aml5076a - American Literature: Colonial to Contemporary
Dr. Lisa Logan
 Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania Library Contributing Editor: |
"A Short Narrative of My Life" (dated September 17, 1768) is one of the earliest life histories written by an American Indian. Shortly after he returned from England in the spring of 1768, Occom began his "Short, Plain, and Honest Account of my Self" in order to refute false reports that he was a Mohawk, that Wheelock received large sums for his support, and that he had been converted just before the English tour in order to become a special exhibit (Blodgett 27). An important topic both in his narrative and sermon, as well as in the selections from Apess and Copway, is religious conversion. Students, who generally cannot understand why Indians became devout Christian converts, need to know that for Indians and slaves, Christianity offered the possibility of being regarded by whites as equals under God. Indian authors, like slave narrators, frequently contrasted whites' professed Christianity with their mistreatment of minorities. Students also need to understand that until at least the late nineteenth century, most Indian education was conducted under the auspices of religious organizations. In the twentieth century, many reservation schools were still run by churches; even the Indian schools controlled by the government had a strong religious orientation. |
| Samson Occom was a member of the Mohegan tribe of Connecticut who received a missionary education prior to his ordination as a Congregational minister. His sermons, including his "Sermon at the Execution of Moses Paul" (1789), were reprinted frequently. Occom deployed a style of careful humility to mask his defense of the humanity of Native Americans. | |
The influence of Native American oral
tradition
Samson Occom's autobiography represents the bicultural Native
American dilemma in the eighteenth century; the voices that speak
to us from the text reflect the dichotomy between two radically
different cultures. The Euro-American voice speaks through literary
convention and Christian references, creating a polite,
well-mannered tone. The narrative's cadence, storytelling and
detail define the Native American voice; it sends a persuasive
message to its audience, using emotional imagery to create sympathy
for the plight of Indians living in a white Christian world.
Occom's concept of self as expressed in his
narrative
Occom identifies himself as a member of both a heathen and
Christian community, and consistently speaks of himself in relation
to the communities he lives in. His autobiography is a story
depicting the life of an Indian struggling to work and live in a
world dominated by a white Christian community.
| White Christian - Literary style | Native American - Oral Tradition |
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What distinguishes the storytelling, detail and cadence of oral tradition from literary convention?
How does the text combine these two distinctly different methods to create sympathy within its audience?
Samson Occom was a member of the Mohegan tribe
of Connecticut who received a missionary education prior to his
ordination as a Congregational minister.
http://www.library.upenn.edu/special/gallery/kislak/print/occom.html
"The Betrayal of Samson Occom" by
Bernd Peyer
Dartmouth Alumni Magazine - Stories
http://www.dartmouth.edu/alumni/almag/occom.html
Enduring Traditions, ed. Laurie Weinstein, Westport: Bergin & Garvey, 1994.
Hochbruck, Wolfgang. "Cultural Authenticity and the Construction of Pan-Indian Metanarrative". Cultural Difference & the Literary Text. Ed. Winfried Siemerling and Katrin Schwenk. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1996. 18-28.
Hymes, Dell, In Vain I Tried to Tell You, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981.
Krupat, Arnold, New Voices in American Literary Criticism, Washington: Smithsonian Literary Press, 1993.
Krupat, Arnold. The Voice in the Margin. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
Leuthold, Steven, Indigenous Aesthetics, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998.
Occom, Samson. "A Short Narrative of My Life". The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Colonial to Contemporary,Vol. 1. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998. 614-619.
Wiget, Andrew. Native American Literature: Colonial to Contemporary. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985.
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November 8, 2001
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