“American Indians have never ceased to be a puzzle to the other races of mankind. Who

are they? Whence did they come? What are they like? What is to become of them?” (Berry 51). These are the words of Brewton Berry, author of the 1965 Phylon article, “The Myth of the Vanishing Indian”. European settlers asked themselves these questions upon their arrival in the Americas hundreds of years ago, and their existing descendants ask themselves these same questions now. By embracing dismissive, unstudied, or mythical ideas about the indigenous people of North America, present-day Americans perpetuate the vanishing Indian stereotype that their ancestors laid the foundation for: A stereotype that falsely proclaims the irreparable vanishment of all Native Americans. But where authentic stories can be shared, stereotypes can combatted. At first glance, one might assume that the only connection viable to be drawn between James Welch’s Fools Crow and Louise Erdrich’s Tracks is that both novels center on Native American characters. It is true that Welch’s 1986 novel follows the Blackfeet Pikuni through the tail-end of the 19th century, and that Edrich's novel, published two years after Fools Crow, concentrates on a band of characters living on and around a Chippewa reservation through the 1920’s. But Welch’s and Edrich’s novels, despite their differences, represent the complex and broad power of Native American literature. Through storytelling, Fools Crow by James Welch and Tracks by Louise Erdrich argue against the vanishing Indian stereotype and champion the victories of Native peoples over colonization.

      The power of Native American spirituality over the destructive forces of European settlers is a prominent theme in Fools Crow and Tracks. In the former, the foremost example of this is the character of Fast Horse. A young member of the fictional Pikuni band; the Lone Eaters, Fast Horse leaves his people after losing faith in his father’s renowned Beaver Medicine and the customs of his tribe, searching for more “tangible” and “immediate” power (Welch 71). But when Fast Horse is shot in a skirmish with white settlers during his time away, he follows his instinctual reaction to return to the Lone Eaters for help. It is amongst the Lone Eaters that Fast Horse is healed by the traditional Pikuni medicine that he previously lost faith in. Quintessentially, his father remarks on the sanctity of his healing, saying, “The medicine, whether you believe it or not, still works on you,” (Welch 190). Louise Erdrich argues the same spiritual triumph in Tracks, even amidst life on a reservation. Much of her emphasis on the power of Native customs comes from the character of Fleur Pillager; a Chippewa woman who is so strongly connected with her land, she is infamous amongst non-Natives and Natives alike. At the end of the novel, an impecunious Fleur is faced with the imminent settler-seizure of her family’s ancestral island, Matchimanito. Readers are made to assume that Fleur will be forced to surrender the island but are proven wrong when a convenient gust of wind blows the unfeasibly half-sawed trees of Matchimanito over, foiling the plans of the lumber workers who have come to remove her from her home (Erdrich 222). The extraordinary circumstances of this event suggest that, without the intervention of spiritual forces, Fleur could not have reclaimed her family’s land. Her triumph over the agents that seek to seize her home is made possible by the strength of her Chippewa customs. In the case of both Fast Horse and Fleur Pillager, the spiritual protection of Native individuals and land conveys indigenous power over destructive, nonindigenous forces- here, a settler’s bullet, and settler seizers.

      Tracks and Fools Crow warn against disowning such Native customs and embodying colonial figures through two contrasting but equally tragic characters. Pauline Puyat, one of two characters that narrate Tracks, is a mixed-race white and Chippewa woman. She is introduced as

a young and insecure girl but grows into a woman that chooses to completely abandon her Chippewa heritage. Pauline finds solace in palliative care, but her work leads her down a destructive path wherein she engages in acts of piety that border on self-harm. She becomes obsessed with collecting souls for Christ, and even envisions him instructing her to “fetch more” (Erdrich 140). Pauline’s desperate Christian faith and insecurity in her Chippewa heritage culminates in the final chapters of the novel, wherein she receives her most revealing vision from God. She claims:

        He said that I was not whom I had supposed. I was an orphan and my parents had died in              grace, and also, despite my deceptive features, I was not one speck of Indian but wholly

        white. He Himself had dark hair although His eyes were blue as bottleglass, so I believed.

        (Edrich 137)

Pauline’s desire to assimilate manifests in this vision: to be completely removed from her Native heritage and be fully white. Her refusal to believe that the man in the vision was God until she saw his light eyes lends further to Pauline’s belief in the purity and superiority of European features. The novel closes with Pauline mistakenly murdering the father of her abandoned child whom she mistook for the Devil and shedding her old self to take her perpetual vows. With this, Erdrich conveys the incredible price that Pauline pays to assimilate. It is Pauline’s desire to embody European colonizers that drives her to commit her most harmful acts, against both others and herself. In Fools Crow, Welch’s harrowing fictionalized account of the Marias River Massacre and the end of chief Heavy Runner’s life presents a similar perspective on aligning oneself with colonial values. Heavy Runner, a real Pikuni chief who is featured throughout the novel, is depicted as being the leader amongst the Pikunis who is most willing to heed the United States’ cavalry’s demands for the safety of his band. Rides-at-the-door, a (fictional) fellow chief, sees both the goodness and over-trustfulness of Heavy Runner, remarking that:

        Even Mountain Chief did not question Heavy Runner’s desire to do what was best- even                   necessary, in his opinion- for the Pikunis. But this very desire had led him to believe that the             Napikwans too wanted what was best for the Indians. He could not see that they only wanted         the land, the blackhorn ranges on which to graze their whitehorns, and the Pikunis were                  obstacles to the fulfillment of this goal. (Welch 271)

When Heavy Runner travels to the Four Horns agency to meet with the cavalry, he requests that General Alfred H. Sully sign a piece of paper declaring himself and his band to be “friends” of the white settlers (Welch 286). The treaty’s creation is a true historical event, and unfortunately, what follows in Welch’s novel is corroborated by firsthand accounts of the Marias River Massacre (Mabie 2020). Cavalry soldiers betrayed Heavy Runner in the winter of 1870 when they massacred his camp, not sparing men, women, children, or even the chief himself (Mabie 2020). In both Welch’s fictionalized account and others’ firsthand accounts of the event, Heavy Runner waves his friendship treaty at the attacking cavalry, expecting the document to hold.

And, in both the novel and reality, the cavalry ignore Heavy Runner’s treaty and shoot him in the chest (Mabie). The character of Heavy Runner does not desire to assimilate himself or his people like Tracks’ Pauline Puyat does, but through Fools Crow’s account of the event, Welch is able to demonstrate the government’s unjust dismissal of Heavy Runner’s charitable compromising, even as that compromising comes at his own expense. Both Welch and Erdrich’s narratives argue against the concept that aligning with the values of European settlers would benefit Native peoples and suggests that bending to their will- through chosen or forced assimilation- did and does not guarantee fulfillment, peace, or even safety for indigenous people.

      Fools Crow and Tracks further explore the power of traditional Native values by demonstrating the advantage of one value in particular: collectivism over individualism. This can be best observed in Fools Crow through the character of Rides-at-the-door, a respected war chief and the father of the novel’s protagonist. Rides-at-the-door shares the anger of many Pikuni leaders, as he wishes to retaliate against the United States’ cavalry when they encroach on Pikuni land. However, he recognizes the indulgent nature of his desires, and gives this speech to the Lone Eaters band:

        …and so we must fend for ourselves, for our survival. That is why we must treat with

        the Napikwans. You are brave men, and I find myself covered with shame for speaking to you          this way. But it must be so. We are up against a force we cannot fight. It is our children and              their children we must think of now. (Welch 179)

Rides-at-the-door's restraint is found in his Pikuni values. He shares his fellow men’s desire to retaliate against the unjust forces of the cavalry but knows that to willingly go into battle would endanger the most vulnerable members of the band. His decision to prioritize the safety of the entire community over his desire to fight is an unfortunate and unfair choice for the war chief to have to make, but it is the decision that most effectively protects his community and family.

Tracks’ emphasis on community comes in a different manner. Instead of highlighting the benefits of focusing on community, Erdrich underscores the value of collectivism by highlighting the destructive nature of individualism in her principal characters' lives. Margaret Kashpaw is the on-and-off partner of Fleur Pillager’s father-figure, Nanapush, and the mother of Eli and Nector Kashpaw; the latter being Fleur Pillager’s significant other. Over the course of the novel, readers witness Margaret’s brittle temperament and possessiveness over her sons be soothed by her growing connections with Nanapush and Fleur. But despite her deep connection to her new family, Margaret steals the money that they collectively raise to save Fleur’s home and uses it to buy her own land. This upends the lives of everyone involved, including Margaret’s. Her son Eli goes to work for the lumber company that eventually attempts to seize Fleur’s land, estranging her from her eldest son. Nanapush grows resentful of Margaret, stating that he “never believed the best” of her again, nor “loved her quite as much” (Erdrich 214). Fleur shuns Margaret and refuses to live with or even visit her, resulting not only in the estrangement of Fleur from both Margaret and Nanapush, but in the overall estrangement of Fleur’s daughter, Lulu- whom she decides must be sent to a residential school in lieu of allowing her to live on Kashpaw land when she feels unfit to parent her any further. Erdrich’s approach to emphasizing the advantage of collectivism over individualism is different from Welch’s, but both authors argue the same thing: Upholding tribal values supports the protection and prosperity of those who hold them even when individual sacrifices must be made, and succumbing to the allure of Eurocentric ideas like individualism poses a uniquely internal and dangerous threat to Native communities.

    Considering the novels’ portrayal of Native victory over colonization, neither Tracks nor Fools Crow contribute to the stereotype of the vanishing Indian. Both novels close on scenes and sentiments that convey the continued existence of Native peoples and culture in the face of colonization. Tracks’ Lulu Pillager, the daughter of Fleur Pillager, spends many years of her childhood at a Christian residential school, barred from her Chippewa family and culture. Upon Lulu’s return to the reservation as a teenager in the final pages of the novel, the narrator Nanapush watches a profound scene unfold. Later, he recounts the moment of their reunion directly to Lulu, remarking:

         Your knees were scabbed from the punishment of scrubbing long sidewalks and knobbed

         from kneeling hours on broomsticks. But your grin was bold as your mother’s, white with

         anger that vanished when you saw us waiting. You went up on your toes, and tried to walk,

         prim as you’d been taught. Halfway across, you could not contain yourself and sprang

         forward. Lulu. We gave against your rush like creaking oaks, held on, braced ourselves       

         together in the fierce dry wind. (Erdrich 226)

The triumph found here in Lulu’s return is reminiscent of her mother’s triumph over the lumber workers at Matchimanito. While Fleur eventually relinquishes her island and home, and Lulu is forced to endure residential schooling that undermines all that she once knew, neither loses their Native heritage. Neither is redefined by colonial standards. Welch does similar work at the end of Fools Crow on both an individual and communal level. Toward the end of Fools Crow, the future of the Lone Eaters and the Blackfeet at large is revealed to Fools Crow through his interactions with Feather Woman; a figure from the traditional origin story of the Blackfeet. She shows Fools Crow what lays ahead for his people, and what he sees is grim. The Pikunis’ lodges are strewn with “bundles of the dead” killed by smallpox, and their lands are occupied by cavalry (Welch 357). He sees Pikuni children kept separate from white children in schools on Native land, closed in by barbed-wire fences (Welch 362). And yet, at the end of the novel, Fools Crow’s closing thoughts are as such: “For even though he was, like Feather Woman, burdened with the knowledge of his people, their lives, and the lives of their children, he knew they would survive, for they were the chosen ones,” (Welch 392). The final sentence of the novel transcends Fools Crow as an individual and reflects on the world at large, as Welch writes, “the blackhorns had returned, and all around, it was as it should be,” (393). His novel, like Erdrich’s, ends on a note of hope. Though the characters in Fools Crow and Tracks suffer great losses, their culture and its eternal connection to their land is not one of them. Through their customs and community, Native Americans are unable to be erased.

       Native American literature has the power to immortalize Native peoples and stories; those passed down from generation to generation, those newly borne, and all those in-between. But it does not have to act as a relic, because the people of its stories are very much alive. Work akin to James Welch’s Fools Crow and Louise Erdrich’s Tracks fiercely contests the stereotype of the vanishing Indian, and Native peoples and cultures continue to permeate all spaces in the United States of America. Indigenous American literature is not a rare remaining piece of a ‘lost’ people. Rather, it is a declaration of that diverse people’s continued existence. Authors like James Welch and Louise Erdrich demonstrate the living joy, grief, and indestructability of Native peoples through their writing, and from their stories, one must discern: The materialistic and individualistic forces of colonialism have not and cannot erase a people who were not only here first, but will continue to be here- in life, spirit, and story.

 

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Works Cited

 

Berry, Brewton. “The Myth of the Vanishing Indian.” Phylon, vol. 21, no. 1, 1960, pp. 51-57,                    https://doi.org/10.2307/273734.

 

Erdrich, Louise. Tracks. Harper and Rowe, 1989.

 

Mabie, Nora. “A story of genocide, survival and resilience: Blackfeet Nation remembers Baker

    Massacre.” Great Falls Tribune, 16 January 2020,               

    https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2020/01/16/montana-blackfeet-nation- tribe- 

    baker-massacre-150th-anniversary/4434910002/.

 

Welch, James. Fools Crow. 25th Anniversary ed., Penguin Classics, 2011.