When seeing her two sons off to work she has to tell them not to drink whiskey. This section of the book really surprised me because Jemison talks a lot about health, and the food they eat, and why she herself has stayed to healthy. If the Indians had never been given spirits would they have continued to be a peaceful people living together? The book alludes to spirits killing the Indian tribe, and I am interested in knowing if that is indeed true.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Spirits
My question, while reading the last chapters of A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison is where the spirits came from. The last chapters focus on the cruelty of the Indian life, especially dealing with Mary Jemison's family and those close to her. What is mentioned in almost all of these incidents is the consumption of spirits. Jemison notes that when she was first captured her life was more peaceful, perhaps because the Indians had not been exposed to alcohol, and the negative effects it can have.
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3 comments:
I would believe that the damaging influence of alcohol that was alluded to in the book is true. Alcoholism is a significant problem in modern Indian reservations and within the Native American population. I think Jemison's account can be taken as insight into the origins of this problem.
Also, I believe that spirits can be taken to represent the influence of western culture at large on the Indian tribes. There is great appeal and intrigue, however, in the end, western culture proved irreversibly destructive to the Indian's previous way of life.
While alcoholism may be a problem and have a damaging influence on the Native American population, it is ridiculous for Mary Jemison to blame ALL of their problems on "spirits."
I agree with Virginia that this could be a metaphor for the western culture's influence. However, Native Americans still had wars and violence before the whites came, just not to such a large scale. The influence, without question, was mostly detrimental, but to blame all of the problems of the Indians ever on the new settlers is ridiculous.
This post reminded me of a quote on page 84: "The use of ardent spirits amongst the Indians and the attempts which have been made to civilize and christianize them by the white people, has constantly made them worse and worse; increased their vices, and robbed them of many of their virtues; and will ultimately produce their extermination."
Maybe for others, this seems like an innocuous quote, but, for me, I feel like this is a testament to Jemison's knowledge of the Indian culture and her ability to forsee their future. Consider this; from a seat on our computer in 2008, it is very easy to say that assimilation and alcohol were both contributing factors to the downfall of the Indians. However, with an upclose view of the Indians where feelings and her seemingly apologetic nature to others in general may have skewed her views, Jemison (or Seaver?) was able to a certain extent ultimately predict the cause of the downfall of the Indians. Because of Jemison's unique situation, I feel like she was well acquainted enough with the Indians to have a thorough understanding of their culture yet emotionally disconnected to the extent where she could form thoughtful on the habits of the Indians
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