Literary Analysis Essay on Racial Hope by Jonathan Lear

Introduction

Jonathan Lear's Racial Hope on the Plenty Coups and cultural understanding is a remarkable piece addressing the influence of constructive interference on a people's way of life. It has clearly outlined how human beings can manage to survive the influences that prove to pose threats to their culture. Lear has used the situation of Crow Indian culture perceived to be on the verge of collapse which its resolution depends on magical and philosophical imagination as well as radical hope. Moreover, the book is grounded on real events and is focused on real people. Its interpretation can be applied to generate practical ideas in the contemporary world. Lear through the book has explored the extent an individual's experience reflect and shape the experiences of the whole society.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Nevertheless, he has explored how the experiences of the intruders can shape a society. It can be argued that Plenty Coups who fight to be one of the great chiefs uses his cultural understanding to resolve the conflicts he perceived could destroy his culture. Several dreams have shaped all these on his vision.

The dreams by Plenty Coups has two main features with the first part being interpreted to predict the end of their traditional civilization and culture (Flores, Fernando, & Rousse 136). The dream was about a terrible storm in the forest in which the trees are knocked to the ground with only one left standing. The second part of the vision focuses on the one tree left which was given the name Chickadee. The interpretation of this second part of the idea would describe the young Plenty Coups as the new representation of how life should be lived and the aspect of wisdom that can save their culture from external influence. The dreams carry a particular concept of Radical Hope as a work of anthropology thus explaining the attributes of behaving bravely and finding hope as a way of defending culture from loss ((Flores, Fernando, & Rousse 133). As described by Lear, the Crow Indian society perceives culture as a source of hope and courage and as a way of defining life. As a result of the constant pressure from cultural diversities, it, therefore, implies that culture is exposed to various threats that can lead to its collapse.

Plenty Coups life offer some guidance to society. For instance, he ends up being converted to Catholic during the reservation, and moreover, he gets married in a Catholic church; however, he never gives up on his Crow beliefs (Reeves, & Jessica 109). This is an act of courage and trust in one's culture. Nevertheless, the Crow made their decisions as guided by the dream vision of Plenty Coups. This was possible after the interpretation of the dream by the elders which foresaw the coming to an end of their traditional way of life. With the regards of his thought and vision, the Crow society settled on a position of establishing a foreign policy which is active to date. For instance, the policy provided that they could ally with the US government as well as fight on his side against their enemy in India after which they could move to the reservation voluntarily.

As a result of the collapse of the pillars that protected the Crow's culture, ethics, and traditions, Plenty Coups acted with courage to preserve his culture and society. After the encroachment of their community, they therefore exposed to threats and subsequent enormous changes. For example, the risk of this society is symbolized by the drastic reduction of the elephant numbers and on the other hand, the Chickadee bird represents their hope. The elephants were gone as well as the most aspects of their culture and traditions. However, with a lot of courage, Plenty Coups managed to guide the society through the difficult period of their devastating history. Being the last chief, he acted with wisdom and brevity to give a chance for his community to rise again. His efforts are represented by the Chickadee bird which according to the city is a quiet bird which makes prudent moves.

Some of the ways he protected the society included representing the society in the federal government and courtrooms over land disputes and bringing the people together through victory songs as a way of instilling hope and courage. Furthermore, he defended the Crow's treaties with a key example being the treaty rights against Sen. Tom Walsh, D-Mont who was planning to open a reservation to the white settlers (Prescott, & Peter 26). He brought together his tribe by uniting them towards achieving a common agenda which was mainly to stave off the increasing pressure for white occupation on the reservation. He convinced his people that education was a powerful tool that could keep them equal to the whites. Furthermore, he advised the Crow to retain their own culture by speaking their Apsaalooke language alongside honoring their ancestors and participating in their traditional songs. These entailed dances and other rituals and such participation revived their cultural values and beliefs (Reeves, & Jessica 105).

Similar experience of radical hope can help us understand the changes in our society. It shows how important it is to borrow from the external culture what is deemed right and superior in a bid to strengthening one's lifestyle. However, at the same time, the experience teaches individuals in the contemporary world to be protective of their religion by being courageous and brave to stand up for what they believe in. This is evident from the Crow tribe's reservation and how the experience nurtured the society's culture. The experience gives hope that the maintenance of language and other aspects of oral tradition history, culture can be protected.

Work Cited

Prescott, Peter. Encounters with American Culture: Volume 2, 1973-1985. Routledge, (2017): 23-37

Reeves, Jessica Gayle. 'Everything Good Is There': Exploring the Material Culture and Historic Landscapes at Chief Plenty Coups State Park. Diss. Middle Tennessee State University, (2017): 101-113

Flores, Fernando, and B. Scot Rousse. "Ecological finitude as ontological finitude: Radical hope in the Anthropocene." Telos 177 (2016): 127-143.