Pigeon's Egg Head

Entry #4

During the time in which the picture of Pigeon Head was painted there was many different issues between the Native Americans and America. The picture reflects how America wanted the Indians to be and the way they were. Americans were not going to put up with the way they looked and acted unless they were in their selected areas, that we had moved them onto. The Indians did not agree with the way Americans were and wanted to be able to have their own views and ways. America on the other hand wanted the Indians to give in and be more like them, and would put in the effort to have them be the same as they were. Americans changed many different things about the Indians who gave into America's ways, changed their look and the way they presented themselves.

Indians would always were their clothes made from animals that they made themselves. They enjoyed wearing their headresses for special occasion. Their clothing was always colorful with paint, or artwork and they always looked so comfortable in their clothing. When America began to change thier look they changed everything about it. Americans put them in dress clothes with top hats and gloves. They gave them fans to carry around, rather than a weapon they may usually being carring. They made the Indians less of a threat to themselves. They could feel more comfortable haing the indians around if they were dressed and acted the same as them. The Indians were obviously not as comfortable, they always presented themselves as stong and secure people. After the Americans were done they began drinking and then they were not as presentable and secure as they were before.

Catlin's paintings were done in a way to help people see that the Indians would go to the American people stong and proud. When they returned to their tribe afterwards though, they were not real sure of themselves. They did not enjoy being the way they were after America's makeovers. Catlin wanted everyone to see the historical context with the fact that they were being changed so Americans could feel more comfortable having them around. He wanted his paintings to show how Indians were and how they became after America intruded on them.

Comments

[Kamal Patel]

I liked the actual content and the ideas behind the post. By that, I mean that you were able to draw good, well based, conclusions from an interpretation of the picture. However, the post was not concise. By this I mean, it seemed that you were repeating yourself. For example, in the first paragraph, you repeat'their ways', and 'the way they were', or 'way'a whole bunch of times. You also did this in your thesis statement. Instead of using 'ways' you could say that the white men influenced Native American culture, and changed their lifestyles, society structure, etc. The theis statement is good in thought, it just needs to be rephrased, its a bit unlcear, as are a few other sentences. For instance you could say "The American way was imposed on the Native American culture, and they responded by either assimilating, or alienating themselves from the whites." (thats what you want to say in your post, right? I'm pretty sure.) Also, if you could refer back to the painting a little more for evidence, and maybe directly link that with you interpretation a little more, it would be perfect. Other than that, The post is pretty good. I liked it.

[Gabriel Cruz]

Over all this post had a very good thesis statement and the arguments are strong and well thought out. The only problems I found were in the writing style. For example, the word way or ways when referring to Indian traditions is over used. Changing some of them with words like traditions and ideals would have broken up the pattern and made the blog better to read. That is really goes along with my other point. The blog would be much better to read with stronger word choices. In the middle paragraph for example, the description of Indian clothing and dress was good evidence but the wording could have been more interesting. However it was still a very strong blog.