From: Tattercoat at aol.com <Tattercoat>
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 13:58:42 EDT

Debbie Reese mentioned the interest the young boy reader had in the details of Ojibwa daily life in The Birchbark House. This is the same fascination for details of daily life in times gone past that still attracts kids to Laura Wilder's Little House books. I think it is well worth looking at Erdrich and Wilder's books side by side (considering Wilder's series as a whole).

Each tells a compelling story of an individual child from deep within family experience. Each is rich with cultural detail from the mid 1900's. Both white and Indian families have many of the same concerns: food preparation
(including some of the same activities), surviving the ravages of illness
(remember Mary's blindness), interacting with the natural world, and interacting to some extent with the "other" culture. Each focuses on the growing competence and understanding of an intelligent and resourceful but still dependent girl.

And each "sees the greater world through the colored lens of ...culture" to borrow Gretchen's words.

In Birchbark House, we see the invaders and their culture through a variety of Native perspectives. We see the devastation that European disease has brought and the pressure to move ever West to escape these rude intruders. Fishtale and Angeline go to the mission school to learn the white way of writing, Fishtale in hopes of not being cheated by treaties. Deydey, whose father was white, speaks contemptuously of the chimookoman, calling them
"useless ones" and "greedy children" for as Fishtale says, "They are infinitely hungry." Still, guns provide food when the hunters are too weak to hunt the traditional way. White trade goods are sought after--Omakayas wears a silver cross as decoration--at the same time Ojibwa culture is central and most valued in the story. The story is deeply rooted in Ojibwa culture and world view; young readers are invited into this world to identify with Omakayas whatever their racial or cultural background.

Now, I have to confess to not following Eliza's assignment to re-read the Little House books this month. But I do recall that the white characters in the original Little House books expressed a range of attitudes towards Indians, from outright fear and loathing (Ma), to a sad compassion (Pa), to Laura's open hearted if naive curiosity in the earlier books. While we may not like or approve of the white attitudes and actions towards the Indian inhabitants of the land at that time, Wilder's portrayal is--as I recall--culturally accurate: white settlers did have a range of attitudes towards Indians, learning from them, fearing them, murdering them; those that did not participate in their decimation certainly profiting by "Indian removal." Would we want our historical fiction cover up this truth? If we
"white out" the race based attitudes of the times--the racism-- how can our children understand the tragic destruction of native life and culture that it allowed? Perhaps we should look at how we present these books--not as the whole truth, but as a window into the time and the particular culture--and present them in larger context.

Erdrich's deceased husband, Michael Dorris, wrote two historical novels for children from Indian perspectives set in times of first contact with Europeans, MORNING GIRL and GUESTS. He also wrote a thought-provoking article
"Trusting the Words" on the Little House books for Booklist (June 1 and 15, 1993) in which he recalled his own childhood love for the books and the difficulty he had--as an Indian parent--trying to read them to his daughter. He ultimately decided that he didn't want to turn bedtime reading into an exercise in contexturalizing racism in fiction and so left the books on the shelf for his daughter to discover on her own, trusting her to bring a wider understanding to the books when she was older.

As a teacher of teachers, I wrestle with the ways American history is presented in our schools and encourage my students to use literature to provide a more inclusive view of history. It is our job to provide context. The Little House books and other white settler literature are widely used in grade school classrooms without a balance of perspectives. Certainly in my state, American History is still taught primarily as white history; children are frequently asked to identify with white settlers and to see Indians as
"other" and a threat. (Is it any wonder that so many bright and wonderful Indian kids drop out of school?)

Both The Birchbark House and the Little House books provide a deeply felt experience of the individual within her culture and her time; both views are necessary to understand the genocide that happened here. I would love to hear how children respond to reading of these books side by side.

Carolyn Lehman Humboldt State University
Received on Wed 13 Oct 1999 12:58:42 PM CDT