Native America

Tales have been told on the Native Americans and the kind of life they lived in. Common stories are from the hard life that the Americans faced in the early occupancy in the great nation. This is from the time that the great explorers visited the continent from Europe in search of a good place to stay. This was after Europe was considered a small continent for people living there. Moreover, the rising population in the continent lied to the people to go in search for better prospects. Besides that, there was the problem of industrialization. Europe faced tremendous growth in industrialization. On most lands that were available were engrossed from these activities. In addition, industrialization made it difficult for the people of Europe to practice agriculture as most land was in use. This said and done a strategy was set in place that would see it fit people to explore on land yonder. This led to explorers to find land in North America. However, the land was occupied by the red Indians. Finding settlement was a hustle as there was the struggle between the natives and the Europeans who would later be referred to as the Americans. However, a later struggle that has made America what it is now being the American Revolution, which led to the establishment of the state in 1776. The revolution was such a success such that the French tried the same in the late 1790s only for it to be somewhat a failure. By and by, the American continent has served as home to many. This includes the whites, African American, Red Indians and people from all over the globe. These people find the country a native. A place that they were born, breed and grew in. America prides to be the country with the highest diversity in the globe. Despite the huge population and the diversity, all seem comfortable living within the country. Some of the books that try to depict the living amongst the Americans after the American Revolution is ‘growing up native America. This is a book by Patricia Rileys. The book contains many short stories in it. The short stories are accounts of many authors whom each tell their tale of how their childhood was while living in America. The stories give a general picture of how early childhood was like for American in the early 1990s. This is because of the spread of the origins of the stories as they are from people living in various states in the country. The book itself is a combination of 22 American stories with tales of oppression, survival, heritage and culture. However, some of the stories are short form of long stories that have been published elsewhere. Despite this, they all give a general feel of life early lifeblood of an American child depicting culture and practices then. An example is a story by Eric Galsworthy called, ‘the Ballad of Plastic Fred’. The ballad of plastic Fred is a story of small children living in California and their livelihoods then. The children had a toy that they dearly loved. The toy was an idol shaped as a warrior with arrows. The toy actually looked like the native red Indians. This was from the clothing that it had and the arrows that it beheld. Besides the toy that they loved, others were all Indian like toys. However, this one toy was special to them. This is because of the speculation behind the toy. The toy that was also Indian like was presumed to be looking like Gary Lou’s older brother. The brother was a native to the town before he set off to Hollywood and started an acting career. “There was some speculation from my older cousins, those in the fourth or fifth grade, that one of those figures might be of Gary Lou’s older brother, who had gone to Hollywood to be a star”, (Patricia Riley, 1993). With his career picking up while, still young. The young children in the neighborhood praised his every move. Many adored him as they could watch home act in a couple of movies on the television set. In so doing, they had one toy amongst them that they likened him to it. The toy would bear the name Fred. The toy was always in a running position, mouth wide open and always carried a hatchet or tomahawk. The kids who included Innis and Ace took him for a warrior. However, the star who was once a neighbor got them thinking a lot. This is because of the change of names, which they realized they did not see his real name anywhere in the movies. They later found out that the new marriage between his biological mother and new dad led to him changing names to Frederick Eagle Cry. On finding out, a sigh of relief could be seen. They would now be certain that their role model did not die in the movies. One day, the kids set off to a small journey to the store with the narrator’s older sister, Kay to buy another Fred toy as the one they had been torn off. During the drive to the store, Kay hit a mailbox as she was busy adjusting the radio. Despite the car having a dent, the mailbox could be easily returned to its position. On their way back, they fabricated a story that would get them off the blame with their mother. Therefore, the kids killed a cat on the road and took it home. The story involved them saying that as they tried to avoid hitting the cat, they swayed and hit a mailbox. However, on reaching home, sad news of the demise of Fred hit them. “Kay was more interested in the volume control than the steering wheel. We promptly crashed into Ardra’s mailbox just down the road. We hadn’t been going very fast, but we did enough damage that we had to stop.”, (Patricia Riley, 1993). The story surely reveals the ways of the people in native America. It shows how people lived on tales and hope. They anticipated of living like their role models. With that hope in their heart, they would have idols of the role models in their houses. This kept people going. In addition, bullying was a common thing in the Native American days. This is evident from the author’s revelation of the fear that he had on Innis older brother Ace. He explains that Ace had random bursts of violence. Therefore, he had to hang out with Ace in the company of and older person. All the kids were victim to the same. They all frightened to the sight of Ely. With this fear, Ely was advantaged in that he has to snatch the Fred toy away from anyone who adds it. It was after his long use of the toy that the other has to play with it.” Ely, who either used them for target practice, or tied them to fire crackers, or put lighter fluid to them, or in some other way creatively mutilated them.” , (Patricia Riley, 1993). Ely put firecrackers to the toys or put lighter fluid to them. The children would have to buy another toy. Same could be told by Earle Thompson’s poem called spirit. The poem is about the deep culture of the Indians living in native America. They are deeply rooted to their culture, believe, and still have red Indians toys in their houses. The toys are just but a reminder of their past lives. Besides this, their interaction with the diverse cultures that present themselves from neighbors from various cultures still do not deter them from practicing what they strongly believe in. “We have forgotten who we are.“ We have sought only our own security.We have exploited simply for our own ends.We have distorted our knowledge.”, (Gibran, 2010).

The poem is a form of prayer to the gods. The red Indians used the prayer to find inwards strength within them and grow. This could be found from not only prayer but also object that likened the existence of the gods to them. These objects could be used as idols.

Work Cited

HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item” Gansworth, Eric. “The Ballad of Plastic Fred.” The Ballad of Plastic Fred. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. <http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/ericg/writing/Plastic.Fred.html>.

http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/ericg/writing/Plastic.Fred.html

HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item” “Great Spirit.” Great Spirit. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

HYPERLINK “http://www.firstpeople.us/html/Great_Spirit.html”http://www.firstpeople.us/html/Great_Spirit.html

HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item” Ramsey, Jarold. “University of Nebraska.” JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. HYPERLINK “http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/20736544?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21103021396101″http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/20736544?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21103021396101

HYPERLINK “http://www.bibme.org/” o “Edit this item” Riley, Patricia. “American Indians in Children’s Literature (AICL): Patricia Riley’s GROWING UP NATIVE AMERICAN.” American Indians in Children’s Literature (AICL): Patricia Riley’s GROWING UP NATIVE AMERICAN. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2012/11/patricia-rileys-growing-up-native.html>.