The Heart of a Chief and further readings

The Heart of a Chief was a great book, let me start out by saying that. However, in preparation to reading the text, I read a couple articles about stereotypes and generalizations. I have always had a difficult time determining where to draw the line between a generalization and a stereotype. From the readings I gathered that generalizations are okay, however stereotypes need to be avoided. Personally I find it difficult even consider generalizations even acceptable. Throughout my education, I have been told that every individual is different and you cannot make assumptions, or in other words generalizations about a person based on what their cultural make up may be. But is this making generalizations or does it cross the line to stereotyping? I feel as if I still need the distinction to be explained because it is such a difficult and complex issue to grapple with. As I began reading The Heart of a Chief, I immediately began to look for stereotypes in the text. What I found interesting and a bit frustrating was that although the narrator expressed the fact that he was angered by stereotypes used against him, he was in a way making reference to stereotypes of different people and even his own. It struck me when Chris, the narrator, was speaking about his father Mito and made the connection of alcoholism. Right away I saw this as a stereotype because I have often heard that Indians and drunks and alcoholics. However, as I kept reading I realized that for some individuals, alcoholism is a reality as it is for Mito. Chris was explaining that his father, not the Indian population had a drinking problem. What I began to ask myself was, is this support of the stereotype? I answered myself no because although Mito could be placed into the stereotype the fact that he was an alcoholic was not because he was an Indian, but because like many other people of all races, he used alcohol to suppress his problems of losing his wife and not living up to the expectation as a chief and as a father.

Another aspect of stereotyping that I found interesting was when Chris made the stereotypical statement of calling Katie a Cherokee Princess after she had admitted to him that she was part Indian. His friends were laughing about the statement and even Chris was, although he felt guilty for doing it. There is a passage in the book that address the issue of people outside the Indian community not knowing what hurts those within the Indian community. Chris pointed out that it was the fact that people do not know when they are hurting someones feelings and the fact that they don't know is the worst part. I feel however that being naive is completely different from was is right and wrong and disregarding it as Chris did in calling Katie a Cherokee Princess. I did like this part in the text because I feel that it shows readers that no one is exempt from making stereotypes. It shows that everyone, even if they at one point were victims themselves, can be guilty of using stereotypes. I think this is a good message to send to students because stereotyping can happen in many forms by many people. By highlighting the fact that everyone can be guilty of this may be a step in the right direction of understanding what stereotypes are and how to halt the use of them.