Facing East from Indian Country Reading Response
In the reading, “Facing East from Indian Country,” Richter tries to tell us the perspective of Native Americans by providing the information of Indian’s side. He points out that we are only given the history record of the time European first meet the Indians by the European because at that period of time, the Indian were still using their own language, and having primeval life. Thus, they did not record the history as the European did. Therefore, in the book Richter provides some examples to show how Indians feel when in the first meet of Indian and European. “In an Indian dwelling, a woman tells her granddaughter about the first meeting between Native people and Europeans...Unable to figure out who the visitors were, the Native people call them ouemichtigouchiou, or woodworkers.”1 Although this is just an imagination, this gives us a picture that how the Indians see the first meeting. Also, Richter explains that those imaginations are connected to other historical events, “…the tale of sailors who ate sea biscuits and drank was told to a French missionary in 1633 by a Montagnais who turn had heard it from his grandmother years earlier.”2 From his explanation, we can know all of the imaginations are connected to those surviving documents. Those imaginations give us a picture that how it looks like in Indian’s view and what the European left behind in the history. Through the reading, Richter illustrates the historical events in different way. He explains the Native American perspective as it applied and how that perspective affected these events happened. By looking at early American history from Indian country and facing east, Richter tries to offer a perspective that is not from the typical white man but meanwhile; he still covers the important events that helped shape this country. His viewpoint is important in order to understand that the standard explanation from European is not the only one available, and there is still many historical events from different