What Happened to the Native Americans During the Trail of Tears

What Happened to the Native Americans During the Trail of Tears

Diane Glancy’s use of multiple voices in Pushing the Bear helps illustrate the real picture and meaning behind what happened to the Native Americans during the Trail of Tears. She is able to speak from each character’s point of view to fully convey the true emotions that the Native Americans feel. Glancy’s voice for Knobowtee allows the reader to understand the hardships that their family face in the time of this removal. Glancy expresses Knobowtee’s anger and confusion by the Indian Removal through her many different narratives which ultimately contributes to his loss of power and lack of patriarchal dominance. I saw my wife bend over the baby. There was no moss in the stockade for a diaper. There was no dried moss for a fire to keep the insects away. I should be able to comfort my wife, but I sat with my mother and Aneh, my sister. If I got near, Maritole would bite me with her words. Didn’t I know hurt? Hadn’t I lost my father? Hadn’t I heard my mother cry? Maybe I should think of Maritole. Even if I missed my first wife sometimes. Even if I’d rather walk with my brother. O-ga-na-ya doesn’t glare at me like Tanner and Maritole's father. I worked the fields that Maritole’s father and grandfather had cleared. Because I’d married Maritole. But none of us could plow the fields any longer. (43) The disruption of the roles within the Cherokee tribes have left many feeling weakened, frustrated, and helpless because they are not able to perform their regular, daily tasks. The apparent controversy in this novel is why the Indian Removal came about and why the soldiers had to force the Native Americans out of their homes and away from their customary lifestyle. Everyone is beginning to feel the change and struggle, and animosity that is slowly building up when when Knobowtee states that “none of us could plow the fields any longer” (43). Many are starting to give up hope and can no longer withstand the conditions they are being subjected to. Knobowtee’s frustration is...

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