I’m creeping along snail-paced in both of these projects. The sleeve on this cardigan is going about 2 inches per week, at the rate I’m going. There is just so little knitting time this time of year. Yet I refuse to put the project away and say “after the garden’s done.” This has been in my purse, and I get a few rows done waiting in the car here and there. That’s how knitting is often done–those stolen seconds here and there.
I’m nearly done with The Egg and I. I’ve been reading a chapter a night, a few nights a week. I think I have 3 chapters left, so I should be done soon. I have loved this book so much. It’s hilarious, and as a farmer’s wife, it makes me laugh out loud. I have read reviews about the racism in the book towards the native “indians” that the narrator has. I saw little traces of it, and then this last week I saw a whole big chapter of it. In our politically correct world, I don’t often hear people say the things that she said, and it really got me thinking.
In my area of the country, I don’t really notice racism. There’s not the clash of races here that there is other places in our country. There were times of my youth that I truly believed it had disappeared, and it was all in people’s head. I hated when people played “the race card.” Now that I’m in my 30s, not only do I see racism everywhere, but I see prejudgment everywhere…even in myself. Goodness, we all prejudge people to some extent. Racism is a prejudgement that can be done without even speaking to someone. I’m not justifying it by any means, most especially in myself. I’m just stating that when I look at myself, I have really strong opinions about things, and those opinions are not always correct. To say I was never wrong would be a greater hypocrisy.
And yet…though this narrator has blatant ideas in her head, before she even meets her native neighbors, what solidifies her disgust is the total acceptance in that community of beating and degrading women, of encouraging and allowing blatant alcoholism, with even 10 year olds getting drunk consistently. She ends up making friends with a small handful of them, but overall, she just can’t stand it.
Which brings the other issues to the discussion, if I dare. It is a delicate balance to not prejudge a people, and to love them as the human beings God created them, and yet not ignoring the very real dangers or issues within that subculture. It is not acceptable to speak badly of a minority, but what if there are major issues needing addressing within that minority? Not every Native American she met was a drunk, and some became close family friends, but drunkenness, drunk driving, and wife beating was a very common problem among the families she met.
Or was it? Maybe she just saw what she wanted to see, and wrote it down. Is she a reliable narrator in this instance? I don’t know. In some instances she is not speaking from an attitude of love. One phrase she used about how she was glad that land was taken from these people sent chills down my spine.
But it has gotten me thinking. I know this book has fallen out of favor with many literary people because of these passages, but I think that these passages only got me thinking, and mulling over the issue of racism. Isn’t that the point? Shouldn’t we read things that challenge our thinking, and make us analyze what we believe to be true?
The hard part in this culture, I think, is that people get so scared to talk about it. It’s so easy to screw up that kind of conversation and look like a fool. There are terms to use, and terms that offend. To be honest I’m not always current with the proper terms. I have met indians who prefer the term “Native American” and ones that prefer “Indian.” I’m a bumbling idiot when it comes to being properly politically correct. While some element of the politically correct crowd annoys me, the side that offends without care or compassion to people’s feelings annoy me too. So it feels as though I have no camp that I belong in. I’m in the camp that desires to love people, but does so imperfectly.
Linking up with Ginny’s Yarn Along.
EMMA says
September 10, 2014 at 1:42 pmGreat book review and it’s very interesting to hear how it got you thinking, I agree that it is important to read things that challenge us and analyze our beliefs.
And your knitting looks so beautiful and neat as usual. Lovely shade of blue.
Alisa Schenck says
September 10, 2014 at 1:45 pmthanks for the book review…..very interesting! And that color blue of your sweater…..love it!!
elizabeth says
September 10, 2014 at 2:16 pmyour knitting is lovely; your thoughts are very understandable; it’s a real tough one. I think I still have that book; picked it up for a 1.00 at a used library book sale; for me what I found hard, which I almost did not buy the book because of, actually was that I thought that she was a feminist and really against her husband; I was sad when I realized that my fear that she was not going to stay married to him was true and that they divorced sometime after that book. I was reading it when I was married just 6 months (now just 2 years!) and could not handle reading it for that reason. It was a real bummer as I was enjoying the beginning of it, without knowing much about it/the author at the time.
Dahle says
September 10, 2014 at 2:30 pmGreat book review. I think you are right about that being the point. To make us think deeper about the issues we are reading about and analyze what we believe to be true.
fjord girl says
September 10, 2014 at 3:01 pmLooks like a fun pattern- thanks for the book tip.
happy knitting 🙂
bookworm-Mary says
September 10, 2014 at 3:09 pmInteresting thoughts on the book you’re reading. I agree, it is good to read thingsd that challenge us. The issues you discussed are indeed a tough point for many people. Being a school teacher, I often find it difficult to know when to allow historically accurate terms to be used without offending the students in the classroom. Your thoughts give me something new to think about.
A Little Blue Dragonfly says
September 10, 2014 at 4:13 pm“I’m in the camp that desires to love people, but does so imperfectly.”
I love that so very much. *hugs*
Lisa @ HappyinDoleValley says
September 10, 2014 at 4:42 pmAgreeing with a little blue dragonfly… love that! me, too!
Mom says
September 10, 2014 at 11:28 pmVery profound. I think racism and prejudice of any kind is something we need to keep discussing. It’s been going on for centuries before America was even discovered. Heart change is what is necessary. It seems like we would all learn by now, but as a human race, we just keep on doing the same stupid things, it seems. 🙂 Great insight in this post!
Sarah says
September 11, 2014 at 12:14 amWell, I grabbed that book from the library because it sounded like a fun read and since it’s set only a couple hours from where I grew up but now I’m seriously rethinking whether it’s a good fit for me, being a missionary on an Indian Reservation, haha! I ran across one really negative comment regarding Native Americans the other day and had a few misgivings but hoped that it would be a minimal part of the book (similar to Ma Ingalls in Little House) but its sounding from your thoughts that it won’t be such a tiny little aspect of the book after all.
I was surprised at the level of “acceptable” prejudice and racism still present even (maybe especially) within the church toward Native Americans as we began fundraising to move our family here to serve among the beautiful Yakama people in WA state. There are several levels of complexity that you began to describe quite well. The community in Native America is extremely broken but it takes a good deal of research and humility to begin to face why it is so broken – and oh it so so broken and it breaks my heart. It takes humility to enter thought and discussion about Native America because the reason it is so broken at this time is because of a genocide attempt and atrocities committed by our not-so-distant ancestors. Now, I understand that people are broken and in need of a Savior, yes and that’s the main point. But the brokenness of an entire culture and family system typically requires an outside force.
This may vary regionally but most Native Americans here are so so gracious and can tell if you are sincerely trying to enter into understanding of their culture and preferences and treating them with dignity and seeing them as made in the image of God, so it doesn’t matter too much if you use correct terminology off the bat.
Anyway, obviously I have given this topic some serious thought but won’t subject you to further commentary. 😉 But I think you are spot on from the perspective of someone who lives on a Reservation and lives and works among a Native tribe.
Gretchen R says
September 11, 2014 at 4:47 pmSarah I love this. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts from you experience.
wifemomknitter says
September 11, 2014 at 4:42 pmThis post is very thought provoking and anything that gets one thinking is always a good thing. Thank you for sharing your honest opinions on the book.