Prejudice

Even As We Breathe explores both insidious and overt prejudice. The novel is set in 1942 at a time when prejudice was commonly accepted. Many people felt the attitudes were justified. Insidious prejudice appears in relatively minor references. For example, someone asks a Cherokee Indian if they “Letcha off the rez” (37). This kind of prejudice "hints" at the Indian being inferior. Indians would find this an offensive question, as if they were confined to the reservation unless given explicit permission to leave. There are other situations where prejudice is more overt and even dangerous. These include the treatment of Indians who served in the military in World War I, a colonel whose prejudice makes him accuse an Indian with no proof, and those who simply refuse to serve an Indian.

Cowney Sequoyah lives on the Qualla Boundary, a reservation in North Carolina, at the height of World...