In the second chapter of The Truth About Stories, Thomas King discusses how there’s only one way to look in order to be accepted as an authentic Indian. Because of the widespread ideology of what Indians look like it leaves little room for Native people and communities that don’t fit into the leathers and feathers look. When King is presenting his stories during “Indian Awareness Week” in chapter three, he shows up wearing a bone choker and a beaded belt buckle with a heart full of indignation; he tells his stories with so much emotion that people in the audience were moved to tears. But, after all of the presentations, the men from Washington were handed envelopes with pay checks for their time and King and the Mohawk presenter were given handshakes and a ‘thank you’.
King questions if the men from Washington were experts then did that make them the entertainment? For the next presentation he presented himself in a different way to make him seem more creditable. He says, “So I toned down my indignation, …show more content…
Still to this day people imagine his photographs when they picture a Native person; there is little room for how actual Indians look in this Indian fantasy. When King and his brother are looking at a statue of Will Rogers King says, “Everyone knew what we looked like. Even Indians. But standing in that parking lot in Oklahoma with my brother, looking at the statue of Will Rogers, I realized, for perhaps the first time, that I didn’t know. Or more accurately, I didn’t know how I wanted to represent Indians” (53). I think Edward Curtis showed the idealistic Indian of the time, the noble savage, and constructed images to coincide with that idea; and with the projects that King and Marie Clements have worked on show the juxtaposition of the reality that Native cultures are still going strong while coexisting and mingling with western
King questions if the men from Washington were experts then did that make them the entertainment? For the next presentation he presented himself in a different way to make him seem more creditable. He says, “So I toned down my indignation, …show more content…
Still to this day people imagine his photographs when they picture a Native person; there is little room for how actual Indians look in this Indian fantasy. When King and his brother are looking at a statue of Will Rogers King says, “Everyone knew what we looked like. Even Indians. But standing in that parking lot in Oklahoma with my brother, looking at the statue of Will Rogers, I realized, for perhaps the first time, that I didn’t know. Or more accurately, I didn’t know how I wanted to represent Indians” (53). I think Edward Curtis showed the idealistic Indian of the time, the noble savage, and constructed images to coincide with that idea; and with the projects that King and Marie Clements have worked on show the juxtaposition of the reality that Native cultures are still going strong while coexisting and mingling with western