Bradford
Nicholl
July
17, 2013
Compare
and Contrast "Indian Cartography" and "Itch Like
Crazy: Resistance"
Native
Americans have been removed from their lands by white settlers for a
vast number of years. As a result, Native Americans have been
suffering from the inability to revisit their childhood origins or to
experience their culture. Deborah E. Miranda and Wendy Rose are two
poets, authors of “Indian Cartography” and “Itch Like Crazy:
Resistance,” respectively. These two authors, themselves, are
Native Americans who are suffering from their cultural loss. Miranda
writes of the destruction of her father's childhood home that white
settlers have caused and the depressing effects it has on her and her
father. Rose takes a more personal approach and writes about
overhearing plans for the removal of Native Americans, describes the
devastating effects it has on her and others, and vents her
frustration. While Miranda carries a sorrowful tone and Rose conveys
an angered tone, they share the same historical theme in that the
culture and origins of Native Americans were destroyed by white
settlers. The authors accomplish this through similes, metaphors,
alliteration, imagery, and symbolism.
Miranda
begins the first stanza of her poem, “Indian Cartography,” with
two similes to emphasize the importance of their heritage and
introduce a tragedy caused by white settlers. The first simile reads,
“my father opens a map of California – / traces mountain ranges,
rivers, county borders / like family bloodlines.” Here she is
relating traces on a map to family bloodlines. This simile brings
attention to the significance of these traces, and describes them as
something family-related. Thus, we can infer that the traces have
something important to do with their culture and heritage. In
addition, since bloodlines allow blood to flow through it and travel,
we can infer that the traces have to do with tracing back their
culture to its origins. Note that alliteration can be found in the
quote as well, to further brighten the simile and emphasize the
importance of the locations traced on the map. In a second simile,
Miranda writes, “places he was happy, / or where tragedy greeted
him / like an unpleasant relative.” Describing the locations
that were traced on the map, this quote informs that not all
traces represent locations of good times, but may locate times of
disaster, using a simile to compare them to being greeted by an
unpleasant relative. The use of this simile introduces the
concept of a tragedy having occurred in the past, and emphasizes the
negativity that will come to one of these locations: the flooding of
his childhood home in the valley by white settlers from a dam
project.
Wendy
Rose makes use of a metaphor in her poem, “Itch Like Crazy:
Resistance,” to demonstrate her anger and convey her message to
resist the white settlers. Rose states, “this is one of those days
/ when I see Columbus / in the eyes of nearly everyone.” This
metaphor relates Christopher Columbus to white settlers she sees
around. Discovering the route to America, Columbus was a
Spanish explorer essentially responsible for introducing white
colonization on the country, which led to the removal of Native
Americans from their lands and cultures. By comparing him to white
settlers that she sees, Rose is showing how she views whites to be an
enemy. This gives an insight to the anger she has towards whites as
they push her and other Native Americans off of their land.
Several
occasions of alliteration arise in “Indian Cartography” to
emphasize the depressing effect the destruction of the father's
childhood home plays on him. The first instance of alliteration
recounts his youth, “days he walked across
the silver
scales
/ swollen
bellies of salmon
coming back / to a river that wasn't there.” This quote describes
the father as a child, crossing a river filled with salmon and their
silver scales. These salmon have swollen bellies, indicating
they are preparing to spawn, or
deposit eggs. The words, silver, scales, swollen, and salmon, bring
attention to the preciousness of the flow of Salmon along the river
and the baby fish soon to come. This emphasizes the loss that has
occurred from the destruction by white settlers. Another case of
alliteration enters the father's dreams, “when he comes to the
valley / drowned
by a displaced
river / he swims out, floats
on his face
/ with eyes open, looks down
into lands not drawn
on any map.” In his dream, the father is floating on the lake
peering down into the water where his home use to be. This gives the
image as if he is lost, separated
from his childhood home and cultural origins.
The words, drowned, displaced, floats, face, down, and drawn, attract
attention to bring out the tragedy of the destruction of his home by
white settlers, even stating that it is no longer drawn on any map,
but replaced by a lake, drowning the region. This greatly brings out
the sorrow in the tone of the poem.
“Itch
Like Crazy: Resistance” contains many example of imagery that
conveys Rose's anger toward white settlers. One major example of
imagery reads, “every ring on Turtle's Back / a mortar to split our
seeds, / every sunflower bursting from asphalt / raises green arms to
the sun, / every part of Tewaquachi / has formed the placenta / from
which we emerge, / every red thing in the world / is the reflection
of blood, / our death and our rising.” This phrase provides imagery
describing
how
the Native Americans and herself are adapted to their land
and
their
culture,
only to have it taken from them by white settlers.
The
use of imagery helps to connect the reader with the feelings that she
experiences and to understand her anger. Immediately after, Rose
follows with an additional
major
example of imagery, stating, “now
I dance the mission revolts again, / let the ambush blossom in my
heart, / claim my victory with their own language, / know the
strength of spine tied to spine, / recognize him when he arrives
again, / this hungry one, must feed him / poisoned fish.” Here she
is using imagery to describe how she desires to resist the white
settlers from removing them from their land, and how she will fight
to protect that land and her culture. The use of imagery helps to
demonstrate her anger toward the white settlers and how she plans to
fight to resist being removed from her land.
Miranda
throws in a major play on symbolism near the end of “Indian
Cartography” to show her acceptance of the past, as well as to show
the impact that it leaves. She predicts of what the father views as
he peers into the lake, saying, “maybe he sees shadows / of a
people who are fluid, / fluent in dark water, bodies / long and
glinting with sharp-edged jewelry, / and mouths still opening,
closing / on the stories of our home.” First of all, we can see
that a metaphor is used to relate the people from that area to the
Salmon in the lake, describing them with great imagery. We can also
note that she refers to the father's home as being “our home,” to
include her, explaining that her
father's culture is a part of her as well.
The symbolism comes in as she speaks of the mouths of the Salmon
opening and closing. A fish will open and close its mouth to breathe
as it takes in water and pushes it out of its gills. Since we have to
breathe in order to live, and the Salmon represent the people of that
area, the breathing of the fish symbolizes the lives of those people.
While the Salmon are breathing on the stories of their home, as
Miranda states, this symbolizes those people living on their stories.
In other words, these people can only live off of the stories rather
than experience their culture first-hand, greatly
impacting the culture of the Native Americans.
However, Miranda tells us this calmly, seeming
to accept the fact that their home has been destroyed by the white
settlers, and that she will only experience the stories.
Symbolism is also found in “Itch Like Crazy: Resistance,” with the purpose of emphasizing Rose's anger toward white settlers for their removal of Native Americans from their land. After overhearing that she and the Native Americans will be removed from their land, she writes, “the terror crouches there in the canyon of my hands, / the pink opening rosebud mouths / of newborns or the helplessness / of the primal song.” This quote symbolizes her anger toward whites settlers. The terror is crouching as if about to pounce, representing her anger about to snap and fight back. She imagines the babies who will be lost from their cultural origins unless she resists, or she can sing the primal song which she understands is helpless. This use of symbolism brings out her anger and shows that the white settlers have pushed her to the edge, aiding in creating an angered tone in the poem.
Deborah
E. Miranda seems to posses a calm, sorrowful tone, accepting of what
took place while Wendy Rose seems to have an angered tone, ready to
resist the white settlers. These tones were generated through various
similes, metaphors, alliteration, imagery, and symbolism, as we have
seen. While Miranda and Rose convey two entirely different tones,
they share the same historical theme in that the culture and origins
of Native Americans were destroyed by white settlers. After reading
these poems, we should be motivated to protect the land of Native
Americans and preserve their culture, which have both been decimated
by white settlers.
No comments:
Post a Comment