In “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”, Turner references the impact the wilderness has on the European colonist. Instead of directly talking about the land, as Cather does, Turner references moccasins, the Cherokee, and the Iroquois as changing the Europeans (2). What might Cather think of this portrayal of the West? Does Turner use the American Indian references as allusions to the West as a whole, or is he literally referencing “Indian” impact on the frontier?
3 thoughts on ““The Significance of the Frontier in American History 1893” response”
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Nico, I would like to elaborate on your point about “moccasins, the Cherokee, and the Iroquois” being representative of Turner’s reference to the colonists and their “Native American” experiences. I too was intrigued how instead of mentioning The Frontier, as Cather had spoken about in her essays/insinuated in our class novel, Turner chooses to describe products made by Native American people. It seems as though these products thus assume the hard work and dedication the Native American people had for their property. I believe that Cather and Turner differ in ideology in terms of inheritance in regard to European pioneers versus Native American peoples. As we have mentioned in class before, Cather’s philosophies/convictions are very European in thought and therefore, it strikes with no surprise that she would feel little to no shame in deducing the Native peoples to simply the goods they make. However, I do not think that is Turner’s intent; instead, I think Turner utilizes this metonymical reference of different objects that directly reference Native American culture to show how that culture — even the roots of that culture — is what comprises the subsistent and agricultural methods of the Western Frontier. It seems as though Turner wishes to suggest the interconnectivity between the Colonists and the Native Americans: both with a right to their own pursuit of property and freedom.
I would also like to add on the portrayal of Native Americans in this piece. I object to Turner’s repeated use of of the word “free” to describe land in the frontier as this implies that it doesn’t belong to the Native Americans who had lived there for centuries. I found this lack of recognition of the rights of Native Americans to be especially interesting as he mentioned Indians and Indian wars to procure land stating “each [wave of the frontier] was won by a series of Indian wars” (3). Further, I found his description that you both mentioned of each first wave of pioneers to be like Indians that were uncivilized and wild didn’t respect the Native American’s cultural identity because it utilizes Native American ideas and reduces them to mere objects and stereotypes without giving actual Native Americans a place in his history.
Cather not talking about Natives in the book might actually tell immigrant’s perspective of Natives during that time. Natives were probably seen as invisible. Natives, due to government intervention, were easily moved and therefore didn’t cause too much trouble for too long. That is probably why they weren’t referred to a lot in the text because that was a problem members in the community did not have to face.