The summer of Black widows by Sherman Alexie is a metaphor of the coming and going of white people in the lives of the Native Americans. The spiders are the white people, their stories and more importantly their influence. The white people that came to the Native Americans in this instance came on ships and other advanced transportation that the Americans did not understand; therefor in the minds of the Native Americans they came with the rain. The white people at the time came into American villages pillaged their crops and raped the American women. In the poem one of the stories fell into an American girl's hair this represents a white man coming in and raping the young American woman. In the poem the Native American people had to tuck their pants into their boots when they walked through the fields. This line is a metaphor of how the white intruders stole the Native American crops leaving only waste behind. The presence of the white people shrouded the American people in oppression as the story stuck in the ceiling lamp covered the house with shadows. Even when the white people were gone their tales of lands worlds away were left behind. These stories roused the curiosity of the young and gave them reason to leave their people and learn of the new and mysterious world quickly building around them. The influence of the unorthodox ways of the white people morphed and killed the culture of the Native Americans. In the poem the stories were stuck in the houses and nothing could bring them down. The influence and tales of the white people were forever imprinted on the Native American culture. The diseases like small pox that the white people brought to the Native Americans were as deadly as black widow spiders. This poem is a metaphor for the arrival of the white people. The disappearance of the black widow spiders is a metaphor of when the white people decided to isolate the Native Americans in reserves to try to preserve their culture. They did not know that the culture of the Native Americans was lost forever the day the Europeans stepped off the Mayflower. The poison of the black widow spider kills the physical man; the poison of the white widow spider kills the culture of the man.
1-19-12
The Summer of White Widows
The summer of Black widows by Sherman Alexie is a metaphor of the coming and going of white people in the lives of the Native Americans. The spiders are the white people, their stories and more importantly their influence. The white people that came to the Native Americans in this instance came on ships and other advanced transportation that the Americans did not understand; therefor in the minds of the Native Americans they came with the rain.
The white people at the time came into American villages pillaged their crops and raped the American women. In the poem one of the stories fell into an American girl's hair this represents a white man coming in and raping the young American woman. In the poem the Native American people had to tuck their pants into their boots when they walked through the fields. This line is a metaphor of how the white intruders stole the Native American crops leaving only waste behind.
The presence of the white people shrouded the American people in oppression as the story stuck in the ceiling lamp covered the house with shadows. Even when the white people were gone their tales of lands worlds away were left behind. These stories roused the curiosity of the young and gave them reason to leave their people and learn of the new and mysterious world quickly building around them. The influence of the unorthodox ways of the white people morphed and killed the culture of the Native Americans.
In the poem the stories were stuck in the houses and nothing could bring them down. The influence and tales of the white people were forever imprinted on the Native American culture. The diseases like small pox that the white people brought to the Native Americans were as deadly as black widow spiders.
This poem is a metaphor for the arrival of the white people. The disappearance of the black widow spiders is a metaphor of when the white people decided to isolate the Native Americans in reserves to try to preserve their culture. They did not know that the culture of the Native Americans was lost forever the day the Europeans stepped off the Mayflower. The poison of the black widow spider kills the physical man; the poison of the white widow spider kills the culture of the man.