English 391

I think it is interesting to see how Indians are depicted in popular Media. Most children play cowboys and Indians when they are young.  The lost boys in Peter Pan dress up like Indians.  They are represented as something that is wild.  Many westerns are based upon protecting the lands from Indians.  I think it is important for people to read works like Ceremony to see how Indians really are.  They all do not smoke tobacco; they all do not work on a casino.  Many of the Indian reservations are in total states of dismay.  I think of the Save by the Bell episode when Zack has to do a report on his ancestry and finds an old photograph of an Indian.  At first he takes his assignment as a joke but then is forced to speak with an old Indian chief.  Once Zack learns about the hardships of his ancestors he learns to respect himself, his heritage, and Native Americans.  We always read about the hardships of African Americans and slavery, and I think that sometimes this causes the hardships of Native Americans to be pushed aside.  Native Americans should be respected.  In Hofstra I had to do take a performance class and we had to select pieces to perform from a book on Native American short stories and prose, written by Native Americans.  It was a great resource for the class and introduced me to many texts that I wouldn’t have found on my own.