Literary Fools Crow by James Welch

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by issybird

The visionary section at the end was perhaps a little too accurate for my tastes, but my major issue with it was that Fools Crow was passive, just a seer of visions. His earlier quests involved him taking action, forging a path. With this one, he was just a witness. I thought it was rushed and perhaps just a means to wrap up the story and not as organic as his other quests.

I wonder if the lack of action is partially answered by this quote after Fools Crow surveys the destruction left by the massacre.

Anger welled up within him, an anger that was directed at the futility of attempting to make the seizers pay. He had always thought that the Pikunis could fight these hairy-faces. He had prepared himself for this fight, he was ready to die a good death to defend this country. Now he knew that his father had been right all along—the Pikunis were no match for the seizers and their weapons. That the camps were laid low with the white-scabs disease did not even matter. The disease, this massacre—Sun Chief favored the Napikwans. The Pikunis would never possess the power to make them cry.

As Fools Crow matures in the book his attitudes transition from warrior to healer. We watch him question and come to terms with his elders as they debate peace or war with the seizers. Perhaps his action is in how he reacts to these events and helps to lead his people through the difficult changes to their life that are coming in the years ahead. His final thought of that chapter is that "We must think of our children". We know from earlier that he feels a weight of responsibility and duty to the group in contrast to Fast Horse's freedom. As the book ends Mik-Api wonders if Fools Crow next season will smoke the tobacco offering to "Thunder Chief, whose long rumbling voice foretold the beginning of life and abundance on the ground of many gifts".

[ccowie]

There have been so many thoughtful posts regarding this book. Thanks for the links provided that help with some of the background etc.

I really enjoyed this book. This is a genre that, quite frankly, a few years ago didn’t interest me in the least. But I started reading several Native Canadian authors a couple of years ago and have come to really appreciate the stories and the cultural and spiritual perspectives. It also sheds much light on the current state of relations.

The one thing I didn’t like so much, and this is minor, was the character arcs for Fools Crow (White Man’s Dog) and Fast Horse. I predicted early in the novel that one would experience steady growth toward maturity and leadership, while the other a steady decline into a more self-centred existence and a resultant loss of respect from others. I also agree wholeheartedly with Issybird:

The visionary section at the end was perhaps a little too accurate for my tastes, but my major issue with it was that Fools Crow was passive, just a seer of visions. His earlier quests involved him taking action, forging a path. With this one, he was just a witness. I thought it was rushed and perhaps just a means to wrap up the story and not as organic as his other quests.

Absolutely! My thoughts regarding this were exacerbated by having recently read The Orenda by Joseph Boyden. By narrating in first person from three perspectives (Huron Leader, Iroquoise captive and Jesuit Priest) Boyden gets a lot deeper into the characters and their motives. It’s a brilliant book and in terms of addressing the good and evil paradox in all, it’s much more satisfying.

However, with that said I really loved the way that Welch used dreams to drive the plot forward. And I actually liked how Fools Crow was more action driven early and became more a passive seer later on. I think that more accurately reflects the life of a leader with the propensities of a prophet.

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

Thanks for your interesting post, issybird. Although this may be off-topic as far as Fools Crow, it is surely not off-topic concerning the theme of the suppression and suffering of native peoples.

This article about the extermination of the Abenaki was just featured on the Indian Country Today Media Network.

The historical marker in your town describes (one-sidedly) the Oyster River Massacre of July 18, 1694, which took place during King William's War. Here is a quote concerning a bounty offered at the beginning of that war:

I have been in Cochise County in southeastern Arizona all month exploring museums and places rich in history. No matter where I go I am struck by the sensitivity of historical markers and museum displays to the condition of all the earlier people. At the Fort Huachuca museum a display featuring a late 1800's white army wife with a recording telling her story has her speaking in an Irish accent. It brought to mind an unspoken back story of the suffering she probably endured in arriving at this corner of the frontier. The Apaches trying to survive and the Buffalo soldiers once stationed here are all treated with compassion, respect, and sensitivity. It gives me hope for us all.

This has been such an interesting discussion and I have learned a lot. (Given that I started with not much information, there was a lot I needed to learn!) This article on the Abenaki, to go with issybird's interesting photographs, is a case in point. There are times when you have to ask yourself just which group is supposed to be the "savages". At the same time, the fear and the need to lash out at any perceived and/or real threat is understandable on the part of the settlers.

Sounds as if it may be time for your community to put up a second plaque issybird, to try to balance the record a bit! We have instances of that here in Oz, where a second, more recent plaque has been placed, often by a Reconciliation group.

[BelleZora]

At the Tombstone Court House State Park Museum I was educated about how the U.S. Army made an implacable enemy of the great Apache leader Cochise in an incident that reminded me of the Marias Massacre. It was certainly another case of the army's failure to distinguish between the guilty and the innocent, or even to care to do so.

Born in present-day Arizona, Cochise led the Chiricahua band of the Apache tribe during a period of violent social upheaval. In 1850, the United States took control over the territory that today comprises Arizona and New Mexico. Not hostile to the whites at first, he kept peace with the Anglo-Americans until 1861, when he became theiCr implacable foe because of the blunder of a young U.S. Army officer, Lt. George Bascom. In that year, Cochise and several of his relatives had gone to an encampment of soldiers in order to deny the accusation that they had abducted a child from a ranch. The boy was later proved to have been kidnapped by another band of Apaches. During the parley, Cochise and his followers were ordered held as hostages by Bascom, but Cochise managed to escape almost immediately by cutting a hole in a tent. Bascom later ordered the other Apache hostages hanged, and the embittered Cochise joined forces with Mangas Coloradas, his father-in-law, in a guerrilla struggle against the American army and settlers. (cochisestronghold.com)

Cochise was held in such awe that the county formed in 1881 was named for him.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I read on the internet that Welch was inspired to write about the Marias Massacre because his great-grandmother was a survivor. He was also related to Malcolm Clark and possibly Heavy Runner.

[BelleZora]

Another post, but about massacres and historical markers:

In The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King he tells of a massacre marker in Almo, Idaho that was shocking to me because I had never heard of it. My father was one of the few people ever born in tiny Almo (in 1904). He and my grandmother (born in 1885 not far from Almo) were great story tellers, a dying art form but common in the days before television. In the dozens of stories of pioneer life that I remember, they never mentioned any massacres. Apparently I've never visited Almo so never saw the marker.

Had this massacre really occurred it would have been one of the worst ever, yet no mention was made of it before the 1920's.

http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/sli...ay.php?slide=2

In future, I will view all historical markers with suspicion until I have fact-checked them.

Originally Posted by BelleZora

At the Tombstone Western Heritage Museum I was educated about how the U.S. Army made an implacable enemy of the great Apache leader Cochise in an incident that reminded me of the Marias Massacre. It was certainly another case of the army's failure to distinguish between the guilty and the innocent, or even to care to do so.



Cochise was held in such awe that the county formed in 1881 was named for him.

I have always been interested in the history of Native Americans, especially those from the Southwest. This is due to the fact that when I was young I was very close to a great uncle on my mother's side that was born in Gallup, NM in 1890 and grew up when that area was still almost Old West frontier like. Most of his years in school prior to high school he rode a horse the 10 miles to and from his school. He later served in WWI and after became a banker in San Francisco, but still owned many Native American artifacts that as well as a large number of books on the subject. I still have a beautiful picture book about the Anasazi cave dwellings in the Four Corners area. Anyway another great Apache leader/warrior was Nana who though not as well known as Cochise, Geronimo, or Mangas Coloradas rivaled these in the battle with whites.

[BelleZora]

Earlier in this discussion we mentioned the near extinction of the buffalo. We left it with possibly the appearance of primarily placing blame upon the native people. The Smithsonian currently has a traveling exhibition, funded by the U.S. Congress, in Sierra Vista, Arizona that leaves no doubt about who is held responsible. I am posting a very bad photograph and a quote from that exhibition.



Here is the quote just above the portion pictured:

More than 40,000 hides fill this buffalo hide yard in Dodge City, Kansas, 1878, one of dozens of such places. Decimation of the bison herds all across the midwest led to widespread starvation among many Plains Indian tribes. -- The National Archives

Here is another quote from an 1889 magazine:

Thirty years ago millions of the great unwieldy animals existed on this continent. Innumerable droves roamed, comparatively undisturbed and unmolested, . . . Many thousands have been ruthlessly and shamefully slain every season for past twenty years or more by white hunters and tourists merely for their robes, and in sheer wanton sport, and their huge carcasses left to fester and rot, and their bleached skeletons to strew the deserts and lonely plains. - "In the Prime of the Buffalo," J. F. Baltimore, The Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, November 1889

Originally Posted by BelleZora

Earlier in this discussion we mentioned the near extinction of the buffalo. We left it with possibly the appearance of primarily placing blame upon the native people. The Smithsonian currently has a traveling exhibition, funded by the U.S. Congress, in Sierra Vista, Arizona that leaves no doubt about who is held responsible. I am posting a very bad photograph and a quote from that exhibition.

Attachment 119664

Here is the quote just above the portion pictured:

Here is another quote from an 1889 magazine:

Yes, exactly. There was an intended effort to exterminate the buffalo herds that the Plains Indians depended on to force them to give up their traditional lands and located to reservations where they would be dependent on the US government. I thought that the unnamed white hunter that Fools Crow kills because that hunter is just shooting wild life, including black horns, not for any purpose but to kill them was intended by the author to represent this history?

[Bookworm_Girl]

Sounds like you are having an interesting road-trip, BelleZora! I must plan a trip to Southern Arizona sometime soon. You are highlighting museums and things to do that I didn't realize existed.

[BelleZora]

Yes, I agree that is exactly what Welch was trying to represent, Hamlet. Fools Crow is a book I appreciate more as I think about it.

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Sounds like you are having an interesting road-trip, BelleZora! I must plan a trip to Southern Arizona sometime soon. You are highlighting museums and things to do that I didn't realize existed.

Cochise County is definitely worth a visit. I had planned to be here only a few days, but that was a month ago and it will be two more weeks before I'm willing to move on. It is lovely with sacaton grass prairies and pinyon pine-covered mountains. If you decide to visit, PM me for the 'must see' places. In late March I'll explore the Chiricahua mountains, Cochise's Stronghold, search out remnants of the Butterfield Trail, and then move on to New Mexico.

Yesterday I realized that a little knowledge could make me insufferable. I had another go at Tombstone where I was implored to ride the only 'authentic' Butterfield Stagecoach in Tombstone. I helpfully pointed out how this could not possibly be true: wrong suspension, wrong number of seats, wrong height for the driver's seat, and all Butterfield stages had Overland Mail painted on the sides, not Butterfield, etc. Not to mention that Tombstone didn't exist when the Butterfield Stage ran. The driver's alarmed face caused me to understand that Tombstone had entered into mythology where facts were unwelcome and I was interfering with free enterprise and a good story.

[Bookpossum]

Oh dear - local mythology comes face to face with some actual knowledge!

[fantasyfan]

I'm quite enjoying this book. I find myself fascinated by the characters and particularly the way in which the author submerges us into the world view and mind-set of the Native American. I have quite a way to go yet but the journey is so interesting!

[paola]

this must be one of the most insightful, informed and informative discussions we've been having in the club! I have finally finished the book, too, and going through all the posts so far has been thoroughly fascinating.
I have enjoyed the book first and formost for Welch's ability to make the reader experience the life in the camps: the language used is most effective in this respect, and after the first few pages in which I had to find my pace, I got completely comfortable with Cold Maker, Morning Star and the grease-shooters. For this alone I must repeat my thanks to BelleZora for the great selection (The Inconvenient Indian is going to be next :-) ).

In terms of story inside this novel, however, I am less enthusiastic: I too found the magical realism in the last part excessive (which is a matter of personal taste anyway), but more importantly for me many of the characters came across as rather flat, or put it differently I could not reconcile myself with the degree to which most characters were wise, superhumanly patient and collected.

On the other hand, thinking back to this:

Originally Posted by issybird

For the secular reader, I think the dreams and visions related in this style are justifiable. Some can be seen as a goad. It doesn't matter whether Fools Crow truly freed the wolverine; he thinks he did and acts accordingly. There's also a significant element where the dreams can be evoked in light of events. Did Raven tell the Napikwan about Red Paint and set up the justifiable murder? Or was this just how Fools Crow reconciled his killing of him?

If Fast Horse had had a successful raid and not caused the capture of Yellow Kidney, would his dream have been tweaked so that he did as Cold Maker said? Almost certainly. The title of the book tells us so. White Man's Dog didn't actively fool Bull Shield; there was a huge element of luck involved, but the story evolves so that it was all a cunning plan, Fools Crow gets his name, and even he comes to believe in the story, more or less. It takes Raven, his inner voice, to recall him to the facts.

the dreams and visions are indeed the perfect tools to pacify conscience.

[ccowie]

Originally Posted by paola

(The Inconvenient Indian is going to be next :-) ).

Just for the sake of interest, Thomas King has been nominated for the Charles Taylor award for literary non-fiction for An Inconvenient Indian. He's also currently working on a novel, which should be available soon. I'd also suggest The Orenda by Joseph Boyden. All Boyden's books are great, but this one is brilliant!