#4) George Catlin's Pigeon Egg Headed Indians

This picture is a ridiculed one of the Native American Indians that were about to settle in the new world of America in the early 19th century(1830-1850). Catlin tried to show that the Indians at this time were not meant to be had in our new up and coming country, and there would be no place for a typical Native American in our new society. This picture depicts numerous mocking and unjust ways to portray Native American's during the 1830's to the 1850's.

One could break down this picture in many ways and will visualize the satirical image in which Catlin is trying to poke fun. The strategies that Catlin used is to depict the Indians as people who could certainly not function in the society at the time. On the left you see an Indian as you would most likely know how they are supposed to look. He is decorated finely in attire what looks like he would be a chief or something a little down in the social pole. He has his mocasins and peace pipe. He is tuned with a stern look of expression, and his head is decorated with feathers passed his lower back. He is covered with what looks like a buffalo skinned pauncho that is frayed at the bottom and is designed with Indian symbols near his upper chest and arms. Lastly we notice the capital building that is in the distant background of the Native American and notice that he is on land that is fertile with growth of government. Thus this symbol shows that it is time for the traditional Native American's to get out of the area of a new founding government. Here we view not only how the Native American's mannered their image as people part of the earth, and also how the American's viewed them. Analyzing the right side of the picture you can notice how the American's would view the "new sighted" Native American.

When we break down this photo we can see an image of an Americanized Indian. Ofcourse an image that a real Native American would find to be a grotesque depiction. He is tainted in a dark blue suit, and everything seems to be modernized in his attire. He seems to be leaning on his umbrella to show that the liquor in his back pocket has obviously gave him something to get the stumbling on. His shoes are finely decorated and shiny boots. His head seems to have changed hugely as his hair has begun to dread out, and instead of a decorated band of feathers, he is armed with a top hat. As he looks on into the distance you notice two Americanized mannerisms, as the Indian is no longer trying to smoke a peace pipe, but moves on to smoking a ciggarette (an Americanized Agricultural Enterprise). He is also holding a fan to show that he wants no part of the heat of the natural world. Differing from the left side of the photo you don't see a capital building, but instead a row of tee pee's. The Indian could be showing that he is no longer looking for a traditional Native American look, but might intend to try to change the settlement into an American one as his gaze is for improvement.

Through this picture you see how American's portray the views of the new revolution of how Indian's should be treated. Sadly the picture is unfortunatly true, and you can tell how they took over through the backgrounds of the portrait and notice that the Indian's are getting outran out of their settlements, and are moved to improve the new American government.

http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/

Comments

[Beeson Cho]

Your careful analysis and relating the analysis with your strong point of views of how the picture is being surveyed was great. However, there could be more changes to improve this post. First improvement could be on the introduction. Instead of setting a general background of what you were going to say, you jumped right into your personal idea. The first sentence of your introduction was a bit too strong, when you used the word 'ridiculed,' while you could have been building up ideas to support that this picture is one of the ridiculed pictures. Plus, to describe the picture, you could have uploaded the picture next to your first sentence, so the readers can get a general idea of what you are describing. The analysis and ideas presented were great, but you could have linked this issue with the time period. (Like introducing some of the Jacksonian policies towards Native Americans and such) The post was really strong with ideas, which is very firm and straight forward, but since this is an analysis, you might not want to go too strong on an analysis. Overall, I liked your ideas that were generated by analyzing the picture. Keep up the good work.

[Karie Von Fange]

I think the begining of the post presents a compelling argument. I like the point of view that you have taken. However, the blatant oppinions might be a little too fierce. I think there needs to be a little more of a development into the thesis. For example, give a very brief description of the painting before you state your oppinion.
There are a few grammatical errors. At the ending of the second paragraph, there is a sentence with the term "Here we view not only...." that uses "and " instead of "but." These grammatical changes will help keep the post flowing.
Your conclusion confuses me a little. I think the word "new revolution" doesn't quite fit. After all, the Indians had been treated pretty badly from the beginin

[Karie Von Fange]

I think the begining of the post presents a compelling argument. I like the point of view that you have taken. However, the blatant oppinions might be a little too fierce. I think there needs to be a little more of a development into the thesis. For example, give a very brief description of the painting before you state your oppinion.
There are a few grammatical errors. At the ending of the second paragraph, there is a sentence with the term "Here we view not only...." that uses "and " instead of "but." These grammatical changes will help keep the post flowing.
Your conclusion confuses me a little. I think the word "new revolution" doesn't quite fit. After all, the Indians had been treated pretty badly from the begining. Also, if it is a revolution, then the word "new" is unnecessary.

[Meisha Evans]

Overall, this is a well thought out post. You cover the important aspects of the picture in great detail and assert some very plausible theories as to why Catlin employed these features. Your support for your claims is sufficient. One of the main problems that appeared in the essay was the constant use of informal language. Phrases such as “the liquor in his back pocket has obviously gave him something to get the stumbling on” and “in attire what looks like he would be a chief or something a little down in the social pole” sound awkward. This type of language weakens the argument being made and sounds more like a stream of thoughts than actual evidence. Also, when the phrase “what looks like” is used, it gives the impression that you are insure of the point you are trying to prove. To fix these problems, I would suggest that you carefully revise your work before submitting it. When editing, look for phrases that mirror the ones you would typically say. That is a clue that the phrase could be slang, which does not belong in a formal paper. Another problem I found was the constant use of first and second person. In formal writing, you should avoid the use of “we” and “you”. Instead, use phrases such as “the audience is able” or “one can see”. Finally, I noticed that there was no clear hook to start your introductory paragraph. In formal writing, it is good to have some type of hook to draw the reader in and grasp his/her attention. To do this, you could use a quotation, anecdote, or a question.