Re: Mark Twain on Indians.
I am have been in recording sessions for my next audiobook--Roughing
It--for some months now, and yes, I do cringe (visibly, hopefully not
audibly) at the references to Native Americans.
I have to think that in reaction to Mark Twain's initial experiences
on his way our west (a white man among a few white men vastly
outnumbered by red men) that very likely adopted the attitudes of his
fellow travelers and guides, as a matter of self-defense and group
unity.
I once took a job clearing small trees and brush in the Tennessee
River Valley in 110º heat with a gang of local characters: mostly
ex-cons and other unemployables--all white. One day a black man showed
up to work with us. Several times during the day there were racist
jokes told that started with the phrase "You're a good boy, I know
you won't mind this little joke..." to the one black man. As he and I
were so outnumbered, and half of the others were holding chain saws,
neither of us objected to the telling of a racist joke. The next day
the black man did not return. To my shame, I did not speak up. It's
probably no defense, but we were out in the woods, it was too hot to
argue, and several chainsaws and a large wood chipper, so we were in
a situation that required cooperation and acquiesence. I lasted two
weeks, then resigned without benefits.
Anyway, in Mark Twain's case, he was in the wilderness, and his
traveling companions and he were dependent on the drivers, conductors,
hostlers, etc for their safety and survival, so it would be natural
for him to pick up the attitudes (and prejudices) of the other white
men around him. Also, if his story about being attacked by Indians on
his way out west is creditable (and there's no reason to assume its
not), then he might be more prone to adopt the opinions of those with
the guns defending their lives.
Bit there is a turnabout that is more than fair play in Capt.
Stormfield's Visit To Heaven when the Capt. discovers that in heaven,
everyone retires to a heavenly version of the continent of their
physical lives. He ends up in 'North America' (much expanded, to admit
room for a millennium's worth of dead people), where white,
English-speaking men are only a tiny, tiny minority in a red-skinned
population that lived (and died) there for centuries before the
continent was "discovered" by white men.
Happy Spring!
Richard Henzel
Rambler Audio LLC
The Mark Twain In Person Audio Library
http://www.richardhenzel.com/marktwain
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