Poems

Regardless where any individual lives, their nation will have its own history with tragedy and triumph. California has a very rich history that throughout the years has had its ups and downs. When analyzing these poems one comes to the conclusion and the vivid image that California Native Americans were treated unfairly, beaten, killed, and ultimately displaced from their own land by United States migrants from the East coast. In “Indian Cartography” by Deborah Miranda and “Itch Like Crazy: Resistance” by Wendy Rose share a wide variety of similarities, that both elaborate on stories that describe the pain that California Native Americans endured during their displacement period. The concept of freedom, pain, and defeat of the Native Americans is what these poems have in common. However, these poems have different tones and sentence structure, which creates a more dramatic effect.

In “Indian Cartography” the poem is telling a story about a father who is telling a story of his memories and what significant places and events had happened in his past. Looking at maps and pointing out these places brought back some of the happiest memories to him. However, he also knew about his ancestor past, which deeply hurt him in the end.

In Rose’s “Itch Like Crazy: Resistance” the overall tone of her poem gives off a sense of anger towards the foreign invaders. However, she also gave off a sense of respect for the history of her people and the country. Both poems give off a sense of despair of Native Americans when their land was taken away, their identity, and cultural values. This poem shows the honesty and the pain that these people went through.

“Indian Cartography” by Deborah Miranda and “Itch Like Crazy: Resistance” by Wendy Rose share many commonalities one of which is the language and sentence structure. When it comes to the language structure poets use long breaks that cause the reader to think about what the poet is saying and analyze it for themselves. In “Itch Like Crazy: Resistance,” Rose states, “every red thing in the world/ is reflection of blood/ our death and our rising” (line 35-37). With this vivid image of brutality that was apparent during this time makes individuals reading the poem an image that they will be able to analyze and experience in their own minds. Then in “Indian Cartography,” Miranda demonstrates this technique by stating, “Places he was happy/ or where tragedy greeted him/like an old unpleasant relative” (line 6-9). By these pauses, it causes one to analyze how he felt during this time, and relate it to something that someone who had not been through those experiences can relate to. It shows that these experiences that the Native Americans went through were good experiences before their displacement but in the end when they were driven off their land they were treated unfairly. These breaks give it a more dramatic effect.

While both poems share many commonalities besides the concept of the subject, they also have some contrasting features. They both express the pain and suffering that Native Americans were faced with, but Rose takes up the intensity level by her selective wording and symbolism. Rose uses metaphors as well as vivid visual aids to get her message across of the pain and suffering that the Native Americans went through. Rose says “This is one of those days/ when I can see Columbus/ in the eyes of nearly everyone” (line 1-3). This quote shows how they already anticipated defeat of their people. Columbus was a man who caused suffering and ended and separated many of the tribes. Columbus is used as a symbol of fear and hate that overpowered their people.

In conclusion, the Native Americans were peaceful people and had come to California in order to fulfill their own dreams and goals. These poems describe tragic events in different ways that explains the problems that Native Americans faced while they were living the California Dream. Unfortunately through these tragic events lead to the disintegration of the Native American people.