Sign-Talker relevant even for today
If you judge a book by its cover and you have no interest in the manifest destiny of the United States of America and its history, you might just pass up James Alexander Thom’s Sign-Talker. That would be a mistake. While Sign-Talker does capture the explorations of Lewis and Clark as they open up the Louisiana Purchase and the West Coats for U.S. dominance, it does so through the eyes of Lewis and Clark’s other Native American – George Drouillard.
Drouillard is of the Shoshone people who have already experienced the duplicity of the American Government and white men’s lies. He signs on to see the Pacific and to help translate for the Native American tribes on this new American Territory. It is his perspective that provides for a new way to look at that epic adventure.
It is seldom that I read a book and am surprised by what is contained therein. Sign-Talker surprised me. Most books in this genre tend to be pretty straight-forward, gung-ho American without any thought of introspection or care given to other people or perspectives that may find the expansion of the American ideal inconvenient, reprehensible or even deadly. Thom uses Drouillard to explore those alternative ideas and adds thoughts about prejudice, ignorance and stupidity.
Sign-Talker still celebrates the American Spirit as embodied by the Lewis and Clark expedition, but it does so in a more sobering way than many history books. While Thom has clearly written historical fiction, the truth he reveals through that fiction is powerful and relevant to today’s era of American politics. Do not miss out on taking this journey with Drouillard, Lewis and Clark.
For spoilers, read after the ad.
Drouillard is of the Shoshone people who have already experienced the duplicity of the American Government and white men’s lies. He signs on to see the Pacific and to help translate for the Native American tribes on this new American Territory. It is his perspective that provides for a new way to look at that epic adventure.
It is seldom that I read a book and am surprised by what is contained therein. Sign-Talker surprised me. Most books in this genre tend to be pretty straight-forward, gung-ho American without any thought of introspection or care given to other people or perspectives that may find the expansion of the American ideal inconvenient, reprehensible or even deadly. Thom uses Drouillard to explore those alternative ideas and adds thoughts about prejudice, ignorance and stupidity.
Sign-Talker still celebrates the American Spirit as embodied by the Lewis and Clark expedition, but it does so in a more sobering way than many history books. While Thom has clearly written historical fiction, the truth he reveals through that fiction is powerful and relevant to today’s era of American politics. Do not miss out on taking this journey with Drouillard, Lewis and Clark.
For spoilers, read after the ad.
White Male Privilege:
“Sometimes it seemed that the real reason these whitemen scorned the natives here (on the Pacific Coast) was because these people were not particularly impressed by the whitemen. The officers had been accustomed to being a novelty and the center of attention and awe across the continent, with their white skins and their instruments and manufactured goods, with their great black man, with their amazing message from their new Great Father. Here, none of that amounted to much… The captains (Lewis and Clark) could no longer proclaim power over the country… The whitemen just weren’t very important to these people.”
There is a slow build to the problem before it comes to this. Drouillard is always concerned with telling the truth and reconciling what he knows from experience of the U.S. treatment of Native Americans. The people of color in the party gain in prestige and power for as long as they are with the party. Those are stripped from them in the end when they return to civilization.
The Problems with Capitalism:
“(Manuel) Lisa had wanted the man killed, he was that angry. Lisa’s fury had grown from his presumption that as employer he was in charge of his employee’s free will. They had agreed to serve him, and had been like slaves or soldiers, not entitled to a change of heart.”
“Everyone works for the whitemen, he thought. Then they get everything.”
Lying:
“He remembered how they used words not to make you understand, but to keep you from understanding.”
Stupidity and Ignorance:
“…stupid is doing something you know you shouldn’t… This taking of totems was not so much stupid as it was ignorant. Lewis was ignorant of what was sacred to Indians; though he had had years to learn, he had chosen to remain ignorant, because he believed Indians were incapable of sacredness.”
“Sometimes it seemed that the real reason these whitemen scorned the natives here (on the Pacific Coast) was because these people were not particularly impressed by the whitemen. The officers had been accustomed to being a novelty and the center of attention and awe across the continent, with their white skins and their instruments and manufactured goods, with their great black man, with their amazing message from their new Great Father. Here, none of that amounted to much… The captains (Lewis and Clark) could no longer proclaim power over the country… The whitemen just weren’t very important to these people.”
There is a slow build to the problem before it comes to this. Drouillard is always concerned with telling the truth and reconciling what he knows from experience of the U.S. treatment of Native Americans. The people of color in the party gain in prestige and power for as long as they are with the party. Those are stripped from them in the end when they return to civilization.
The Problems with Capitalism:
“(Manuel) Lisa had wanted the man killed, he was that angry. Lisa’s fury had grown from his presumption that as employer he was in charge of his employee’s free will. They had agreed to serve him, and had been like slaves or soldiers, not entitled to a change of heart.”
“Everyone works for the whitemen, he thought. Then they get everything.”
Lying:
“He remembered how they used words not to make you understand, but to keep you from understanding.”
Stupidity and Ignorance:
“…stupid is doing something you know you shouldn’t… This taking of totems was not so much stupid as it was ignorant. Lewis was ignorant of what was sacred to Indians; though he had had years to learn, he had chosen to remain ignorant, because he believed Indians were incapable of sacredness.”