode Carson provides.

When Lee's wagon train is at Fort Hall (chapter twenty-nine), they hear this story (p. 369):
"We had a situation here a few weeks ago, where an Indian offered a man three horses in exchange for one of his daughters. The settler joked that if the Indians gave him six, it was a deal. This joke, as it were, at his daughter's expense, nearly led to bloodshed, when the Indian came back with the horses."
I found a similar story in another of Carson's sources: Covered Wagon Women: Diaries & Letters from the Western Trails, 1840-1849, edited by Kenneth L. Holmes. In it, the horse trading story ends like this. The Indian (p. 33):
"followed our wagons for several days and we were glad to get rid of him without any trouble."
Quite a different image, isn't it? I assume Carson read through her sources, but why does she give us such a different image of Indian people, given what her sources told her about them?

~~~~

One might argue that Carson is even-handed in depicting racism. Indians rob graves, but what about Mr. Joyner? He puts fear of Indians in his wife's mind again and again. He puts measles infected blankets in a grave so the Indians can get sick when they dig up that grave. Pretty dang racist, right?

On one hand, we have grave robbing Indians, and on the other, we have Mr. Joyner and Frank (another White man who is depicted as racist).

Notice that Carson gives us Indian people as a group who are horrible, versus specific White individuals who are horrible.

Carson effectively tells us to hate Mr. Joyner and Frank as racists, but why did she not individualize those Indians on the trail in some way, guided by her sources? Why does she have that grave robbing part in there?

It'd be terrific if she would tell us why.

As noted in the title of this post, Rae Carson's Walk On Earth A Stranger is not recommended. Published in 2015 by Greenwillow, it is currently on the long list for the National Book Award. I hope someone shares this review with members of the committee. Carson's book debuted on the New York Times best sellers list. That, I think, is based on her previous work, but I'm sure the publisher's huge marketing campaign helped get it on that best seller list.

_________________
For further reading:
Notes I took as I read Carson's book
A Tumblr post I wrote after I shared my notes




Monday, September 14, 2015

AICL's first look at Rae Carson's WALK ON EARTH A STRANGER

Eds. note: Scroll down to see update on September 22nd, 2015; and an update on September 23rd, 2015, and one more on September 25th, 2015. And see this Tumblr post, written after these notes were uploaded with a note that said I was astonished at how bad the book is: My Thoughts on What Happened on YA Twitter on Friday (9/25/15).

A few weeks ago, I started to hear about Rae Carson's Walk on Earth a Stranger. The first chapters are online. I've started reading the sample chapters today because her book is on the longlist for the National Book Award. I ordered a copy of the book and will be back to finish this review when I finish reading her book. In my notes below, I raise some questions.

Walk on Earth a Stranger is published by Greenwillow and has a character, Jefferson, whose mother is Cherokee. Here's the synopsis:

The first book in a new trilogy from acclaimed New York Times-bestselling author Rae Carson. A young woman with the magical ability to sense the presence of gold must flee her home, taking her on a sweeping and dangerous journey across Gold Rush era America. Walk on Earth a Stranger begins an epic saga from one of the finest writers of young adult literature.
Lee Westfall has a secret. She can sense the presence of gold in the world around her. Veins deep beneath the earth, pebbles in the river, nuggets dug up from the forest floor. The buzz of gold means warmth and life and home—until everything is ripped away by a man who wants to control her. Left with nothing, Lee disguises herself as a boy and takes to the trail across the country. Gold was discovered in California, and where else could such a magical girl find herself, find safety?
Rae Carson, author of the acclaimed Girl of Fire and Thorns series, dazzles with the first book in the Gold Seer Trilogy, introducing a strong heroine, a perilous road, a fantastical twist, and a slow-burning romance, as only she can.

Summary is in regular text; my comments are in italics. 

~~~~~

January of 1849

Chapter One

The main character, Leah, is out hunting. She’s wounded a deer and is tracking it when she comes across a sensation she’s come to know as one she gets when she’s near a gold nugget, or, a gold vein. She finds the deer, kills it, and wants to cut the parts she can carry but the “gold sense” overwhelms her and she starts digging in the snow till she finds a nugget the size of a large, unshelled walnut.  Her gold sense tells her it is about 90% pure, and will be worth a hundred dollars.

On page 8 we learn about Jefferson—or rather—his dad. Leah remembers him thinking she had a good aim. We learn that Leah works hard, hunting and farming, and panning for gold, too, because her dad has no sons who would do that work. Girls in town poke fun at her strong hands and strong jaw. She’s glad they don’t know about her gold sense. 


Chapter Two

We meet Leah’s dad, who is sick with a violent cough. He tells her a much-loved story about a nugget he’d found when she was a baby, and how he’d hid it, but two-year-old Leah had found it. He re-hid it, and she found it again. That’s how they learned about her gold sense. They keep it secret because people would want her to find gold for them, especially since “the Georgia gold rush played itself out long ago” (p. 13).  Surface gold is mostly gone, but Leah knows there’s more, deep underground. She also knows that it would take more than her and her dad and pickaxes to get at it. Her dad doesn’t want to buy slaves to get it because he was raised Methodist and that "back in the day" the church was against slavery.

Debbie's comments:
Georgia... homeland of the Cherokee Nation. They were forcibly removed from their homelands. Though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that they were a sovereign nation, President Jackson defied the Supreme Court and ordered their removal. They were rounded up in 1838. Many were held in prison camps awaiting departure for Indian Territory. Carson gestures to history of Methodists and slaves, but doesn't give readers similar context for who owned this land prior to Leah and her family. 

Her dad asks her where she found the nugget and they realize she found it on McCauley land. She wants to keep it but her dad tells her she can’t keep it. Her dad says he’ll return it when he goes to Charlotte, NC to assay the bag of gold dust they keep hidden. Turning it in in town would draw people to their property. Taking it to Charlotte is better because no one there knows them. But, since he’s not well, Leah thinks her dad is not likely to make the trip. She offers to go but he won’t let her because it’d be dangerous.


Chapter Three

The next day, Leah takes their wagon to school. Something is not right. Kids aren’t rushing around playing. She looks for Jefferson (p. 20):
His face is framed by thick, black hair and a long, straight Cherokee nose he got from his mama. An old bruise yellows the sharp line of his cheekbone.
Debbie's comments:
Noting he is Cherokee and wondering how that will play out as I keep reading.

Jefferson has a newspaper in hand and tells her that gold has been discovered in California. It says that President Polk announced the discovery. Because gold is everywhere, Leah wonders how much is in California, such that the President would announce it. She tells him she thinks that everyone in the town, Dahlonega, are going to go to California. Dahlonega “was built on a gold rush of its own” (p. 21).

Debbie's comments:
Dahlonega. Sounds like a Native word. Carson tells us that Dahlonega was built on a gold rush but again, doesn't tell readers who that land belonged to. I'll look up history of that town. 

Jefferson thinks there’s plenty of gold out there and says “someone like me could…” We learn (by way of narration) that his dad is a “mean Irish prospector” and that is mom is “a sweet Cherokee mama who fled with her brothers ten years ago, when the Indians were sent to Oklahoma Territory” (p. 21). Nobody in town blames her for taking off.  His “someone like me” means (p. 22):
“a stupid, motherless Injun,” which is one of the dumber things people call Jefferson, if you ask me, because he’s the smartest boy I know.

Debbie's comments: 
Oh... this is interesting. His mom "fled" in 1839 when they were "sent" to Oklahoma Territory...  I think that's soft-pedaling what happened. Both words are accurate, but both also obscure the violence and the very important history of the Cherokee Nation's long fight to keep their land, that they ended up in the Supreme Court who ruled in their favor, that President Jackson ordered their removal! Cherokee's fled, but they were being chased by armed soldiers and the militia, too. I'm not sure why her son stayed behind. I'll dig in to some materials and see how that could have worked. It is possible, of course, but here's where I get into plausibility. 

That said, my gut clenches to think of Jefferson heading west to seek gold. Is he going to do to California Indians what was done to Cherokees? 

Good that Carson pushes back right away on the "stupid Injun" but wondering what it adds to the story to have it there in the first place. Right now it seems like it serves to make Leah out to be A Good White Person (using caps there, thinking of Anne Sibley O'Brien's comment to my post about dinner with Deborah Wiles).

Leah and Jefferson talk about how much it would cost for them to head to California. He invites her to go with him, that they can tell people they’re married, or a brother and sister. As she heads home after school, she thinks about marriage, and Jefferson. She hears two shots and when she gets home discovers someone has killed her dad. Her mom is also shot and tells her to trust someone, that they were wrong to be alone as they have been. She tells her to run, and then dies.


Chapter Four

Leah grabs a gun and heads to the McCauley homestead, seeking Jefferson. At his house, his dad is drunk. She finds Jefferson at the woodshed, chopping wood. He tells her that everyone in town thinks her dad has a stash of gold and that once they hear of his death they’ll be there, looking for it. Leah tells him it is true.  When they get to her house, she stays outside while Jefferson goes in to look around. As she waits, she can’t feel the hum of her gold sense and realizes the bag of gold dust is gone.


Chapter Five

Inside, she lifts the floorboards where they kept the bag. It is gone. It was worth over a thousand dollars.  She finds the nugget and gives it to Jefferson.  He says he wishes she had trust him with their secret and she thinks of how much else he doesn’t know (about her gold sense). The next few days are a blur. Nobody else’s home has been bothered, so the Sheriff thinks it was just someone passing through who had heard the stories of their stash. Finding nothing, that person kept on going.  

The day of her parents’ funeral, Jefferson tells her he’s going west and wants her to go with him. With her gold sense, she thinks that “California is the Promised Land” (p. 46) but thinks she can’t leave her home. Jefferson goes on without her, saying he’ll wait for a while, in Independence, Missouri.


Chapter Six

Leah goes to the funeral service for her parents. People are stirred up but it isn't about the death of her parents; it is about the news of gold in California.  Jefferson's dad is at the funeral. After the funeral he asks her if she knows where Jefferson is, but she doesn't tell him that Jefferson is on his way to Independence. Her Uncle is at the funeral, too, and she spots his revolver. She recognizes it as like the one her dad had. She figures out he is the one who killed her parents. He moves into their house. She decides to go to California. 

~~~~~

That's it for now. I'll be back when I get the book... 

~~~~~

Update, September 22, 2015

Chapter Seven

Hiram sends Lee (Leah) into town to sell two horses to make room for ones he's going to bring. He plans to live in her house for a year and then go to California, using her gift (he's figured it out) to get gold. In town, Lee gets advice from Free Jim, a storekeeper about the journey Jefferson is on, and, the one she'll be on, too. Advice that will help them get to California without getting caught by Jefferson's dad or Lee's uncle, who knows she is able to find gold.

Chapter Eight

Lee realizes the prejudice that Free Jim experiences. Banks won't let Negros have accounts. She sells the two horses her uncle wanted her to sell, follows Free Jim's advice to disguise herself as a boy, and takes off.

Debbie's comments:
I like that Carson is telling readers, through Lee, that the bank is discriminating against Negros. 

Chapter Nine

Lee spends her first night out.

Chapter Ten 

Lee has a good breakfast, thanks to a woman she meets as she travels. Later, Lee comes across two men who are talking about Lucky Westfall's (her dad) murder. One says he may have been murdered by the same people who killed some Indians by Dalton. The men talk about winter wheat, and, "whether it's really murder to kill an Indian" (p. 97). At the end of the chapter, three men come up on her. She worries about their intentions and manages to get away. She makes camp but wakes up and finds they have found her.

Debbie's comments: 
Carson doesn't address the men's discussion of whether its murder when an Indian is killed. The discussion is, I think, about the worth of an Indian person, and gets at the idea held by some that Native peoples were less-than-human. Perhaps she expects that readers will easily see the idea a racist and wrong, but I don't have that same expectation of readers. Many (most?) adult readers, for example, don't remember seeing "the only good Indian is a dead Indian" three times in Little House on the Prairie
  

Chapter Eleven

The men dig through her things. As they rifle through them, they spill her gold coins. One of them, Emmett, says that it reminds him of the old days. Ronnie replies "This kid don't look anything like a Cherokee." They remember getting a rifle from someone and that Zeke could never get it to shoot straight. Ronnie tells him it is because he "hit too many Indians in the head with it" (p. 106). The men start drinking and invite Lee (they think she is a boy) to ride with them. She creates a diversion, runs away, and hides. They look for her but don't find her.

Debbie's comments:
Carson doesn't address the wrongness of the hitting Indians with a rifle.   

Chapter Twelve


In the morning she finds a few gold coins that the men didn't gather. She also finds her saddle and then, her horse. She rides on and secures a job on a flatboat on the Tennessee River that will get her closer to California.

Chapter Thirteen

Lee helps load the Joyner family's possessions onto the flatboat. Mrs. Joyner says that "It's God's will for America to cover the continent from sea to sea" and that "We'll be part of something grand, helping spread civilization into the wilderness" (p. 138-139). That night Lee looks up at the stars and remembers Jefferson telling her that the Cherokees call the Pleiades "Ani'tsutsa" and that it means "the Seven Boys." The story is about "how eight boys got so mad at their mama they decided to run away, but as they leaped into the sky, she grabbed the eighth boy by the heel and dragged him back to earth, leaving his seven brothers to shine in the night."  Jefferson likes to think of himself as the eighth brother, "the one who stayed" (p. 143).

Debbie's comments:
Manifest destiny. Carson doesn't address what it means for Native people. Jefferson's story about the Ani'tsutsa story is incomplete. The boy that is pulled down is pulled down with such force that when he hits the ground, it closes over him. His mother sheds tears every morning and every night, and eventually, a tree sprouts. It becomes the pine tree.  And, the boys are not from a single family. Cherokee writer Robert J. Conley includes that story in War Woman: A Novel of the Real People

Chapter Fourteen

The flatboat reaches its destination. Lee helps unload the Joyner family, and travels with them for one day. Mrs. Joyner, however, comes to Lee that night and asks her to leave because the woman thinks Lee is a runaway and therefore a bad influence on her children. Lee leaves, alone.

Chapter Fifteen

Lee meets many people as she travels. One night, she remembers camping with her dad. In a wistful voice he told her stories of being on the frontier with his own dad seeking adventure and fortune. She thinks of how her mother, aware of his need to be out like that, let him take little Lee with him. He was "the kind of man who fled Boston to make a new life in Indian country" (p. 170) and that if she didn't let him do that trip, he might go west on his own.

Debbie's comments:
I wish Carson had inserted something in Lee's thoughts, that allows readers to think about Native peoples displaced by Whites who wanted to "make a new life" in Native homelands. And did people call Georgia "Indian country?" I don't know. 

Lee gets to Independence on April 1, 1849. She runs into Free Jim (Mr. Boisclair) in a general store. They get to talking and the storekeeper calls out, asking if they're going to buy anything, because if not, he doesn't want them to clutter his doorway. Lee calls back, saying "Show some respect" and that "Mr. Boisclair is a free Negro and a respected businessman..." (p. 173). Mr. Boisclair guides her out of the store and tells her he didn't need her help. She protests and he changes the subject, filling her in on news. Her uncle is on his way to California and plans to arrive there before she gets there. They arrange to meet the next day at noon. Meanwhile, Lee walks around, looking for Jefferson.

At lunch with Jim, Lee thinks that if she and Jefferson had left Dahlonega together, she wouldn't have been robbed. She immediately has a second thought about that (p. 178):
Then again, maybe his Cherokee blood would have made him a tempting target. The thought turns my stomach.
Jim tells her some family history. He also talks about her dad acquiring his land through a lottery. Her uncle didn't get any, and returned to Boston to practice law. Jim asks Lee to go with him on a wagon train to California but she wants to stay in Independence, looking for Jefferson.

Debbie's comments:
Based on what the three men said about beating Indians, Lee is probably right to think that Jefferson would have been a target of their violence. That line about the lottery was another opportunity for Carson to provide readers with important context about Native peoples and their homelands. 

Chapter Sixteen

Lee doesn't find Jefferson, but does run into Mr. Joyner. She arranges to go west with him and his family.

Chapter Seventeen

Mr. Joyner tells Lee they're going west with a small company led by "an excellent man, Major Wally Craven, a veteran of the Black Hawk War, who knows how to deal with Indians" (p. 193). She learns that Mr. Joyner hired another person, who turns out to be Jefferson. She notices he is wearing boots now. He tells her that he is going by his mother's name, Kingfisher, because he wants nothing to do with his father. He tells her (p. 196):
"My mother's people came out this way you know. The Cherokee crossed the border here, went up to St. Louis to trade. Figure if someone hears my name, and they know her, word might get back." 
The two catch up on how they got to Independence, and then Jeff (Jefferson) tells her about the wagon company they're part of. They ride alone the line of wagons. He points out to a group of 20 wagons that has joined last minute because "there aren't enough for them to feel safe from Indians" (p. 200).

Debbie's comments:
I understand Mr. Joyner saying "deal with Indians" but I don't know what to make of Jefferson saying "feel safe from Indians." Does he identify as an Indian? In his mind, are Indians and Cherokee's different? 

At the end of the line, Jefferson points to Major Craven. Lee tells him that she heard he was a major in "some kind of Indian war." Jefferson's face darkens and he says (p. 205):
"The Black Hawk War. An ugly bit of business. More than a thousand Indians killed. Craven was a sergeant. Only reason everyone here calls him Major is because of Mr. Joyner." 
They talk a bit more about Mr. Joyner wanting the status a title like Major confers.

Debbie's comments:
I am puzzled by what Jefferson says. I guess he's angry about the Indians that were killed. But, that emotion doesn't quite jibe with what he said early about that wagon group feeling safe from Indians. 

~~~~~

That's it for now. What I'm struck by is that Carson has figured out ways to push back on racism towards African Americans, but hasn't done that to the same degree with the racism directed towards Native peoples. I wonder what her source for the Seven Brothers story is. As noted above, it is incomplete and not quite right, either. All the sources I found are similar to the one I linked to, which makes me wonder (again) about Carson's source. And I am puzzled by Jefferson and what he thinks about Indians. Maybe that'll work out later in the book. That's all for tonight! I'll be back...

~~~~~

Update, September 23, 2015

Chapter Eighteen

On their first night, Lee tells Jefferson what Jim told her about Hiram (her uncle) losing her mother to her dad (the uncle was in love with Leah's mom but Leah's dad prevailed). She also tells him that something happened to her mom while living in Boston that "made her run away from her fine house and wealthy family to hack out a living in Indian country" (p. 207). The wagon company sets off the next day.

Debbie's comments:
There's that phrase again "Indian country" -- used to describe Georgia. 

Chapter Nineteen

One morning when Lee returns to the wagons from walking off to do her morning necessities, Major Craven tells her (p. 223):
"There's no need for you to go off--We're getting to Indian country, and you can never tell what those savages will do."
Lee replies "Maybe the Indians just want to trade" and recalls memories of her dad trading with Cherokees "before the government chased them out of Georgia." Craven says it is possible and suggests she take a dog with her when she's off on her own.

Debbie's comments:
Glad to see Lee pushing back on Craven. And--I think by that point in the trip they are in what was commonly called Indian country. 

One night at dinnertime, Major Craven stops by the Joyner's wagon and tells them to be on alert, that if the alarm sounds, men must grab their guns and women and children should stay low in the wagons. Mrs. Joyner says they would be safer running into the middle of the wagon circle, but Craven says they might get trampled there by the horses and cattle. She says (p. 227):
"Better that than being captured! I'd rather risk trampling than allow myself or my children to abandon civilization and become savages."
Craven tells her he thinks they are more interested in cattle and horses and things not nailed down. Craven leaves, and Mr. Joyner tells Mrs. Joyner that what Craven said is rubbish (p. 227):
"The part about not taking women or children. He only said it to make you feel better. Those savages would steal a comely lady like you in a heartbeat and make your life a misery or servitude. And they'll grab the children fast as a Gypsy." He makes a grabbing motion at the children. Olive squeals and shrinks away, then dashes back to her father and squirrels into the safety of his arms. "That's what they are," Mr. Joyner says. "Gypsies. Gypsies on the plains. The best thing to do would be to exterminate the whole race."
Jefferson freezes, hearing that. Mrs. Joyner says "Unless they turn from their savage ways" (p. 227). Lee leans to Jefferson and asks if he is ok. After dinner, the two talk and he tells her that "everyone talks about the Indians that way. At least a little" (p. 228). She tries to make him feel better by talking about the Seven Boys but he tells her he's not the eighth boy anymore, because he didn't stay behind (in Dahlonega).

Debbie's comments:
This is really unsettling. In my writing on AICL and elsewhere, I talk about what a Native child may feel when a teacher reads aloud passages like the ones Jefferson is hearing. I imagine that a teacher may comfort that Native child, like Lee is doing for Jefferson, but the damage is done. Nowhere does Carson push back on the idea that the Native people are savages or uncivilized. The gentle pushback on extermination is from Mrs. Joyner, who says if they change their savage ways, they can be allowed to life. That makes me cringe! There's no pushback on that either! CHANGE OR BE PUT TO DEATH. That's the message there, and there is no pushback on it.

That night, Craven is on watch. Lee is awake and sees him go from wagon to wagon, peeking into the family wagons. When he gets to the Joyner's wagon he lets out "Indians! It's Indians!" and runs around waving his arms. Lee thinks it might be a test, because Craven is watching the wagons, not looking outward. Some people respond, getting guns and forming a defense, but others wander around confused.

Craven climbs atop a trunk and rings a bell till they quiet down. He tells them it was a drill. He tells them they're now "deep in Indian territory" and that they have nothing to fear by day, when they'll come to trade but at night, they'll come to rob them and to steal horses and cattle. Someone calls out to him asking "How many Induns you kill in the Black Hawk War?" and then "Ten? A hundred?" Craven mutters that it was too many, and "hopefully, not a soul more" (p. 231). He tells them to go back to sleep.

Debbie's comments:
Hmmm... "Induns" must be a typo. It is good he doesn't want to kill more of them. 

Jefferson glares after Craven and tells Lee that what he said isn't true. Lee tells him that Craven wasn't talking about the Cherokee. Jefferson replies (p. 231):
"But back home they said all that about the Cherokee--that we were thieves and worse--and it's not true. You remember when Dan Hutchings killed his brother-in-law?"
Lee recalls that Dan killed his brother-in-law and was hung for it, and Jefferson says (p. 231-232):
"Dan was a white man, as white as they come," he says. "And nobody ever said he did it became white men are savages. But one Indian does something bad, and suddenly all of them are bad."
Watching him in the moonlight, Lee thinks he looks more Cherokee than ever. She remembers her mother saying he had a "noble dignity about him, which was her way of pointing out his Indian blood while pretending to be polite" (p. 232). She tells Jefferson that nobody thinks he is bad. Angry, he tells her "That's not... I mean..." and she replies that she knew a lot of Indians when she was a little girl and that he's the best person she knows. She asks if he wants her to go spit in Craven's eye, which makes him smile. They go off to find his boot, lost in the chaos of the drill.

Debbie's comments:
Jefferson is making a good point that gestures to prejudice and discrimination being much-discussed today, particularly in the Black Lives Matter movement. I don't like what her mother said (noble dignity), and what Lee says (best person), however, because that echoes a good/bad binary, or--to use today's language--respectability politics.

Chapter Twenty

The next day they see a mound of dirt, ringed with rocks, on a hill. When they investigate, they find a grave that has been desecrated. Mr. Joyner tells them that the person in the grave is a girl and that Indians dug up the grave and stole her clothes and the blanket she was wrapped in. Lee thinks about saying that they don't really know what was stolen, since they don't know what she was buried with in the first place, but she stays quiet thinking it won't do any good. Mr. Joyner says (p. 235):
"Truly, these savages have no fear of God nor love of the white man."
Jefferson, listening to all this, rides off. Lee thinks (p. 235):
I don't know what to think about the Indians. Seems to me we don't really know anything about them. We don't even know what we don't know.
Later, Jefferson returns and tells Lee that others are saying the girl was killed by cholera and that some other men in the wagons further up in the line have it and are staying apart from the rest of the wagons but "they're afraid to go too far because of Indians" (p. 236).

Debbie's comments:
That passage, with Indians blamed for desecrating a grave makes me livid. Lee is right. It probably wouldn't do any good to push back on Mr. Joyner for saying that, but the larger question is this: why is this in here at all? Overwhelmingly, the evidence shows Native graves being desecrated. There's even a federal law about that--for those who don't know--it is NAGPRA. Its is meant to facilitate the return of human remains to tribes so they can be reburied. Yes, REBURIED. I read Lee's thoughts about what white people don't know about Indians and think that Carson is adding to that body of "knowledge" people have about Native peoples. 

And Jefferson saying, matter of factly, that others are afraid because of Indians? It reminds me of William Appess, a Pequot man raised by a white family, and his realization that he was afraid of his own people because of stories that white family told. The phrase for this unexamined racism towards ones own people is internalized racism. 

Others get sick. Jefferson tells Lee she shouldn't go off alone. He's not worried about Indians, but is worried she'll get lost. Mr. Joyner is sick, too. One of the Joyner's kids is missing. Lee thinks about all that could have happened to him, and then (p. 245):
And even though I'd never say it aloud to Jefferson, Andy could have been kidnapped by Indians. He might already be miles away.
Then, Mr. Bledsoe's slave, Hampton, appears, carrying Andy. Mrs. Joyner cries "What were you doing with him?" (p. 246) and Lee tells her "For God's sake, he was bringing him back to you." Mrs. Joyner relaxes and says "I suppose I should thank you."

Debbie's comments:
Again, Carson--through Lee--is pushing back on racism directed towards African Americans, but again, the racism directed towards Native peoples isn't treated the same way. The image of Indians who kidnap kids is left standing. 

~~~~~
Stopping here for the day. The more I read, however, the less I like Carson's book.
~~~~~

September 25, 2015

Chapter Twenty-One

Mr. Bledsoe dies of cholera. They put his body in a grave, but before they can shovel dirt in, Mr. Joyner runs up and asks Mr. Craven (p. 251):
"The Indians are going to dig up this grave, aren't they?"
Craven says there's no way to stop them, and Joyner suggests leaving them a gift. The gift is blankets from the Robichaud wagon, where the kids have measles. He heads to their wagon to get the blankets. Lee looks around for Jefferson but he's gone. Someone calls out to Joyner not to do this, but nobody stops him. Lee says "This is a terrible notion" but Craven tells Lee it is none of his business. Lee steps forward but is stopped by a person named Frank Dilley. Joyner throws the blankets into the grave. Nobody complains. They sing a hymn as the dirt is shoveled into the grave. They head to their wagons. Lee thinks (p. 253):
I've never felt so far from God's grace. I suppose I am a stranger walking on earth, but I'm no son of God. I'm no son at all.
Debbie's comments:
Now I see why Carson needed to have Indians as grave robbers earlier. It set up the scene above, and plays off of the history in which blankets infected with smallpox were given to Native people in Amherst Massachusetts by British soldiers. This was part of agreements made between tribes and the British, wherein the British would provide supplies to Native people in return for assistance. 

I'm looking for evidence of people like Joyner deliberately infecting blankets with measles during the Gold Rush. 

What bothers me about this episode in Carson's book is that factually, Whites distributed blankets to Indians, who were, in essence their allies in the war against the French. In Carson's story, she makes the Indians out to be barbaric. Having them take clothing and blankets from a young White female plays into the image of White women being defiled by African American men. 

A big question: why is this even in the story? We're obviously meant to really dislike Mr. Joyner and I suppose we're meant to like Lee, who is struggling with the evil embodied by Joyner and all the others who let this happen. Is there going to be some big reveal later, showing that those brothers who robbed Lee earlier in the story are the ones who desecrated the grave of the young woman? If so, we're all left in a state of thinking Indians are barbarous. 

Given that image and the pre-existing ignorance most readers have about history regarding Native peoples and the U.S. (individuals and institutions), Lee's attempts to intervene do not matter. 

The next morning, Craven tells them that Mr. Bledsoe's slave, Hampton, has run away. Joyner says that maybe the Indians will find him. Lee replies, in what is meant to be a sarcastic way, "Yeah, and then they can give him measles" (p. 254). Craven ignores her but warns them not to join the group that is going to go after him because the wagon train won't wait for their return.

The next night, when Lee returns from taking care of herself and clothes (cleaning her clothes) and turns in beside Jefferson (they sleep on blankets underneath Joyner's wagon), he asks her (p. 255):
"Aren't you afraid of Indians?" he says, and his voice has a mocking edge. 
The story continues with them moving on, passing more shallow graves, most of them dug up. Using Joyner's rifle, Lee and Jefferson ride out to hunt buffalo. Jefferson tells her that life, for him, on the trail is easier than life with his dad, mining and farming. To Lee's sarcastic "great" he amends what he said, saying (p. 259):
"I mean, no one likes me," he amends. "Or trusts me much. But that's no different from back home."
Lee tells him Therese (a young woman in another family) likes him. Jefferson says (p. 260):
"She does. And maybe I'm winning some of the others over too. Don't you think?"

Debbie's comments:
Wondering where the Hampton thread will go, and the buffalo hunting, too? 

I assume Jefferson's mocking tone is meant to convey that Indians aren't to be feared. I try to imagine myself as Jefferson, being Native and saying "the Indians" in the many ways he does. Here it is mocking. Earlier it was more of a factual thing (see notes for chapter 20). Jefferson's talk about being liked and trust, winning people over is unsettling, too. He wants these people, who clearly fear Indians, to like him. I assume we're to think that he is, by his actions, trying to prove to them (subconsciously, perhaps) that Indians are likable? Trustworthy? His darker skin marks him--to everyone in their wagon train--as "other" somehow but they apparently don't know he is Cherokee. He is, to use today's language, "passing as ___". I don't know what he'd be passing as, but I think, based on all I've read in Carson's book so far, these white people would kill him if they knew he is Cherokee. Recall what Lee said earlier about him being an easy target.  


Chapter Twenty-Two

They wake one morning and discover that a buffalo stampede is headed their way. Everyone runs to get into wagons. Some wagons are knocked over. Craven tries to scare them off by waving his shirt, turns, runs and then falls beneath their hooves. When the herd passes they find him with a badly injured leg. Frank offers to shoot him. Others tell him to get away but Craven says he'll go get him himself if the leg gets gangrene. About Craven, Lee thinks (p. 270):
I haven't cared for him much, not since he stood by and let Mr. Joyner put poxed blankets in Mr. Bledsoe's grave. But maybe I haven't given him enough of a chance. I like him a fair sight better than Frank Dilley, that's for sure.

Debbie's comments:
Curious she now says "pox" instead of measles. Which is the error? Early on, when Carson says that those children have measles? Did she mean smallpox then? Or is her use of pox here the error? I think measles is a rash, not a pox. I wonder about her thoughts on giving him a second chance. What would Jefferson think of that thought? 

One of the men on the "college" wagon (a wagon of three guys in college who have left college and are also headed to the gold fields) was studying to be a doctor. He sets Craven's leg. Other men start talking about who should lead if he dies. Lee looks around for, and finds, Jefferson. He's helping Therese. Lee heads over to the Joyner's wagon and hears "Indians" (p. 275).


Chapter Twenty-Three

The Indians are following the buffalo. Frank Dilley says that the Indians stampeded the buffalo herd on purpose. The Reverend's eyes brighten and he wants to hold services and tell them about the blood of Christ. Mr. Joyner worries they're going to steal his possessions. Lee watches them. There are about twelve of them. The men are in buckskin that is decorated with quills and colored beads. Some have cloth blankets thrown over shoulders, and others have buffalo robes. Most wear feathers in their hair. Lee thinks they understand English. Some of their faces are pocked with scars. One of them has blue eyes, and another one has freckles. She thinks, if Jefferson wore those clothes, he'd blend right in. She sees him watching them, too. He sees her looking at him and ducks away. Women and children follow the men. A little girl sees Lee's locket (earlier in the story she let Andy Joyner wear it as a way to keep track of him--her gold sense, remember) around Andy's neck and reaches for it. Lee steps between them and says no, the girl cries, Lee picks Andy up, Mrs. Joyner steps in and trades a silver hair brush for a buffalo hide. The Indian girl and her friends "take turns touching the shiny, silver handle." The Indians "melt away much as they arrived" (p. 278).

Debbie's comments:
I'll need to see what I find about small pox amongst the Omaha prior to 1849 (Omaha, because as the next summary shows, that is the tribe mentioned). Other things to research are relationships such that there would be Omaha people with blue eyes and freckles. I'm also going to try to find out about the everyday clothing of the Omaha's at that time. The much-acclaimed photographer, Edward R. Curtis, had props that he asked Indians to wear if they didn't look Indian enough for him. Other photographs did the photo-shop of that time period to remove items like clocks that Native people were using in order to make them look more "authentic" according to the photographer's definition. 

I've seen other writers depict Native characters (children) as attracted to shiny items or mirrors. In some instances it is plausible but it also fits into a pre-existing bit of "knowledge" of Indians as primitive peoples fascinated with shiny things of White people. Indians melting away fits into the stealthy Indian stereotype. Most stereotypes have a bit of truth to them, but some become THE thing. I think stealthy Indians is one of those things where the bit of truth has overtaken all else about how Indian people moved about. 

After they leave, a group of men from the wagon train set out to hunt buffalo. They think the Indians who went through the camp are Omaha, who "ought to be removed" so that "white men can settle the Nebraska territory" (p. 280). On the way to the herd, they catch up to the Indians. Frank points his rifle at one of the Indian men and says "bang," laughs, and waves "friendly-like" to the Indians. Frank and others talk of shooting all of them. Lee, riding alongside Jefferson, whispers that Frank and his men are snakes. Jefferson replies that "Men are men" and that "It's men thinking other men are snakes that's the problem" (p. 281).

Debbie's comments:
As we saw before, Frank is depicted in a way that tells us he is not-to-be-liked. 

Lee shoots and kills a buffalo and wants to go get it but Frank says they have to finish hunting first. He begins killing and wounding buffaloes, as do others, with glee. Jefferson and Lee put down the wounded ones to end their misery. It is a slaughter. After many miles of chasing the herd and killing buffaloes, they finally stop.

Debbie's comments:
Slaughters like that took place, but not in 1849/1850. That came later, especially with the railroad. The story as Carson tells it cues readers to further dislike Frank. It is possible that such a thing happened in 1849. The idea that killing the herds would deprive Native peoples of the Plains of a significant source of food was put forth in the early 1870s by Columbus Delano, Secretary of Interior. 

Lee bends to start butchering one but Frank stops her, telling her they're only taking tongues and humps. Astonished, Lee asks about the rest of the meat. Frank says they'll leave it to rot and that "If the Indians can't find anything to eat, maybe they'll go live somewhere else." When they stop to cook a tongue, Jefferson tells Lee that "This is one of the worst things I've ever done" (p. 283). He can't wait to get to California and away from Frank. Lee tells him that bad people are everywhere.  When they turn back to where they left the wagons, they come upon the Indian women who are butchering one of the dead buffalo. Frank and some of the others "kick their horses into a gallop, as if to run down the women and children" (p. 285). The women and children scream and run away. Frank and the men turn away at the last minute and laugh.

Back at camp they discover that Andy is missing again. Lee tries to use her gold sense to find him but realizes he's far away because she can't sense her locket (remember he is wearing it). Frank says that (p. 290):
"The Indians were eying him and his pretty blond hair. They wanted that boy of yours. We find the Indians, we'll find your son."
Lee remembers that they saw the Indians earlier and Andy wasn't with them. She's sure the Indians didn't take him but keeps quiet. A search party is organized.

Debbie's comments:
Frank is giving voice to the idea that Indians wanted blonde scalps. 

Chapter Twenty-Four

Late at night, Lee and Jefferson find Andy under a wagon. He wasn't taken by Indians. The next morning she is awakened by Henry, one of the men in the college wagon where Craven is recovering.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Craven is in bad shape. Jasper wants Lee to help him amputate Craven's leg. While there the college men invite them to work with them in San Francisco because "there's a place for us out there. To live the way we want to live, without interference" as "confirmed bachelors" (p. 312-313). Lee helps with the amputation.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Craven recovers and by July 4, when they stop midday to have a celebration, he is able to join them. Towards the end of the chapter, Lee rescues a little girl who has fallen on the tongue of her wagon. In that rescue, Lee is badly cut and bleeding. Jasper tells her he has to take off her pants to stitch her wound. She says no, Jefferson tells her she has no choice. She worries everyone will know she's not a he and then blacks out.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Everyone knows Lee is female. She learns that some knew it all along. For most, it doesn't matter. Mr. Joyner (who Lee works for), however, won't let her use a rifle anymore.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Mr. Joyner won't pay Lee's wages because women aren't supposed to work as she had been doing. Mrs. Joyner tells Lee she can still eat meals with them but that Mr. Joyner's decision is final. Lee can work, as long as it is the work women do, like gathering buffalo chips (that they use for fuel).

As they enter the Rocky Mountains people think about items to leave behind. Mrs. Joyner doesn't want to leave her dressing table and says "I... We will not live like savages," and with less conviction, "It's up to us to bring civilization to California" (p. 353).

At a steep slope they struggle to lower the Joyner's wagon. Lee helps but it is too heavy. A piece of furniture slides out, blocking the wagon. Mr. Joyner tries to get it out of the way, the people trying to hold it back can't do it, and Mr. Joyner is crushed to death. Mrs. Joyner takes over, telling them to leave the remaining furniture and re-hiring Lee.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

For a long time, Mrs. Joyner has noticed food stores missing. Someone has been taking them at night. They suspect Indians but have never caught anyone. Finally, Lee is awake when the thieves comes to their wagon. It is one of the college men, and, Hampton (the runaway slave). Since he ran away, the college men have been feeding him but when they took in Craven, they had to start stealing food from the Joyner's. Lee agrees to keep the secret.

At a trading post along the way, a general there tries to persuade them to go to Oregon to be farmers instead of California where it is lawless. And, he warns them with this (p. 369):
We had a situation here a few weeks ago, where an Indian offered a man three horses in exchange for one of his daughters. The settler joked that if the Indians gave him six it as a deal. This joke, as it were, at his daughter's expense nearly led to bloodshed, when the Indian came back with six horses."
Frank says, loudly (p. 370):
"That must be how the half-breed got hold of her."
Jefferson leaps forward but Lee yanks him back. Lee notices the Reverend watching her. Later, he proposes to her, telling her that Jefferson is unsuitable because of his parentage. She rejects his proposal.

Debbie's comments:
I'm a bit confused. I've been reading closely and had been thinking that nobody other than Lee knew that Jefferson's mother is Cherokee. I don't know about the truth of that popular idea that Indians traded horses for white women. I easily find it in white writings but will need to dig in my sources to see what tribes--if any--did that. 

Chapter Thirty

The Roubichaud family decides to go to Oregon. Lee is sad because they have treated her well. Jefferson tells her that Mr. Hoffman has forbade him from speaking to Therese because Frank told him that Jefferson is the one who has been stealing from others and that he's been giving what he steals to his "red-skinned brothers" (p. 379). Though it isn't true, Mr. Hoffman can't ignore the accusation. That night, Jefferson tells Lee he isn't sweet on Therese. He reaches for her hand beneath the blankets and fall asleep, holding hands.

Chapter Thirty-One

The size of the wagon train is smaller now. It travels on through barren areas. With little food or water for the horses and oxen, oxen die. Those remaining decide to cut by half the number of wagons. Just as they are ready to set out again, Mrs. Joyner goes into labor.

Chapter Thirty-Two

The majority of the train, including the Hoffman's goes on without the Joyner's wagon and the people using it (the Joyner's, Lee and Jefferson, the Major, and the college men). As Mrs. Joyner labors, Hampton walks up with a barrel of water. Lee wonders if the Major will be ok with Hampton staying, and Jefferson says the Major isn't so bad. Lee asks him "Even after the way he talked about Indians?" (p. 401) and Jefferson tells her the Major just spoke that way and did the drill to appease Frank.

Lee delivers Mrs. Joyner's baby. Both are ok. Just at that moment, Lee sees Therese Hoffman walking toward them. Her family had gone on with the others but the wagon axle broke and the rest of the train didn't stop to help. Therese walked back to the Joyner wagon for help. She dies of heat stroke.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Lee and the men set out to find the rest of the Hoffman's. Her gold sense leads her to them. They're all alive. Mr. Hoffman has a knapsack that, unbeknownst to Mrs. Hoffman, are gold. As they collect their things to walk back to the wagon, Mrs. Hoffman wants to leave the candlesticks but Lee offers to carry them, which raises Jefferson's suspicions. Back at the wagon they all argue about what to do. Keep going? Or turn back to a sure source of water. In the end, they decide to keep going.

Chapter Thirty-Four

On September 14, 1849, they make it to the Truckee River. They rest there a few days and build a rock pile as a memorial for the people who died along the way. As they continue, Lee worries more and more about her uncle finding her. She also starts to find gold, which she puts in her pockets. She decides to tell Jefferson about her gold sense and is surprised when he tells her he knows, that he figured it out. He leans in towards her and his lips brush her cheek and then he steps back and tells her, with eyes that dance, "You are going to be so rich" (p. 428).

They reach Sutter's Fort and are going to go in to "figure out this claim business" when Lee hears a voice call out "That's my horse" (p. 428). It is her uncle. He calls out that Lee is his girl and he's taking her back. Jefferson starts to load his rifle, and the men step forward saying she is with family already. Hiram's face darkens and he moves on, saying "I'll be seeing you again, my Leah. Very soon.". The group continues on its way as though nothing happened. As they approach the fort gate, Jefferson puts his arm around Lee and says "We made it." Smiling, Lee says "Let's go find us some gold" (p. 430).



~~~~~

That's it. For book one, that is. I'm hitting the Update button and stepping away to think about my overall review. For now I'll say this: How the heck did this get selected for the National Book Award? The answer, I suppose: ignorance on the part of the committee. In 2015, the depth of ignorance is astounding.