Catherine Lee
10-4-16
AP Lit/Lang
Crows and Beer and Fry Bread Oh My
Hundreds of cultures cannot possibly agree with each other. Even just two cultures fail to find common ground. From before the birth of this nation, conflicts between the Native Americans and the White settlers have burned a hole in history. Cultural diversity proves to bear many positive results, in addition to negative consequences. Unjust treatment, persecution, physical violence, and the stealing of resources all spawned from the hostile interactions of the natives and westerners. Dominating through industrialized perspectives, many believe the white men conquered the naturalistic victims. Rifts between the groups continued to expand as opposition in religious beliefs …show more content…
The first lines of the poem deliver the initial allusion consisting of Cain and Abel on lines 1 and 2 “...and strikes down Abel”. Alexie’s allusion differs in one way, however, as the Crow is used to kill Abel, instead of a stone. This employment of a biblical allusion illuminates tones of jealousy and betrayal, also supported by a second biblical allusion on line 17, “Crow sacrifices his firstborn son.” Referencing the death of Christ, jealousy among the pharisees and the Judas’s betrayal connect Cain and Abel in Genesis to the crucifixion of Jesus. In addition to violence-focused allusions, line 16 holds a biblical allusion to a more peaceful event, the city, and destruction, of Jericho. Describing the sacrifice of the firstborn son being, “Among the ashes of Jericho.” reveals the past and future events that occur between the Whites and Native Americans. Similar to how Joshua and his men marched for six days in order to surround and conquer Jericho, the introduction of the White population slowly condenses and surrounds the Native Americans more and more. Lines 31-33 maintains the same idea through the biblical allusion, “Crow rides a pale horse.” Implying the meaning of Revelation 6:8, the overbearing presence of the white men can be seen through both the Jericho allusion and the reference to the pale horse. The rider of the pale horse is Death, signifying the arrival of oppression and the slow death of Indian culture. However, line 33 indicates, “...none of the Indian panic.” Unveiling the ignorance of the Native Americans in this critical situation. No human can predict death accurately, just as none of the Indians predicted the coming of the White men and the persecution and death that followed as a result. Line 35 states that the Indians “already live near the end of the world”. Referencing
10-4-16
AP Lit/Lang
Crows and Beer and Fry Bread Oh My
Hundreds of cultures cannot possibly agree with each other. Even just two cultures fail to find common ground. From before the birth of this nation, conflicts between the Native Americans and the White settlers have burned a hole in history. Cultural diversity proves to bear many positive results, in addition to negative consequences. Unjust treatment, persecution, physical violence, and the stealing of resources all spawned from the hostile interactions of the natives and westerners. Dominating through industrialized perspectives, many believe the white men conquered the naturalistic victims. Rifts between the groups continued to expand as opposition in religious beliefs …show more content…
The first lines of the poem deliver the initial allusion consisting of Cain and Abel on lines 1 and 2 “...and strikes down Abel”. Alexie’s allusion differs in one way, however, as the Crow is used to kill Abel, instead of a stone. This employment of a biblical allusion illuminates tones of jealousy and betrayal, also supported by a second biblical allusion on line 17, “Crow sacrifices his firstborn son.” Referencing the death of Christ, jealousy among the pharisees and the Judas’s betrayal connect Cain and Abel in Genesis to the crucifixion of Jesus. In addition to violence-focused allusions, line 16 holds a biblical allusion to a more peaceful event, the city, and destruction, of Jericho. Describing the sacrifice of the firstborn son being, “Among the ashes of Jericho.” reveals the past and future events that occur between the Whites and Native Americans. Similar to how Joshua and his men marched for six days in order to surround and conquer Jericho, the introduction of the White population slowly condenses and surrounds the Native Americans more and more. Lines 31-33 maintains the same idea through the biblical allusion, “Crow rides a pale horse.” Implying the meaning of Revelation 6:8, the overbearing presence of the white men can be seen through both the Jericho allusion and the reference to the pale horse. The rider of the pale horse is Death, signifying the arrival of oppression and the slow death of Indian culture. However, line 33 indicates, “...none of the Indian panic.” Unveiling the ignorance of the Native Americans in this critical situation. No human can predict death accurately, just as none of the Indians predicted the coming of the White men and the persecution and death that followed as a result. Line 35 states that the Indians “already live near the end of the world”. Referencing