When Mr. P gives advice to Junior, he addresses the stereotype of Indian people versus white people. The quote: “We were supposed to kill the Indian to save the child” (35) comes from a stereotype which highlights that in society Indian people are referred/viewed to as: tribe people with long braids and head crowns made up of feathers. This quote literally means that the Indian culture inside native children needs to be demolished in order to “save” (35) the child from a fate full of poverty and insecurity. It means “[giving] up on being Indian” (35) so that the child has a chance to become wealthy, famous, and someone worth of value. When this is spoken, Junior gets taken back and doesn’t understand the meaning of the quote; rather he thinks that Mr. P actually killed an Indian. Everyone in society can be similar to Junior in this moment such as being uninformed. It is so important to not be ignorant towards the different groups of people in this book and to understand that people of the same ethnicity can have different cultures and practices before a biased and ignorant statement is made about a certain group.
Some other questions to explore are: Why do you think Mr. P used this quote while talking to Junior? What are the consequences of being ignorant? Is a healthy amount of ignorance okay? What are some stereotypes of Indian people that is seen in our culture?
~ Isabella-Marie
I totally agree with you, I think when Mr.P “We were supposed to kill the Indian to save the child,” he was trying to say that the Indian blood would ruin the child’s life.
ReplyDeleteI think the consequence of being ignorant toward one ethnicity is that people would ignore one’s talent and ability to do things. For example, if Arnold were to follow Mr.P’s concept of education, he would eventually “give up” and all of his talents would be ignored. He would end up like his family, who are “nothing more than poor.” Also, it could result in the disappearance of cultures. Arnold’s school, for instance, believes killing the Indian within the child would change his or her future. However, if they “killed” all the Indians, the culture would not exist anymore, which would certainly not be pleasant because differences are what made us, we should embrace them instead of demolishing them.
I totally agree with you Isabella that "We were supposed to kill the Indian to save the child,” is about demolishing their ethnicity for better opportunities in life. I think Mr.P used this quote on Junior because Mr.P believes that Junior can change the world they lived in if he really tried. Mr. P is a really big influence on Junior because he is one person who believes that native Americans have a talent/ can achieve their dreams/goals if they really tried hard enough. Unlike, most other people, Mr. P has heard "multiple stories" about native Americans (ie: sister) and doesn't have a stereotype of native Americans.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and I can see how there was a stereotype when Mr. P was talking to Junior, and how they were supposed to get rid of the Indian culture in the child, in order for them to succeed. He made it seem that all Indians were poor and uneducated, and like you said, have braids and have the head crowns. I think that he used this quote to show that was what they were told to do and that was what they had to, and so he could see that Mr. P didn’t want to do that anymore. The consequences of being ignorant are that you don’t care anymore, and will keep doing it. Like the teachers being ignorant toward the Indian children, shows that they also don’t care about the kids or their heritage or culture, and just care about themselves. Sometimes ignorance is okay when you might just want to do something for yourself and don’t care about anyone or anything else, but you don’t want to always be ignorant, because you won’t listen and understand other people. Some stereotypes of Indians that are seen in our culture are, like you said, tribe people with long braids and head crowns made up of feathers, or also wearing animal clothing and hunting. We have this one idea or single story that we have heard, and don’t know the actual story.
ReplyDeleteAnother question that I have as well would be Why do you think the teachers were told to get rid of the Indian in the children?
Elizabeth Knox
I agree that when Mr.P says, "kill the Indian to save the child" it is about demolishing the culture. I think though that when you said, "a chance to become wealthy, famous, and someone worth of value" you stretched the meaning a little to far. I think that it actually is more of just allowing them to become some thing worth some value in the opinion of the whites in power. The meaning of what Mr.P said should be looked into very deeply because it has many different possibilities beyond what is literally said.
ReplyDelete-Peter L
I agree with you completely, except for when you say that the teachers did this to prevent poverty among the Native American children. I think that what Mr. P means by that is that some teachers thought that Native American culture was violent and inferior, and therefore they thought that by eliminating Native American culture, they were actually doing the kids a favor, and preventing them from having to live a life within the boundaries of the subordinate Indian culture. I think that it was partly to reduce chances of poverty, but also to save the child from the practices, traditions, and general personality that Native Americans are stereotyped to have by these teachers that have one, very negative story about Native Americans.
ReplyDelete