Ethan and His View



*Note, this is not an analysis given the ending of the movie.”

    Hoping to save their niece Debbie, Ethan Edwards and Martin embark on a journey during which Ethan's hatred towards Native Americans is revealed. Ethan constantly reminds Martin that Martin is not a blood relative to neither Debbie nor him, for Martin is 1/8th Cherokee and was found by Ethan as an orphan. Although Ethan tries to distance himself from Martin, Martin remains steadfast and is determined to rescue Debbie. Finally, Ethan finds his niece near the end of the movie, only discovering that she is a member of the Comanche tribe. Since Ethan had an obsessive hatred towards the Native Americans, Ethan had his true intentions with Debbie after rescuing her from the tribe. Due to her “Comanche blood,” Martin and many others believed that Ethan was going to murder her to “put her out of her misery.” Ethan had a peculiar view that once a white person was captured, he or she would never be the same again. His opinion is further supported in a scene where Ethan and Martin visit a room for white captives, hoping to find Debbie. Unable to speak and mentally unstable, these white captives were unable to communicate with others. Such traumatic state of the white captives astonish Ethan and supports his views. Not only does this scene in the movie depicts an unfair view of assimilated white captives in Native American culture, but also shows the hypocrisy of his logic. In the beginning, Ethan refuses to embrace Martin into the family because he was simply “not one of them.” But Ethan also refuses to accept Debbie after he discovers that she was influenced by the Comanche. His absolute hatred towards Native Americans overrode his initial claim of being attached to Debbie by blood. Hence, Ethan was hypocritical when he spent so many years searching for Debbie whom he had considered being a relative because they were blood-related, but was ready to kill upon discovery of her attachment to the Native Americans.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Discern a Race Issue?

Dear Claudia Rankine, I found your writing about Serena Williams to be particularly fascinating and it brings up a lot of questions about the current state of race in corporate America. I would be curious to hear your thoughts on a few things. I'm not sure if the officials in these games were confirmed to be racist in that sense, but if so that would affect the interpretation. If, for example, they have no known racist background, how do you tell if such an incident is inherently about race? You say that the ref didn't like seeing the black body on her court, but without evidence how can you in fact confirm such a thing? Not that I am questioning your assertions directly, but in what situations can you discern that actions are definitely a race issue? I know that there are plenty of situations in which refs have screwed over white men in sports, so I wonder as to how you can tell. Thanks, Vaughan Siker
Read more
Dear Willow S. Lung-Amam, I really loved your piece on the minority myth mostly due to my own experiences with this myth. Yes, we are expected to get amazing grades, be perfect in class, and do all things perfectly, and those expectations are good to some extent. But when these expectations become stereotypes and not parents' projected wishes upon their children, it becomes detrimental to all Asian Americans. I had to force myself to be the best in everything to further the stereotype of academic exceptionalism. This is exactly why I understand this notion is a myth because Asian Americans do receive privileges that other minority groups may not and and I enjoy certain benefits from being a "model minority," it's definitely detrimental in certain aspects for kids, not only a positive thing. In an ideal world, projecting no stereotypes onto a minority group is the best because less external pressures will affect development of the members of these races.
Read more
Dear Claudia Rankine, I love your book Citizen , from your language style to the way you described the experiences of black people. Using your own experience coupled with those of your friends and celebrities, you build images of everyday racist encounters that shocked me. "The past is a life sentence, a blunt instrument aimed at tomorrow." When reading your book, the idea that racism is still rampant in nowadays struck me so hard. Chapter two impressed me most. I am a tennis lover and I have watched a lot of Serena Williams' games. However, I never thought of the hardship she suffered as a black people in such a white dominated sport. The sufferings did not always come from punishments like probationary periods, but from "every look, every comment, every bad call blossom". She tried to fight back once, "reacting immediately to be thrown against a sharp white background", which resulting in loss, fine and probationary period. Later, she learnt t...
Read more