Analysis Of Cogewea

1146 Words3 Pages

The novel Cogewea can be seen from many perspectives .1. It represents the first novel written by a Native American calling attention to the discrimination and abuse suffered by the Native American people. 2. it’s a novel written with the compliance with a white man Virgil McWhorter. Given the belief of the Euro-American population that the Native American had no culture and should be assimilated and the policies of the government that required Native Americans to send their children thousands of miles away from home to boarding schools. Gave this novel a distinctive Euro-American flavor. The publishing companies were not interested in a novel concerning the plight of the Native American. Their interest lay in a portrayal of the west as a …show more content…

The first theme is that of white supremacy. The Native American is seen as a child like race to be taken advantage of. This is seen in the chapter concerning the Fourth of July celebration. The Indians as well as the half-bloods are portrayed as second class citizens. The Kootenai tribe is described as gamblers and servants to the white men. The Kootenai’s were always playing three card Monte and were known cheaters and drunks. The ranch hands at the H-B were always losing their money while gambling and were victims of the bootlegger. The second theme is closely related to the first and is extremely important. For it’s the first attempt by a Native American to tell their side of the assimilation polices and how these policies created a society that left no place for the Native American to enter or to succeed. The discrimination faced by the Native American is portrayed in chapter 6. In this chapter the Fourth of July celebration is held. During this celebration two horse races are to be run one the ladies race the second the squaw race. Cogewea enters both races during the ladies race she is insulted by her white competitor and told this race is for ladies next she is disqualified for striking her white competitor despite the fact that the white lady hit her first because the judge believed that the half-blood Cogewea was guilty only because she was a half blood. In the squaw race Cogewea is insulted by a full-blood because she is a hated half-blood whose father was white. Cogewea wins the squaw race but when she asks for the total of forty-five dollars the judge chastises her and tells her she is only due the amount of twenty-five dollars for winning the squaw’s race. When Cogewea continues to demand the full prize money an argument breaks out Jim the foreman of the H-B ranch comes to Cogewea’s defense and is nearly put in irons and sentenced to several months in jail before Cogewea is

Open Document