Relate John Gast's Painting To The Story White Man's Indian

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Relating John Gast’s Painting to White Man’s Indian


There are many similarities between John Gast’s painting and the short story White Man’s Indian. Both the story and the painting illustrate the relation ship between White settlers and the Native Americans. Also, they represent the same period of time. The painting shows farms and an infrastructure on the right side of the painting “the east” and a rugged wilderness with Native Americans in “the west.” There is an angel in the middle that represents the border between the east and west. Everything to the right of the angel “east” is lightly colored, and everything to the right “west’ is dark and gloomy. In White Man’s Indian the author says “Another persistent theme in White imagery (of the Indians) is the tendency to describe Indian life, in terms of lack of white.” This perception of Native Americans is well illustrated in the painting by the contrast of white in the east and dark in the western Indian territory. This is a clear example of the stereotypes that the author of The White Man’s Indian is describing. Another topic the author briefly talks about is whites ego, and their identity as imperialists. The painting shows this belief with the symbol of the angel. An angel is a religious symbol and is associated in western culture as something good or divine. In the painting the angel is leading the way westward. The angel shows the White’s belief in manifest destiny because an angel wouldn’t do anything wrong, so the symbol represents their God given right to the west....