MONTANA 1948 ESSAY
TOPIC 2: Racism is the perception the colour of one’s skin determines how they can live. Indian are mistreated and misunderstood in the novel Montana 1948? Discuss
In Larry Watson’s Montana 1948, Indians are misunderstood and wrongly judged.
The main theme in Montana is racism and how strongly it played its part in society back in 1948
The book is based on twelve year old David Hayden’s memories of the events of his life in Montana. David is the son of Wesley Hayden, town sheriff and Gail Hayden. When the Hayden’s Indian housekeeper Marie Little Solider falls severely ill, Gail and Wesley suggest calling Wesley’s brother Frank, their close family member and local doctor. When Marie hears this she falls
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Through out the whole book Indians were judged wrongly. To the white people, they were of no value to anybody. They assumed that all Indians were uneducated, unintelligent, and useless. In the end, Wesley’s foolish choice to not arrest his brother in the beginning caused Marie to be murdered. When Frank admits his crime to Wesley they agree that he can be kept prisoner in the Hayden’s basement. After a few days as a prisoner Frank commits suicide. Wesley is haunted by his decisions for the rest of his life. The moral of the book, is to treat everyone as an equal. Holding a grudge again one race is not going to get you anywhere, if anything it will work out for the worst. Montana 1948 is the perfect example of racism unleashing horrible truths and devastating
In the novel Montana 1948, by Larry Watson, we witness this through the eyes of David a 12 year old narrator, the sickness and death of his beloved caretaker Marie Little Soldier by the doing of his Uncle Frank whom he has always looked up to. An important character central to the story is David’s father Wesley the sheriff of Bentrock who is brave, courageous, conflicted and, protective of his family. A message Wesley helps us understand a thought-provoking message that it is difficult to choose between family and doing the right thing.
Michael L. Tate’s book Indians and Emigrants looks to the years on the Overland Trails from 1840-1870 and makes a seemingly bold statement. He refutes the old ideal of Indian and White relations and provides a persuasive scholarly work explaining that more often than not whites and Indians interacted peacefully and for each other’s benefit. The thirty years of widespread cooperation can be condensed into three practical realities of emigrant’s time on the Overland Trails. To start, the emigrant’s main goal was to make
Erasure. Imagine having almost every detail of your life – your beliefs, your family, your culture, and success – erased by those only focused on their own personal gain. That is what happened to Native Americans over the course of American history. Due to the settler colonialism that laid the foundation of our nation, many Native Americans became the victims of horrific abuse and discrimination. As “whiteness” became the ideal in society, Native Americans lost their voices and the ability to stand up for themselves. Through her memoir, Bad Indians, Deborah Miranda reveals the truth of the horrific pasts of California Native Americans, and gives her ancestors’ stories a chance to finally be heard. In the section “Old News”, Deborah Miranda writes poems from the “white man’s” perspective to show the violent racism committed against Native Americans, as well as the indifference of whites to this violence.
This is the time in this story when David’s father is trying to figure out how he is going to define himself as a sheriff and how far he wants to go against the law just to keep his family happy. His father thinks that it is wrong to lock frank up because he’s his son and Wes’s brother. “Screwing an Indian. Or feeling her up or whatever. You don’t lock up a man for that. You don’t lock up your brother. A respected man. A war hero.” As David’s grandfather always has he looks down on the Indians as less. This connects to Layla Cruishank quote because Wes is deciding whether he want to do the right thing and tell the truth and not lie even though it would be easier and better for his own life. This can also connect to the movie A Time to Kill. The plot of the movie is that two drunk white rednecks raped and tried to kill a young black girl. Then her father killed the two men. The connection I found is during the end of the movie Matthew Mcconaughey has all the jurors to imagine the girl who was raped was white and all of the jurors change their mind and it's a happy ending. The connection is that in both A Time to Kill and Montana 1948 people are saw as less because of their race and people's racist
Hello my name is Ray, today I will be discussing the novel we have been studying; Larry Watson's 'Montana 1948". Watson's stereotype of a 1940's housewife is depicted through the characters Enid and Gail. The reader is shown throughout the text of female characters re: to take the backseat in relationships and that their place is in the home. Merce County during the 1940's, this idea is shown to the reader constantly by Larry Watson in the novel. Watson presents this stereotype as one that can be tested; only if first the character chooses to do so. Both Enid and Gail have the power to push these limits and be heard only when they free themselves from the stereo type in question. It is very hard not to
In the novel, Montana 1948, written by Larry Watson, a story of a young boy named David and the events of a cataclysmic summer holidays are recounted. Set in the heart of North America in the 19th century, when Native Americans were considered B class citizens and persecution was inevitable ever since the Europeans first arrived on the continent. David matures in a short span throughout the text from naivety to maturity as a result of the series of horrendous events he experiences. The murder and sexual assault of Marie Little Soldier evokes a case in which Wes, David’s father and sheriff of the county must re-moralise his choices as his brother Frank is to
"That night the jars began to break" (151). The novel Montana 1948, written by Larry Watson is a book about family and tragedy. The Hayden name is popular in Bentrock. David Hayden is a young boy who was taken for an adventure one summer when his sheriff of a dad, Wes, was informed of his brother sexually assaulting his patients. Family is important, but morals are what drive your actions.
Unlike in Montana 1948, we must make decisions based on our morals, justice, fearing nothing. In the book, Wes protected Frank’s immoral behaviors surrounding the Native American women by justifying that it could not happen since you could not prove anything that Frank had done. However, there was proof by the Native Americans. However, instilled by `his loyalty to his prejudice father, Julian, Wes could not trust or believe the beliefs of the Native Americans. Wes never feared the wrath of Gail, who supported the Native Americans, since the power he received came from Julian. This power that he received, the loyalty he had, was overpowering justice. Dave
The Indian community is depicted in an undesirable perception amongst the Hayden men. The racial discrimination publicized all through the Hayden boys is handed down through their farther. They all seem to believe that Indians are “flat-footed and lazy.” David mentions that his father believes that Indians with only a few exceptions were, “ignorant, lazy, superstitious and irresponsible”. Racism is shown as a function of ignorance and misunderstanding with Julian Hayden showing a prime example.
The main point of this essay is to inform the readers that racism is not dead and is still happeing in many parts of the country. While many people in the town of Pendleton view the Round Up as a joyus celebration dedicated to the cowboys who won this land, the author argues that the celebration is racist and incredibly outdated, espesiely the Happy Canyon Pageant. In the pageant, the cowboys are shown to be the heroes who conqured the west from the "evil" indians. In fact, the only times the indians are even relavent in the play are when they are circling the wagons and dying in a battle; but the worst part is that the scene is called "Passing of a Race." The name of the scene is degrading and incedibly offensive because in incinuates that
Throughout the history of humans, racism has always been an issue. Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird and Joel Schumacher’s film A Time to Kill both explore the idea of racism. Multiple scenes in the novel and film use various themes to help convey this idea of racism. Both of these texts explore this idea with differences and similarities. Character’s lives and situations play an important role in conveying this main theme of racism.
3. Excluding Milkman, discuss the various attitudes on race from the perspectives of three other male characters in the novel.
Martin Luther King Jr., an activist and leader of the Civil Rights Movement said during his I Have a Dream speech, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Now fifty years after the Civil Rights Movement, and that day has not come. Everyday individuals of different race, cultures and ethnicities are judged based off of the stereotypes that come from their skin color. These individuals are not given the same opportunities, fortunes, or freedoms that Caucasian people are awarded.
Joe Sacco and Chris Hedges investigate the injustices the Native Americans are going through. These citizens, as a social class is not recognized by the government or societal population. They have gone through exploitation and conditions in their work field that “replicate slavery.” (introduction). Their History has been hidden, there is no mention of the tribal sufferage. Museums fail to explain that the buffalo population of North America had been reduced from fifty million from one thousand. Then the museums have the “audacity to display, “your father made land large enough for all of you… water runs in peace and plenty. It will be yours forever,” (13). Throughout the stories told, there are high cases of social disorders called anomie,
During the 20th century, racism ran rampant throughout our society. In both Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Tate Taylor’s film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s The Help demonstrated the values and attitudes society held for people of colour during their respective time periods. Issues such as racism, segregation and superiority are all explored through a range of methods.