A few years after Pasquinel and McKeag became business partners the frenchman, Pasquinel decided that they should become trappers. A trapper is the person who trapped the beavers, skinned them and sold them afterward. Pasquinel said indians did not always have what they wanted and this way they could finance their own trips and supplies, without the need for a sponsor. McKeag was concerned, they did not know anything about trapping,but Pasquinel assured him they would learn. At first they barely cached anything and faces hunger and low income. that spring they did not return to civilisation and decided they would practice until winter, trapping time, came along. they finally started getting better and divided the labours. Pasquinel would catch the beavers in his traps while McKeag would skin them perfectly (he had learned this while Pasquinel perfected his traps) and they became known as the best trappers in the Platte.
This is a type of beaver trap
"Normally a father would have preferred his daughters marry to a more substantial type, say, established businessmen, but Bockweiss had not made that long journey from Munich to Saint Louis because he was cautious." (Michener 193). In older times people married because of money and social status. Nowadays people marry because they fell in love and they want to spend their lives together right? The thing is, in my eyes people still believe that some people are not good enough because they do not have as much money or a good job. There are very few people who an say that they do not care who they marry as long as they are in love, that they did not care what their job or future looked like when they met. People claim our society had advanced but I see that in certain matters in has only improved the way of hiding what is really happening. I am not saying we have not improved, but I still see this happening a lot, in some cases very close to me, where a person in flagged because of their social position or their income. people should be equal but how can we reach that point if all we are teaching the next generations if that if you don't have the money or the job with a big pay check people will change your view on you, even dismiss you because you are not on their "class".
"But the Oregon trappers who had been working the rivers for a longer time, knew that McKeag was right. The beaver were thinning out." (Michener 226). Since old times humans have ended up abusing nature, taking what it has to offer and overusing it so much species have disappeared in our hands, like lonesome George, the last galapagos giant turtle. This is what ahas happening to the beavers here in this part of the story. Thanks to the excessive trapping they were not haven enough time to reproduce and that decreased the number of beavers available each season. why does man destroy the environment around him? One day we will be left with nothing, and that is when people are going to start to care, when it is too late to do something about it.
Humans are superficial, we tend not to care about what is inside about what we have until its gone, about the damage we cause someone or something and because of that we are going to be the ones who kill ourselves in the end, because we did not care when we could.
When Pasquinel got back to civilisation he needed a few months to recover for he was in really bad shape. He needed somebody to help him with money (to pay for what he needed including a boat) so he called his doctor friend who only gave him half the money. Pasquinel embarked on his trip again, determined to never return unless he had beaver pelts. As he came across Panawee lands he warned Rude Water (chief) that if his braves went after him again he would kill them all, with his fire stick. the Panawee agreed to leave him alone. he traded with the Cheyenne and got multiple beaver pelts. Not long afterward the Panawee were approaching him again, this time to tell him that they had captured a white man. After going back to the Panawee camp he asked to se the prisoner, it was a younger man called Alexander McKeag. He had been held hostage for 6 months now and was desperate to escape. Pasquinel negotiated McKeag's freedom in exchange for 50 silver bracelets and some beaver pelts. McKeag spoke many indian languages and helped Pasquinel trade, and grew to be good friends. Because of McKeag's translation of what Pasquinel wanted to say they got more pelts than any other trader, and seeing this had a good future they became partners.
Indians approaching with beaver pelts to trade
"Young McKeag was impressed by the assurance with which Pasquinel operated; the frenchman was only 8 years older, but he always seemed to know what to do" (Michener 185). In this quote the author tells us how McKeag looked up to Pasquinel, with admiration. McKeag reminded me of that moment in my life when I copied everything my older cousin used to do. If she wore a pink dress I wanted one and whenever she told me to do something it made perfect sense. To me it also seemed like my cousin "always knew what to do". The difference of my situation with McKeag's is that I did not know any better so I just did whatever my cousin did because I considered her smarter. on the contrary McKeag was already a grown man ready to make his own decisions and have his own opinions, still the frenchman was (according to McKeag's perception) a smart man who he could learn from. the people you look up to have an impact and influence in your life and can change who you are, influence who you become, like Pasquinel convinced McKeag to become his partner and McKeag only agreed because he looked up to the frenchman.
"Pasquinel defeated and Pasquinel victorious were two different men" (Michener 185). People change based on the outcome of the situation around them. We all have different sides to ourselves, when we are happy because it is our birthday is different than when we are happy because we are liberated from a burden. When we are sad because we fought with someone we act differently than when we are sad because we just lost someone we loved. Humans can change who they are, what they do just because the situation around them is different. A defeated man can be frustrated, and can either be determined to try again or give up but it all depends n the situation. the same man can act completely different if he came out victorious, if he accomplished what he wanted.
I strongly believe people eventually will reveal who they are, if you get to see them in multiple situations you can know who this person really is and how they change (for the better or for worse) and you can see their true colours.
Influence, by the individual or situation as a whole changes a person and that leaves me thinking, does anybody really know who they are? how do we change in other people's eyes in different situations? Truth is nobody can really decide how their life is going to be and everything around us, the people, the places and the situations we are put in shape the person we become.
After the death of Lame Beaver we move on to the story of the traders who had given Our People their fist gun. The man's name was Pasquinel, a frenchman living off the trade with indians. He brought beads from Paris and bracelets from Germany. Pasquinel moved about in his small canoe through the Platte, stopping in indian tribes to (hopefully) trade what he had for beaver pelts. This job was extremely dangerous for there was always the tension between white men and the indians, the fight for dominance in the plains. any white could be seen as a friends and then turn into a prey or enemy overnight so Pasquinel always carried a knife and gun with him. Pasquinel reached a tribe, but hid his canoe a mile away, fearing the indians would steal his possessions when he wan no there. After trading he left and one of the indians, under orders of his chief, tried to kill pasquinel to get everything he had. With an arrowhead in his back Pasquinel rowed his way back to civilisation. As he moved on towards civilisation he found a couple of Cheyenne indians who helped move the arrow into a position that no longer caused Pasquinel pain and later tried to defend him against englishmen who stole everything he had left, leaving him to fend for his own. He made it back to Saint Louis 5 months after.
"Occasionally , as he hiked, he could feel the arrowhead adjusting itself, but each week it caused less pain" (Michener 177). Pasquinel, after that wound did not stop trading with the indians, he did not give not fear. What impresses me the most it that the arrowhead was a constant reminder of the Panawee's betrayal, nevertheless Pasquinel did not show fear or even resentment towards the indians. Personally my reaction would have been mainly based on fear and resentment, but Pasquinel seemed to take it as a normal day in the job. What would our world be like if we all blindly forgave people who had done us wrong, believing they just had their reason to. Without the need for an apology or some form of regret towards the win they caused. If everyone behaved like this a lot of arguments that exist today would never appear and a lot of problems could be solved easily.
"In sign language Pasquinel spoke from some minutes, explaining that he had come from Sain Louis, that he came in peace, that all he wanted was to trade for beaver. He concluded by saying that when he returned through Panawee lands he would bring Chief Rude Water many presents." (Michener 175). I find it fascinating how people used to easily communicate without the need from words, and found a way to express themselves even if they were from two different worlds. For example indians believed in nature and living in harmony with the world around them. On the other had "white men" believed in innovation and discovering how to live a life of commodity.Both of these people have nothing in common except the fact that they are human beings, but somehow they manage to communicate with each other and share contact. I am intrigued as to how did they do this? How could they know if the other person was understanding and how did they know what they understood was what the other person said? If they had spoken the same language would the relationship between indians and "white men" have been less violent, or any different?
As we move along the story we seem to find less and less honour in a man's word and more back stabbing for one's benefit. If we keep on moving this way where will we find ourselves in 20, 50 years?
The first gun Our People had came from "pale skins" that came to trade with the indians. Lame beaver, very satisfied with the trade was now ready to protect his tribe for tension was rising in the plains. Lame beaver and the rest of the rifle knew very well that they had the Cheyenne on their side. However the rise of the Sioux and the Apaches, both terrible warriors , were driving tribes off the plains and killing those who stayed. Our people barely stood a chance. after a lot of discussions within the tribe Lame Beaver decided he would scout himself out against a battle with the Apaches so their main tribe could be destroyed by the Cheyenne. The terrible fight came and Lame Beaver was tied to a tree and he fought until his body held no more. That day Our People's greatest warriors died. Soon after they became one tribe with the Cheyenne and fought manny battles but Lame Beaver was never forgotten.
"In the morning she was found frozen to death. In this partial manner the Arapaho living at Rattlesnake Buttes were freed from the encumbrance of an old woman who had outlived her usefulness" (Michener 166) What I am seeing is that we live, up to now in a man's world. Since the beginning of societies and civilisations women were, and are treated like less or like objects that only have certain purposes. Women are given a certain role to full fill in society and always men have better options when facing the same situations as women. For example, with the Arapaho (Our People) when a woman had no husband she was left to die alone in the darkness and nobody could interfere and aid her. On the other hand when a man was left wife-less nothing changed in his life, it just became the life he had as a younger boy and had to look after himself. Will this ever change? Has it improved over time? Will we ever reach a pint in which we are equal?
"Thanks to the heroism of Lame Beaver, their eastern flank was secured for a few more years. Not soon would the Panawee want to invade Arapaho lands after such defeat. They would be back of course, in time." (Michener 164). The devotion Lame Beaver had for his people doesn't stop surprising me. It was known among the people of his tribe, including him that even if they won the battle the Panawee would be back to invade them eventually. Even with this information at hand Lame Beaver did not hesitate to give his life up for his people. The most impressing part of all this, to me is that in a tribe the bond people had was almost like a family, they where all willing to give up their life for the greater good, or to save people in a futile situation. They believe they must at least try or at least die trying to protect their own. The author shows that even though technology has improved in our society this sense of brotherhood/sisterhood is slowly disappearing until we are left to care for ourselves only, no family or friends to accompany us or to care about. We in the end will be left alone, living like animals, only for survival.
It was the cold season. Time had passed and Lame Beaver was older, about fifty-two. He and Blue leaf now had a daughter, Clay Basket. Our People at this time of the year crawled into their homes and invited others in to warm up the home with body heat. There was always a small fire going inside each tipi to keep warm at night. One night 2 braves reported have seen two men, they were not like any human they had ever seen before, their skin was lighter and they wore weir clothes. The Arapaho (Our People) got curious and a counsel was held among the chiefs to decide what to do about these light-skinned strangers. Lame Beaver, being one of the most respected warriors, decided he would go alone to investigate. He approached at night and came very close to one. As he was reaching for his fire-stick suddenly the man woke up, grabbed the gun and pointed it directly at Lame Beaver. The other man told the man holding the gun something and he stopped pointing at Lame Beaver. The second man approached the indian and showed him beautiful bracelets made from silver and said, in sign language that he was willing to trade beaver pelts for the things her had. Lame Beaver agreed but instead of getting bracelets he got the gun. Since then the Arapaho had contact with the "pale-skins" and traded with them.
"As he stood there the smaller man began cleverly to disclose the infinite variety of things he had brought up the river. One parfleche had scintillating beads, all in a row and of different colours. A pack contained blankets, not made from bison hide but from some soft and pliant material. Finally the man unfolded a special parfleche, and inside glimmered the most beautiful substances lame Beaver had ever seen, a hard metal like the barrel of a gun but bright clean and very white, "Silver" the man said" (Michener 156) The use of imagery by the author in this fragment is very good. The descriptive words help create a mental image of what was happening in the story; how it happened and how it looked while it was happening. Michener is able to transmit the indian's surprise and excitement from seeing what was opened before his eyes, the treasures he had never seen before. A big factor of this emotion-transmition comes from the choice of words that don't tell the reader what something was but how splendid and new it was to Lame Beaver.
"As Lame Beaver gained possession of the gun he looked deep into the eyes of the man who had traded it to him, and there was a long moment when each acknowledged that in the previous darkness either could have slain each other but had refrained. No word was spoken, and in this cool diffidence the implied treaty between Our People and the white man was ratified" (Michener 158). Humans are not born distrustful, we learn to be. Can you remember when you were little and you believed everything anybody told you? Chances are that now you don't trust everybody, in fact you only trust those who are very close to you. I believe the same thing happened between indians and the "white men". First they all trusted each other but as time passed more white men came and became rude and prepotent towards indians. Probably this turned to be too much and that was how the bond and peacefulness in the plains was lost. How would you feel if you were called a savage because a stange man betrayed you and got away with it? In this case it was the first time Lame Beaver came face to face with someone that was not an indian. Since this strange man showed trust towards Lame Beaver, having had the opportunity to kill him the naive indian trusted him. As simple as that. Wouldn't the world be an easier place if we could just trust one another?
What is Lame Beaver going to do about the white men's appearance in the plains? will they erupt into war or live peacefully with the tribe of Our People? What will the Arapaho do now with a "stick that speaks fire"? Will they become dangerous and aggressive? It is all a page turn away.
Lame Beaver, the brave who brought Our People the horses has married Blue Leaf. Now he explores the bond with other married men who also are parent to multiple children who played in the sun. Lame Beaver had a lot of time to reflect and think about everything that surrounded him. One day he came to the realization that he had not killed any men yet. This did not bother him. What troubled him was: what if when the time came, he did not have the character to kill? What if he was not able to defend his family? He started to worry and decided to offer himself during the Sun Dance and ask the sun for strength. In the Sun Dance he was stabbed through his pectoral muscles with wooden skewers connected to thongs that were passed through an opening in a tall pole. Using these the tribesmen pulled Lame Beaver upward, leaving him hanging by the skewers for 3 long hours. Lame Beaver did not even flinch at the pain when he was lowered and the skewers where taken out of his chest. As the wounds were tended, rubbed with ash first to create a permanent tattoo and later treated with ointments, he realised that if he survived that he could defend his people in battle. That same night he scouted out by himself into a Panawee hunting camp, and all by himself stole their horses and their "fire sticks" (guns) and returned to camp counting coup on one of the Panawee riders that followed him, and killed him after. Lame Beaver got Our People their first gun.
The Sun Dance
"Lame Beaver, who had not volunteered for this lesser offering, watched. Women chanted and older men urged the younger on, and for more hours the latter dragged the skulls in a kind of trance, the pain long since numbed by the self hypnosis." (Michener 137) How can people numb the pain by self hypnosis? Many claim that the mind is stronger than anything and that you have the ability to convince yourself that you are not in pain. But to accomplish that it must require extreme concentration. How bad can the pain get before you can shut it down or ignore it? Something else that really caught my attention is that people offered themselves for torture, with the possibility of death at hand. Their devotion is greater than their fear. The more I read about Indians the more impressed I get with the fact that they are willing to die for what they believe is right.
"Breathing deeply and recalling his devotion to the sun, he touched his breasts and said, "I am of Our People. Man-Above, help me." (Michener 139) Michener shows the character's feelings through his praying to "Man-Above" and shows that since the beginning of time humans have had some sort of belief that there is someone/something bigger than us that we devote ourselves to. We all believe in that bigger force that controls all and who we should ask for protection and give thanks to. This is a universal feeling and it is something that all humans at some point have needed. In older times people turned to their religion to find everything they needed; health, wealth, family and happiness and this shows we, humans, are not that different.
Can you imagine living alongside nature, instead of destroying it to live comfortably? Having such a great devotion towards what you believe in that you are willing to risk your life, even to die?
One day a new creature appeared in the plains. This strange creature walk on 2 feet and it defended itself from predators really effectively. It turned out it was men. Finally humans had reached the plains and they had come to stay. The prehistoric man moved in groups, and relied on the land for food and shelter. As time passed their ways of living evolved and this small group (later known as the Arapaho) would be called Our People. Our People was a group that evaded conflict with other tribes and believed that a warrior should not be honoured by the kills made in a fight, but by the coups counted during their lifetime. A coup was when a warrior touched their enemy. For every enemy only 3 coups were given so when a coup happened the indian had to shout "Me first" or "me second" or "me third" and later coups where not counted. After battle coups were awarded, based on eye witnesses. One of the most famous warriors was Lame Beaver. Our People had no contact with conquerors but were having trouble because the indians who had now possessed horses and were much effective in battle and hunting. It was Lame Beaver who brought Our People their horses. He was about 16 at the time and he decided to get horses they would steal them from the terrible Comaches. He used himself as bait while 2 other braves opened the stables and caught as many horses as possible. During this run and chase Lame Beaver counted coup of the 3 Comaches (very feared). And that is how Our People got their horses.
Lame Beaver on his horse
"The three companions looked at each other; they had known if the Comache reputation for hideous death but they had not wanted to speak openly of it. Now they had to face prospect an Red Nose addressed his two comrades: "If I falter you must kill me". Cottonwood knee said, "Don't leave me wight the Comache. It was Lame beaver who said it the other way: "If you are helpless, I promise to kill you" (Michener 129). I can connect this to Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games book series, more specifically Mockingjay. (Spoliler Alert) Here Katniss, Gale and many other rebels decide to rescue Peetah from president Snow'w power and they had also agreed that, if they were caught by someone from the capitol they would take a pill that would instantly kill them, but if they could not get the pill then the other companions must do whatever was possible to kill them. By killing them they were making it impossible to torture and question the rebels, just like Lame Beaver and his companions wanted to avoid torture. With Lame Beaver's case they do not have the pill technology, so they would have to rely on others for their death. But what suprizes me is that, in both cases, the braves are prepared to die for other people sacrificing themselves for the greater good, and they do not seem to care about the picce they pay to help the people they love or care about. That level of devotion is admirable and only few are born with it so they are people that should be cherished.
"The arrival of the horse among Our People changed many things. To take one example, it was now more pleasant to be a woman, for when the tribe moved she no longer had to haul the travois that were too heavy for the dogs. For another, the whole system of wealth was altered, and a man did not have to wait hears to accumulate enough bison robes to pocure the things he wanted; a horse wan not only more acceptable as exchange but more easily delivered when a transaction was agreed upon." (Michener 131). It is amazing that in indian tribes women were not considered delicate helpless creatures but strong enough to carry their homes on their backs while men carried weapons to protect the moving party. In the colonies women were seen like fragile dependent whereas in indian tribes their role was a lot more important in society and men and women where somewhat more equal. To this day women are underestimated and it seems impossible that we have evolved backwards from the indian times, where a woman had her duties and roles, into our era where society claims that we are equal but still encourages men's control and superiority.
I think that now that Our People have the horse they will grow as a society and improve in their ways of moving, trading with other indians and become more aggressive and successful in the battlefield. I wonder how did Lame Beaver prepare his mind to be killed by one of his companions if the plan failed? Would he have really killed his friends? Could he have lived with it? Were the horses really worth the possibility of loosing their lives?
A small introduction:
Centennial, a book by James A Michener, invites the reader on a journey through time, from the creation of Earth, all the way to the conquest of the far west United States. The book is historical fiction, and a lot of the descriptions and ideas of the author are very debatable when compared to other sources. However, the point of the book is not to educate the reader in evolution or geology as much as it is to invite us to peer into the development of life and societies.
The book begins when the Earth appears. Michener first talks about how our planet's surface was constantly changing. Mountains were created by crashes of the tectonic plaques, and later destroyed by constant erosion from rivers and rainfall. Pieces of land would remain underwater for millions of years later to surface. This drastic changes made it a very inhabitable place. Later on Michener shows that the constant, drastic change of the Earth's crust subsides, Little by little, life forms evolved and become visible. In a few pages the author takes us from minuscule algae to more intricate life forms, such as rodents and reptiles. After some evolution we reach the story of the giants that roamed the earth before us. More specifically we see the era through the eyes of the Diplodocus and its way of life. She, along with her species dies because the earth was still changing a lot and dinosaurs apparently were not able to adapt to the changes fast enough. But the small prehistoric mammal that lived alongside the Diplodocus adapts and develops. This same mammal's survival, it is believed that lead to our appearance, millions of years of evolution later. One branch of this mammal later became the eohippus (not shown in the image), a pre-horse that emerged in America and later because of unknown reasons migrated to Asia only to return with the French, Englishmen and Spaniards. as the horse leaves from Asia comes the prehistoric buffalo bigger and slower than the current american buffalo, in such great numbers that it darkened the plains as it moved around in herds. It was a very dominant and respected animal in the plains for their thick hides and strong horns were a defence against predators never seen before.
" And so the stage is set. One billion, seven hundred million years of activity, including the building of at least two high ranges and the calling into being of vast seas, have produced a land which is ready to receive living things." (Michener 43). When I first read this I was shocked. I had absolutely no idea it took one billion, seven hundred million years for the planet to be habitable. And now the human race is stripping the Earth and all the other life forms of clean natural resources. How can humans be so ungrateful? The damage we are causing could take even more time to fix, maybe it is irreversible and for all we know it could be leading our species to its doom.
"Her brain was too small and too undifferentiated to permit reasoning or memory; habit immigrated warned her of danger, and only the instinctive use of her tail protected her from the kind of assault she had just experienced." (Michener 56). This made me think of how amazing animal instinct is. It is like having a 6th sense that tells you what you have to do, for example no one taught the diplodocus how to defend herself, but instinct saved her life. I think it would be amazing if humans had such a strong instinct, maybe we would have learned to live more at peace with other animals or maybe we would know what plants are good for us and what can kill us. I am fascinated by the fact that many animal babies know, since birth what they have to do to survive, while humans have absolutely no idea what to do until we are old enough to lead ourselves by judgement. Could you imagine not remembering anything but be able to rely solely on instinct for survival?
I wonder how Michener allows the reader to see things through his perspective and own interpretation of the research that was put into the ideas of this book. My prediction is that after the buffalo the man will appear and the animal numbers will reduce as the human numbers increase. How will humans deal with the plains and the animals that live there? Will they wipe them out? Will they live alongside of them?
