The General Allotment Act Of Apush, By Mary Erddrich
the United States of America marginalizes the Ojibwa culture. The community way of life is damaged. Nanapush alludes about the destructions “I heard the groan and crack, felt the ground tremble as each tree slammed earth. I weakened into an old man as one oak went down, another and another was lost” (Erdrich 2004: 9). Thus the members of the Ojibwa tribe are divided against one another. People become greedy. They are against themselves. Kashpaw family becomes greedy. Paying taxes becomes their main motive. It collapses their community sharing life. They become alienated from their own culture and tradition.
The novel deals with the effect of the general allotment act of 1887. Its main aim is to destroy the tribal culture unity. Mary john in …show more content…
One of the central characters Fleur and Pauline are an evident character whose life is a path of struggle. Fleur and Moses are the only survivors of Pillager family. All of Pillager family members except Fleur and Moses are washed by consumption. Fleur goes to Argus to make money by working at the butcher shop to pay tax for her land. She struggles to own her land. Because the “native women viewed the Earth as their mother, who gave life to plants, just as they, the women, gave life to their children” (McGown 2006: 54). She gambles to earn money because her wage is fewer amounts than her tax amount. She plays cards with men and wins all plays. “And yet it wasn’t just that she was a Chippewa, or even that she was a woman, it wasn’t that she was good-looking or even that she was alone that made their brains hum. It was how she played cards. Women didn’t usually play with men, so the evening that Fleur drew a chair to the men’s table there was a shock of surprise” (18). All men feel angry towards her. They raped her. She is victimized by the violent act of men. Shaddock argues that the persecution of fleur “personifies the historical destruction of Native American Culture” (1994: 109). When Fleur returns to the reservation, Nanapush enquires about her rape. But she simply says “Uncle, the Puyat lies (38)”. The readers here are mystified by the reply of
The novel deals with the effect of the general allotment act of 1887. Its main aim is to destroy the tribal culture unity. Mary john in …show more content…
One of the central characters Fleur and Pauline are an evident character whose life is a path of struggle. Fleur and Moses are the only survivors of Pillager family. All of Pillager family members except Fleur and Moses are washed by consumption. Fleur goes to Argus to make money by working at the butcher shop to pay tax for her land. She struggles to own her land. Because the “native women viewed the Earth as their mother, who gave life to plants, just as they, the women, gave life to their children” (McGown 2006: 54). She gambles to earn money because her wage is fewer amounts than her tax amount. She plays cards with men and wins all plays. “And yet it wasn’t just that she was a Chippewa, or even that she was a woman, it wasn’t that she was good-looking or even that she was alone that made their brains hum. It was how she played cards. Women didn’t usually play with men, so the evening that Fleur drew a chair to the men’s table there was a shock of surprise” (18). All men feel angry towards her. They raped her. She is victimized by the violent act of men. Shaddock argues that the persecution of fleur “personifies the historical destruction of Native American Culture” (1994: 109). When Fleur returns to the reservation, Nanapush enquires about her rape. But she simply says “Uncle, the Puyat lies (38)”. The readers here are mystified by the reply of