I’ll be honest, I almost didn’t make it through all of Blu’s Hanging. The casual way that sexual abuse goes unnoticed and the heart wrenching plight of all the children in this story almost made me toss the book and take a shower. I know it is a realistic picture of what children in an impoverished settings do experience, but some of the details made me feel physically ill.
My heart broke for Ivah-she is in charge of the family at the age of 13 with no one to really explain to her how one really takes care of a family or herself for that matter. She has to watch her father’s mental stability waver, her brothers perversion bloom in his search for companionship and the love he lost when his mother died, and Massie’s future unfold as she is destined to follow in Ivah’s worn footsteps. Massie’s future is sealed, she is bound to repeat the cycle and see what Ivah has seen and hurt like Ivah has been hurt. I think the author is trying to give an illusion to this with the imagery brought about with the hand me down clothes. Ivah puts on her mother’s sweater while Massie slides into one of Ivah’s hand me downs. The cycle of sadness continues on through the passing down of these articles of clothing.
The use of poetry within the novel is intriguing. Poetry seems to be one of those universally binding elements that no language barrier can interfere with. When someone is speaking in poetry they are speaking to a mass audience that can be touched simply by the cadence and the meter of what is being said. I think the language barrier that kept the children from being as clearly understood by the school authorities and those around them is a connection to the theme going on within this course of being a misunderstood minority trying to survive amongst a majority class with its own recognized language regarded as being superior. I had a hard time understanding what some of the characters dialogue meant and had to go back and read some of the passages over a few times, but when the thoughts and emotions of the characters came out in poetry it seemed to crystallize what they were trying to say-not just in one passage, but throughout the entire story.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Charging Elk
Heartsong of Charging Elk
I really enjoyed this novel even if the story was told at an agonizingly slow pace. I thought it was interesting to read about these familiar locations-the black hills, Pine Ridge, Fort Randall-and to read about a leading character from the prairie. Charging Elk’s story made my heart bleed—in a good way. Charging Elk’s story of constant defeat , isolation, and betrayal, is the same you can find in almost any story of an immigrant character trying to adapt to an alien environment. He bumbles his way through language, customs, and manners as best as he can and ends up finally adjusting to the point that he would turn down his one opportunity to return to his home.
This entire story is about the perspective of the alien other. No matter where Charging Elk goes, he is perpetually the outsider. On the prairie he stood out for being the darkest of the lakotas and a so called wild Indian living away from the reservation. In France, he becomes a sexualized creature rather than a human. Every character that interacts with Charging Elk seems to be drawn to his character by his novelty and subdued sexual intrigue. You see some characters describing him based on their impressions of wild west story books, others only judge him based on his performance within the wild west show. He is a walking talking imaginary figure parading around in the real world-how can you not pay special attention to something as unique as Charging Elk? None of the characters are really prepared to deal with Charging Elk as though he were a real man, just as though he were the essentialized version of either the noble native or the screaming dangerous unpredictable savage that scalped innocent pioneers for giggles. I found it interesting that out of all the characters discussed within the novel, only the children treat Charging Elk like a real man. Mr. Soulas is delighted to have Charging Elk as a pet, maybe to go so far as to say another of his children, but he never gives Charging Elk the respect of a grown man. The children are fascinated with him, marvel at him, and give him the tools of language to communicate his thoughts and his past.
I found it ironic that Charging Elk tried so hard to avoid assimilating to the white ways that had his people planting vegetable gardens and living in little huts only to end up in France adopting their language, living in houses, wearing the white clothes, and even at one point planting a vegetable garden. This story almost sounds as though its trying to hammer home an underlying theme of the inevitability of escaping ones fate.
I really enjoyed this novel even if the story was told at an agonizingly slow pace. I thought it was interesting to read about these familiar locations-the black hills, Pine Ridge, Fort Randall-and to read about a leading character from the prairie. Charging Elk’s story made my heart bleed—in a good way. Charging Elk’s story of constant defeat , isolation, and betrayal, is the same you can find in almost any story of an immigrant character trying to adapt to an alien environment. He bumbles his way through language, customs, and manners as best as he can and ends up finally adjusting to the point that he would turn down his one opportunity to return to his home.
This entire story is about the perspective of the alien other. No matter where Charging Elk goes, he is perpetually the outsider. On the prairie he stood out for being the darkest of the lakotas and a so called wild Indian living away from the reservation. In France, he becomes a sexualized creature rather than a human. Every character that interacts with Charging Elk seems to be drawn to his character by his novelty and subdued sexual intrigue. You see some characters describing him based on their impressions of wild west story books, others only judge him based on his performance within the wild west show. He is a walking talking imaginary figure parading around in the real world-how can you not pay special attention to something as unique as Charging Elk? None of the characters are really prepared to deal with Charging Elk as though he were a real man, just as though he were the essentialized version of either the noble native or the screaming dangerous unpredictable savage that scalped innocent pioneers for giggles. I found it interesting that out of all the characters discussed within the novel, only the children treat Charging Elk like a real man. Mr. Soulas is delighted to have Charging Elk as a pet, maybe to go so far as to say another of his children, but he never gives Charging Elk the respect of a grown man. The children are fascinated with him, marvel at him, and give him the tools of language to communicate his thoughts and his past.
I found it ironic that Charging Elk tried so hard to avoid assimilating to the white ways that had his people planting vegetable gardens and living in little huts only to end up in France adopting their language, living in houses, wearing the white clothes, and even at one point planting a vegetable garden. This story almost sounds as though its trying to hammer home an underlying theme of the inevitability of escaping ones fate.
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