Post #5 Negatively affected by white culture

  In the time period 1830-1850, movement toward the west appeared. While President, Andrew Jackson created policies which allowed for white settlers to take land away from Native Americans, with government approval, which soon lead to "The Trail of Tears". Painter George Catlin depicted the effects of westward movement and its affects on Native Americans in a series of paintings. "George Catlin's painting, "Pigeon's Egg Head," suggests that he believed that Native Americans were negatively affected by white culture; as a result the image shows a transformation of a dignified Native American man from the west into a corrupt man after returning from the east.
    In the painting, "Pigeon's Egg Head," by George Catlin, there are two men; both have the same height, build and facial features. Catlin does this to show that these two men are in fact that same, Pigeon's Egg Head. The Pigeon's Egg Head we see on the left side of the painting is wearing an ornate outfit, shoes and head dress;showing that he is a high ranking man in his tribe. He is also standing tall, exhibiting his dignity and strength for his tribe. On the same side of the painting is the capital building, which is where Pigeon's Egg Head is going to discuss the policies of westward migration; set into effect by Andrew Jackson. Catlin paints Pigeon's Egg Head going to the capital building becuase many Native Americans in this time period fought the government policy of allowing of white settlers to take Indian land. An example is the Cherokees, "Cherokees brought suit in federal court against Georgia's actions."(Pg 295) Catlin also depicts tht changes the Native Americans made in effort to coincide with government policies.
    Even though the federal courts sided with Native Americans, in the case of the Cherokees, Andrew Jackson did not, "Jackson ignored the Court's edict."(Pg 295) This put pressure on the Native Americans to change their ways to those of white settlers, in hopes to save their lands. "The demand for new lands put continuing pressure on Indians." (Pg 294) Catlin puts the tepees on the right side of the painting to show that Pigeon's Egg Head is returning home from visiting the capital. Catlin illustrates the changes that Pigeon's Egg Head makes in many ways: a military outfit; one large feather in a top-hat instead of a head dress; a fan; a parasol; and alcohol in his back pockets. The military outfit and the hat are symbols of Pigeon's Egg Head's attempt to convert into a white settler. On the other hand, the parasol and fan are Catlin's way of showing us that Native Americans were confused on how to become "white". The most important element on the right side of the painting is the bottles of alcohol in Pigeon's Egg Head's back pockets. The alcohol and leaning on the parasol are illustrations of loss of control and dignity. Catlin is displaying that the corruptness of Pigeon's Egg Head is because of western movement and Andrew Jackson's policies.
    Catlin's painting is representative of western movement and how it affected Native Americans. When Andrew Jackson encouraged the country to move westward in hopes of better life, the Native Americans lost everything they had, especially their way of living. A Native Americans way of life including showing pride in your heritage and tribe. Catlin shows a negative change on the Native Americans way of life by showing Pigeon's Egg Head with alcohol. The alcohol is directly opposite of pride; it is a loss of control. That is Catlin's main point, that with new settlers and new commodities, Native Americans were negatively affected.

Refrences:
Nation of Nations. Davidson;Gienapp;Heyrman;Lytle;Stoff.2006

Comments

[Liz114]

Your thesis if definitely the strongest part of your paper. Your thoughts are very well organized. One thing that hurts your paper, are the sentences before your thesis. If you read the first couple of lines they don’t make much sense. This can be very damaging because that is the first thing that your reader will read. I noticed only minor problems with sentence structure, otherwise it was very well written. Be careful, in the future, not to repeat a line or phrase too much. You said “Pigeon’s Egg Head” a little too often throughout your essay. Overall I thought that your paper was great, keep up the good work.

[David Kim]

I agree with Liz. I feel that your thesis is the strongest part of your essay. Also I like the fact you have other imagines than just the piegon head one. But I think it would have been must more effective if you included the drawling that you are arguing about. "While President, Andrew Jackson created policies which allowed for white settlers to take land away from Native Americans, with government approval, which soon lead to "The Trail of Tears". Painter George Catlin depicted the effects of westward movement and its affects on Native Americans in a series of paintings." You really need to clear this sentence up. It runs on way too long. You are trying to cram way too much info into one sentence. You should break it apart and articulate each part. It would probably help you expand and strengthen your intro. Also why did you make a link on Catlin? I dont understand why you linked it. I am not sure what purpose it served but shouldn't you have cited it?

[kishan]

As liz and David both said, you do have a very strong thesis and a good post follows. A few things I think could make your post better -
since liz already mentioned the first few lines, i would comment on the spacing between your paragraphs.Instead of concluding the Native Americans lost everything, I think you should put it as the process to start losing or degrading their culture and finally the two pictures you have there, I dont quite see a connection to what we are talking about or if it does, you should have cited it.
A good post otherwise!

[Audrey Shankles]

Your thesis is very strong and to the point. You spell out clearly what you are trying to say. However the rest of the paper is a bit choppy. There are several grammatical and spelling errors which makes reading difficult and cuts up thoughts and phrases. But I was still able to understand what you were trying to say. I liked your points, as they were similar to my own, but I felt they could have been expressed a little more strongly. Overall, nicely done, just a little more editing next time.