Sing Down the Moon | Literary Precedents

Sing Down the Moon Literary Precedents

The Indian as the "noble savage" is an age-old concept used by many writers, ranging from Cooper's Leather Stocking Tales to modern Westerns such as Dorothy Johnson's "The Lost Sister." The eighteenth century saw the American native as a person living in a state of innocence, in a natural paradise unspoiled by civilization. Unfortunately, the European world often destroyed this paradise. Scott O'Dell uses this theme when he describes the happy, productive life of Bright Morning and her people in the Canyon de Chelly, a life that is abruptly ended when they are moved to the reservation by the white government. Yet O'Dell still sees hope for the future when the courageous Navajo woman and her husband return to their home and start life over. Later such a hope is no longer possible, as in Thunder Rolling in the Mountains (1992), where the Nez Perce under Chief Joseph have no...
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