Essay Questions

Why can’t the husband hunt bison and prairie cattle in the poem "A Cry from an Indian Wife’’?

The beginning of the poem presents the process through which a wife prepares her husband to go hunting. After he is ready to go, she mentions how even though she gave him a knife, he will not have the opportunity to use it since he won’t be able to hunt bison and prairie cattle. In the past, the two animals mentioned were the primary source of food, furs and tent materials used by the Indians. When the white men tried to take over the land and tried to force the Indians to live in reservations, the Indians who rebelled went out in the wild and lived off the above mentioned animals. In an attempt to corner the Indians, the white soldiers exterminated almost the entire population of bison and prairie cattle, thus forcing the Indians to accept living in reservations. Because the poem was written in modern times, it is thus fitting that the narrator mentioned this idea as well since it represented the end of the Indian people as free tribes and it marked the beginning of a time when the Natives were forced to live on reservations.

Who were the settlers?

The narrator mentions the settlers in her poem "A Cry from an Indian Wife’’ and the narrator talks about the women who pray for their husband’s safety and well-being when they go to war against the Indians. The settlers were families sent to various parts of America inhabited by white men until then. The settlers were given land and so their started families in those areas. The settlers were often attacked by the Indians who saw them as enemies and as a result many children born to settlers were sometimes kidnaped by the Indians. The settlers were often working the fields and their main purpose was to assure a better life for themselves and their families.

What could symbolize the young child mentioned in the poem "Joe’’?

The major character in the poem "Joe’’ is a small boy of nine years old, the son of the settlers who came to the area. The boy is described as having no care in the world, enjoying the life he has while also working and helping his family. Joe spends his days husking corn, another symbol used in the poems to suggest the riches of the Indian land. Because Joe is a small boy, he is used here as a symbol. He is supposed to represent the white population who came to the Indian lands and took over them. While the Indians are portrayed as being old and tired, the white men are full of power and ready to take over the lands protected by the Indians.