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ASSUMPTIONS
About Indians in the book Mr. Tucket
Assumption:
“Something taken for granted or accepted as true without proof.” - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Assumption
About the map: The four Indian tribes mentioned in the book Mr. Tucket
were the Comanche, the Pawnee, the Sioux, and the Crow. Each tribe had
different names and many divisions that were also called by different names.
Above is a quickly drawn map of areas that each tribe occupied. The
boundaries are based on information found from the U.S. Library of Congress, and Web searches at http://www.wikipedia.org.
Making assumptions about people,
especially groups of people, can sometimes lead to misunderstandings. Several
passages from the book Mr. Tucket make assumptions about Indians. In some
cases the assumptions turned out to be true, but in other cases the
assumptions were false.
Select three passages from the Passage
Index below to write about. For each passage that you choose, include the
quote, and the following information:
1.
What was the
assumption? Is it fair to judge an entire group people based on an
assumption?
2.
Did the assumption
turn out to be true, or false?
3.
What
misunderstanding either happened, or may have happened based on the
assumption? What do you think the Indians thought, and what do you think the
White settlers thought?
Passage Index*
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Page
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Passage /
Assumption
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8
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“All across the
Kansas Plains there had been talk of Indian trouble, and everybody worried
about the Comanches.”
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49
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“If I hadn’t
been friendly with the Pawnees’ as you put it, you’d be back there with a
rope around your neck, getting whipped.”
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50
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“The Pawnee…live
by nature – the same nature that makes she-bear gut you if you mess with
her cubs….I couldn’t get mad at a bear and I couldn’t get mad at Braid, and
I couldn’t hate the whole Pawnee tribe because of a mistake.”
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55
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“Francis tried
not to be afraid when the Sioux village came into view. He had seen only
one type of Indian so far, the mean type. And he knew that the Pawnee tribe
was the not-too-distant cousin of the Sioux.”
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92
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“Just one
question,” Mr. Grimes said around a mouthful of biscuit. “What’s the story
on the Crows? I spent a week coming across their stomping grounds and
didn’t see one. Usually I get shot at least once.”
“But you know
the Crows: if you see ‘em, more’n
likely you’re going to have to fight ‘em.”
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105
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“Indians; Crows,
to be exact. We’re on the edge of their country, and they’re kind of
unpredictable.”
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110
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“Across the
meadow came four horses. Two of them were being led, and two of them were
being ridden. They were quite far away, too far to identify the riders as
anything but men…But even so, Francis made a wild guess and decided they
were Crows.”
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118
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“We saw some
fresh Crow sign down at the mouth of the valley. Whole tribe – man, woman,
child, and dog. Looking for a wintering ground, I reckon, so they probably
won’t bother you. But I don’t think they’d pass up a chance at those rifles
if they ran across you.”
“The Crows and
the weather – you can’t tell about either one. But I think I’d take a
blizzard to a Crow any day…”
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129
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“They were five
Crows painted for war, ready, and wanting one thing – to make Francis look
like a porcupine.”
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139 - 140
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“…ten Crow
braves dismounted and briefly studied the campsite…they knew that Mr.
Grimes and Francis had only a short lead. By noting all the beaver traps
left behind, they suspected that the two were running in fear…Let us stay
here for a time…We will have them before daybreak tomorrow.”
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158
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“No-ah, Mr.
Groves. It takes just one. Two, and they’d kill us
both. One, and I might get close enough – by insulting
Braid.”
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* You may choose
other passages from the book if you wish.
Below is an
EXAMPLE for how to get started:
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Date
Your Name 4-K
Assumptions About Indians
From
the book Mr. Tucket
“All across the
Kansas Plains there had been talk of Indian trouble, and everybody worried
about the Comanches.”
1. The assumption was that the Comanche
Indians may cause trouble.
2. The assumption could not be proven true
or false, because Francis never met a Comanche in the story.
3. The Comanche may have misunderstood the
white settlers when they saw that the buffalo were not as plentiful as
before, and the White settlers may have misunderstood the Comanche when
they fought to preserve the wilderness.**
Select two more
quotes and repeat the same exercise. Be prepared to share your answers with
the class.
** A fact not
mentioned in the book was that the Comanche had nearly all died from small
pox and cholera, diseases that were brought by the white settlers. The
Comanche were also not happy about white settlers over-hunting buffalo.
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