If the question is, "did Twain's attitudes change by the end of his career," I think the answer is, at best, a qualified "maybe."  "The Dervish and the Offensive Stranger,"  written in 1902 when Twain was usually writing against imperialism, does criticize the European displacement of native-Americans, but concludes that the crime is at least balanced by the "good" of providing an outlet for Europe's oppressed. By 1902 he at least recognized that it was a conquest, though one does not get the sense that he was overflowing with sympathy.  

Gregg  

----- Original Message -----
From: John Davis <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, April 22, 2011 7:47 am
Subject: Re: A Prejudice against Indians
To: [log in to unmask]


> For one view, you might glance through my article, "Cowboys and 
> Indians in
>  King Arthur's Court: Hank Morgan's Version of Manifest Destiny...," 
> in *The
>  Mark Twain Annual *for 2007. For another, there is Kerry Driscoll's "'Man
>  Factories' and the 'White Indians' of Camelot: Re-Reading the Native 
> Context
>  of *A Connecticut Yankee..."*  in the 2004 *Mark Twain Annual,* which 
> is one
>  of several she has written on the subject.  For broader views of the
>  subject, see some of her other writings and what Joe Coulombe has to 
> say in
>  his book, *Mark Twain and the American West *(2003).  For a much less 
> recent
>  take, see Lynn Denton's article in *Mark Twain Journal* from the early
>  1970s.  The issue of his prejudice. lack of, or changed attitude may 
> not be
>  entirely settled as yet.
>  
>  .On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 8:48 PM, Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>  
>  > I've been working my way through Roughing It (again) recently, doing
>  > public readings.  It caused me pause when I reached his description 
> of
>  > the Goshoots Indians.  It's quite common for discussion of Twain to
>  > center on assumed racism because of his use of a particular word but
>  > rarely have I seen any discussion of his prejudice against native
>  > Americans - Indians. When it does come up it is generally in regard 
> to
>  > Injun Joe.  Injun Joe is an entirely different matter, he is for the
>  > most part a product of the dominant culture, the "white" culture.  
> The
>  > Goshoots are part of an entirely foreign culture to Twain and he seems
>  > unable to understand it or even recognize that it is a foreign culture.
>  >
>  > Roughing It comes from very early in Twains career so I'm wondering 
> if,
>  > after all his world travels, he ever came to see native Americans 
> in a
>  > better light.
>  >
>  > -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >  There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are 
> dreamt of
>  >                          in your philosophy.
>  >                        http://bscottholmes.com
>  > -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >
>  
>  
>  
>  -- 
>  John H. Davis, Ph.D.
>  Professor of English
>  Department of Language and Literature
>  Chowan University
>  Murfreesboro, North Carolina 27855
>