"Life Among The Piutes"

Charles So

English 48B

March 20, 2011

Journal for Winnemucca

Author Quote:

"When I think of my past life, and the bitter trials I have endured, i can scarcely believe I live, and yet I do; and, with the help of Him who notes the sparrow's fall, I mean to fight for my down-trodden race while life lasts." (503)

Internet Quote:

"Sarah was a person of two worlds. At the time of her birth her people had only very limited contact with Euro-Americans; however she spent much of her adult life in white society. Like many people of two worlds, she may be judged harshly in both contexts." (Wikipedia)

Summary:

This quote comes from the very first chapter and it is somewhat of a precursor to all of the trials and tribulations Winnemucca and her people go through. There is great truth to Winnemucca's words, as she lived a hectic life, battling to save her people, by oration and writing. From the stories of her grandfather trying to welcome the white people and their denial of him, to the the cruel way in which the President forced her people move to the Yakima Reservation during the winter the portions i read describes the gentle nature of her people being overtaken by the evils of an empire in which she tries to convey that message to the reader.

Personal Opinion:
I was very intrigued by the folklore about the brothers and sisters of different skin tones being separated due to their hate for each other, i thought it was a very creative. But along with that story came my bias; that many of Winnemucca's writing integrated a Native folkloric way of presenting occurrence's, which makes me feel as if she is telling the story only the way she wants people to see it. Winnemucca's accounts are very much fixed in a way where she is trying to gather the sympathy of the reader for her people but this intentional way of getting sympathy makes her accounts and occurrences very much exaggerated.