The Inconvenient Indian Analysis

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The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King has won numerous awards and is praised for being humorous, yet unabashedly honest. However, it is also an assigned reading and, despite raving reviews, left me expecting a thought-provoking, but depressing reading. My track record with school novel studies has lead me to the understanding that they tend to speak about an injustice and/or an unfortunate truth in our world. The Inconvenient Indian states that it is an account of Native history in North America known to be heavily laced with injustice and the unfortunate truth was the government worked to systematically abolish native culture. Despite the sombre topic, I was keen on reading it since I wanted to learn more of their history, especially from …show more content…
In my case, that made him and the topic feel more approachable. His humor is engaging and his anecdotes bring another perspective. There are the Dead Indians that society thinks they know, and then there’s him, a Live Indian, showing his point of view. The anecdote of his brother’s name not being listed on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial shows why he enumerates the pages of his book with names and events that he knows that many people will skim. There’s an importance of having them written and recorded and he provides a correct context to view them in. Dispelling myths and exposing truths is what he does in his writing, even though the truth might not be pleasant. The Almo Massacre, the second largest massacre by Indians against the Whites, never happened. Yet, in the town of Almo, Idaho, it is still rendered on a plaque. Even though the truth is exposed, many people find it more comforting to ignore it, because if they accept it, then they have to shift their world view. The world’s view on Indians, as shown in movies, books and other entertainment outlets, was either a blood-thirsty, noble, or dying Indian. From King’s writing, the reader could assume that North America’s favorite was the dying one. No entertainment outlet showed anything but the Indian succumbing to the relentlessness of Western civilization. The government spent a lot of time and money on getting rid of them. As the Trail of Tears, the largest massacre of of Native people with around 4,000 out 17,000 Cherokee dead, shows, Indian relocation was not only unsympathetic, but downright