Light in the forest This essay is going to go over a few things about The Light in the Forest; first, we’ll go over who was in the wrong in this story, the Indians, or the Whites. Then, we’ll go over True Sons father’s punishment for him, and if it was just or not. Lastly, we’ll go over the effectiveness of Richter’s habit of playing with language. In the book The Light in the Forest, there are conflicting ideas about the whites and the Indians. The whites are against the Indians because of their beliefs. In the whites’ eyes, all Indians do is steal, scalp, kidnap, and murder. In comparison, in the Indians eyes, all the whites do is steal their land, kill their people, and cheat them of their belongings. This story displays both sides evenly; Richter explains and gives supportive evidence towards whites hating Indians, and vice versa. On pages 38 and 39, the Tuscarawas Indians tell a story of the white murdering and scalping innocent Indians who tried to adapt to their culture. They spoke of women and children being slaughtered because of their heritage, of the whites cutting the hands off of the men and squaws, “Not satisfied, the white barbarians scalped them. They did indecencies. They chopped off the hands of the men and squaws. They put guns in the mouth of one of our Conestoga cousins while he was yet speaking and blew his head to pieces.”(Page 39, Conrad Richter) There is another story told on page 45-46 about a white man who married an Indian woman, and had three girls, the white man wanted to go back to his people, so he killed his wife and children, then scalped them before leaving to his people. This story shows the crude and horrid aspects of the whites towards the Indians. The stories also enforce the Indians strong dislike for the whites. The whites also have their reasons for the dislike of Indians. The Indians come and take what they want, whether it be horses, guns, or boats. The Indians also kidnap the wives, and children of the white men. The Indians like to scalp people, and they don’t care who it is. The Indians are also favored when it comes to justice, “When a white man kills an Indian, they are called a murderer…, but when an Indian kills a white man, he’s just a poor pagan who doesn’t know better…” (Richter page 45) After True sons return home, his Indian tribe decides to exact revenge for Little Cranes death.
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They decide to use True Son as a decoy to ambush a white barge. True Son decided to tell the whites that there was an ambush at the last minute, shaming his party. Cuyloga, his Indian father, disowned him, and abandoned him for his treachery. Is this fair, no, Cuyloga considered himself True Son’s father, and no parent should abandon their child, no matter what. There is no excuse for desertion, not for the Whites or the Indians. Cuyloga, rather than face a loss of pride, decided to leave a vulnerable kid out on his own. Now, True Son has nowhere to turn to, his white family won’t have him, and now, neither will his Indian family. Conrad Richter likes to mess around with languages, with the Indians side; he uses their words.
They decide to use True Son as a decoy to ambush a white barge. True Son decided to tell the whites that there was an ambush at the last minute, shaming his party. Cuyloga, his Indian father, disowned him, and abandoned him for his treachery. Is this fair, no, Cuyloga considered himself True Son’s father, and no parent should abandon their child, no matter what. There is no excuse for desertion, not for the Whites or the Indians. Cuyloga, rather than face a loss of pride, decided to leave a vulnerable kid out on his own. Now, True Son has nowhere to turn to, his white family won’t have him, and now, neither will his Indian family. Conrad Richter likes to mess around with languages, with the Indians side; he uses their words.