Since I
started by blog, I’ve done an annual Advent Book Calendar highlighting books I
have enjoyed and authors I really like.
This year I thought I’d do an Advent Book Calendar with a twist; for
each day leading up to Christmas, I’m going to post a review of a book to which
I’ve given only one star (Throw a book at this one) or two stars (Don’t put this book in your book bag). Though I would not recommend these books,
others have disagreed with me. Each
book, on Goodreads, has received a 3 or 4 Star average rating.
Review of One Thousand White Women : The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
1
Star
In 1854, a
Cheyenne chief proposed that the U.S. government gift 1000 white women as
brides for his warriors; in their matrilineal society, the children of these
matches would belong to the whites and would be a means of assimilation into
the white man’s world which otherwise held no place for Natives. Of course the
request was denied, but this novel imagines what might have happened if it had
not been.
May Dodd is
the daughter of a prominent Chicago family who is in an insane asylum for
promiscuity because she bore two children out of wedlock with a working-class
man. Offered her freedom if she volunteers to be a bride for a Cheyenne
warrior, she does and is chosen as a wife by Chief Little Wolf.
The novel
is written in diary narration, with some letters as well, detailing her life
and that of several other white women who volunteer for the program.
What is
disappointing is the lack of information about the Cheyenne culture. What is
included is vague and would be known by anyone who has done any rudimentary
reading about Native American culture. The author added a bibliography but the
research into Cheyenne customs and beliefs was sketchy. What a missed
opportunity!
Another
problem with the book is that May Dodd, the protagonist, is not a believable
character. She is just too perfect; she can do virtually everything. Not only
can she quote Shakespeare and speak French, but she becomes “competent in all
aspects of skinning, butchering, scraping and tanning hides, drying meats, and
cooking over the fire.” She marries not just a chief, but the “great Chief” whose
“observance of his duties is monk-like . . . nearly Christ-like in its
selflessness.” It is no wonder that hers “is by far the biggest belly” during
pregnancy and that she is the first to give birth. In fact, her child is “a
sacred child . . . the Savior.” Her journals become “a sacred tribal treasure”
and the place of her death “a small shrine” where monks “say their liturgies
and hold their contemplative silences.” Oh please!
May is not
the only problem character. Captain John Bourke is inconsistent. To May he
expresses his concerns about the brides for horses program and even reveals
military secrets, but in the end says, “. . . I have my orders. I am a soldier
in the service of my country” before he kills an unarmed youth.
The book’s
strong suit is its detailing of American policy towards Natives. Any Indian
ignoring government decrees, decrees made by a government which itself
routinely broke treaties, was considered “’a hostile Injun.’” There are only
two rules: “’One thing you can be sure of is that the whites ain’t goin’ to go
away. And the other thing is that the Injuns ain’t goin’ to win . . . ‘” It’s a
sad history lesson that deserves repeating.
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