Cross-cultural comparisons in *Indian Boyhood*: A note on “The Laughing Philosopher” and “First Impressions of Civilization”

Eastman starts his second to last chapter of Indian Boyhood with a discussion of humor in his society. He states, “Indian humor consists as much in the gestures and inflections of the voice as in words, and is really untranslatable,” which is clearly a comparison between Native society and civilized society. This particular topic is another aspect in which Eastman compares “Anglo” or “civilized” society to Native American society. Recalling that Eastman was a proponent of assimilation, the recurring theme of constant cross-cultural comparison is apparent throughout his novel.

Later in this chapter, Eastman goes into greater detail of some of the types of jokes his people made. He also mentions that “no one ever complained, or resented any of these jokes, however personal they might be. That would be an unpardonable breach of etiquette.” This was very interesting to me, that there is this code amongst Eastman’s people that if an individual did not find a joke funny because it was sort of offensive, that they should not complain. This is actually quite the opposite of our society, for we are very careful to not offend each other when joking. In our society we say that we always want to ‘laugh with each other, not at each other.’ Further in “The Laughing Philosopher,” Tamedokah’s capturing of buck is joked about, along with other stories of hunting that make the entire group laugh. Another interesting things to comment on was at the end of this chapter, where the story of Hachah flying was told, Hachah says “Woman, be silent,” to his wife, which again shows the theme of women as the submissive, less powerful gender in Native American society.

In “First Impressions of Civilization,” Eastman starts out talking about the white men, or “Big Knives,” who led the “terrible Minnesota massacre” and is filled with mixed emotions. He describes the ideas his uncle instilled in him to avenge the death of his father and brothers, before he find out that the white man had not killed his father and brothers. Then, he also describes the “marvelous things” white people had, along with “supernatural gifts” like a “fireboat” (or locomotive) that walks on mountains and guns. Then, he talks about good and bad aspects of the white man’s culture. His descriptions and attitude towards civilized society range greatly. He likes that they are civilized, but does not like his people turning into slaves. He likes the new life he has, which symbolically starts when he wears ‘civilized clothing,’ and talks about how “eager [he was] to see some of the wonderful inventions of the white people.” All in all, his transformation ends when he states in his last sentence that, “Here my wild life came to an end, and my school days began.”

Overall, I have no complaints on how the book ended. I was actually quite pleased, being able to see Eastman’s complete childhood transformation, from a Indian boy to an Indian boy who dressed in a civilized manner and went to school. I was not really shocked by this ending, which sort of goes with the rest of the novel and a theme it had of being moderately predictable. A few questions: What was your opinion on how Eastman’s book ended? Were you pleased? Did you have any unresolved questions? Why do you think Eastman was a proponent of assimilation, even though it called for a loss of Indian culture that he loved so much?