Cogewea

Cogewea: The Half-Blood A Depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range
Title page, first edition, 1927
Author Mourning Dove (author)
Country United States and Canada
Language English
Genre Western (genre)
Publisher Four Seas Company
Publication date
 1927

Co=ge=we=a, The Half-Blood: A depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range is a 1927 Western romance[1] novel by Mourning Dove, also known as Christine Quintasket. It is one of the earliest novels written by an indigenous woman. The novel also includes the first example of Native American literary criticism.[2]

Cogewea, the eponymous protagonist, is a woman of multi-racial heritage, both Indigenous and Euro-American, who feels caught between her two worlds. She works on her white brother-in-law's Montana ranch, where she is respected for her talents and skills. The antagonist is an Easterner, Alfred Densmore, who joins the ranch as an inexperienced ranch-hand. Cogewea is torn between the world of her white father and that of her Okanagan (spelled "Okanogan" in the novel) grandmother, Stemteema.

Editor Lucullus Virgil McWhorter had to threaten the publishing company, Four Seas Press, in order for the novel to be published.[3] Controversy exists over the level of influence McWhorter had over the novel. While some scholars believe his edits were typical for the genre and his time, others consider McWhorter to be a second author of the novel, though McWhorter himself denied this.[4]

Plot

The novel opens with a description of the frontier landscape before introducing Cogewea, a young Okanagan (spelled "Okanogan" in the novel) who is multiracial (with a white father and Okanagan mother). Her grandmother describes her as an impulsive and free-speaking young woman. A well-loved figure on her white brother-in-law's ranch, Cogewea is also well-educated in Okanagan folklore and values through her grandmother. But she feels a tension between her two cultures. Cogewea grapples with her western education through the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

One rancher, Silent Bob, tells a new rancher, Alfred Densmore, that Cogewea is heir to a large property and fortune, though she is not. Densmore tries to steal Cogewea’s property and money through seduction, proposing marriage. Cogewea's grandmother attempts to use storytelling and Okanagan traditions to convince Cogewea that Densmore will take advantage of her. After a period of indecision, Cogewea refuses Densmore's proposal. He ends up taking Cogewea captive, but after he realizes that she has little financial worth, he leaves her to die in the wilderness.

In the end, a rancher named Jim rescues Cogewea. In a twist of fate, Cogewea does end up with wealth, inheriting part of her white father’s fortune. She then realizes her feelings for Jim and marries him.

Major characters

Cogewea: the eponymous main character is a young woman who has a love for nature and is a skilled horse rider. She is headstrong but charming and loved by many at the HB Ranch. Like most members of the ranch, her heritage is Indigenous and Euro-American.

James 'Jim' Lagrinder: The multi-racial foreman of the HB Ranch is described as "the best rider on the Flathead". He listens to Cogewea, and while she considers him to be family, and he calls her "sis", he hopes he can kindle a romance with her.

Stemteema: Cogewea's grandmother, who raised Cogewea and her sisters, Mary and Julia. She does not trust the Shoyapee (her term for white people, which loosely translated compares the "white man" to a "the hog because of his greedy nature").[5][6] She tells a series of stories to Cogewea, warning her of impending danger after Cogewea falls in love with the antagonist, Alfred Densmore. Each of her warnings come true.

Alfred Densmore: The greenhorn easterner (a stock western character) whom Cogewea hires. He is told by Silent Bob (as a prank) that Cogewea possesses a fortune in land and capital, which is not true. He then devises a plan to seduce Cogewea and steal her money.

Mary: Cogewea's sister who is quiet but also distrusts white culture. She ends up marrying Frenchy, who is a European but respects Indigenous culture and identity.

Julia: Cogewea's sister who has married a white man who owns the HB Ranch. She has assimilated into white culture.

Silent Bob: A comical prankster cowboy (a stock character in the Dime Western). He may be a parody of Owen Wister's taciturn eponymous hero in The Virginian (novel). Bob tells Densmore that Cogewea has money and land, leaving her vulnerable to Denmore's machinations. However, Bob breaks from his stock mold to tell Cogewea the truth about Densmore.

Frenchy: A seemingly minor character who marries into Cogewea's family.

Major themes

The major theme of the novel is the conflict Cogewea feels as a "half-breed" who is caught between the Indian and white worlds, tradition and change. Cogewea's two sisters: Mary and Julia represent the two paths Cogewea could choose. Mary has maintained a traditional way of life with the guidance of her grandmother, while Julia has married a white man and assimilated into American culture. Her husband, John Carter, is described warmly.[6]

Another major theme is the perils of marriage, which is especially dangerous when between an indigenous woman and white man. Densmore insists on a traditional indigenous marriage ceremony between himself and Cogewea, but Cogewea's grandmother believes their union will lead to abuse. In Chapter XIX, "The Story of Green-Blanket Feet," Stemteema warns Cogewea that "the fate of green-blanket feet is for you; my grandchild unless you turn from him [Densmore]" [7] The fate Stemteema refers to is Green-Blanket Feet's escape from domestic violence, which involves leaving her children behind. Green-Blanket Feet knows that if she takes the children, her husband will hunt her. Densmore's violence against Cogewea proves Stemteema's point.[8][9][10]

With Cogewea, Mourning Dove attempted to infuse the western romance with the oral traditions of her Okanagan culture.[6] Some scholars believe this infusion was intended to break with the tropes of the Western as well as to demonstrate the value of Okanagan stories and cultural traditions, even in a colonized context.[10][8] The conventional themes of the western, such as progress, western expansion, rugged individualism, and frontier hardiness are turned on their head.[10][8] For example, the comical prankster cowboy, a stock character of the Dime Western, usually plays unfeeling pranks. However, in this novel, this character decides to reveal his lie out of affection for Cogewea.[11][12] Also, Mourning Dove uses Silyx Okanagan oral stories to express the realities of frontier life as well as her complicated feelings towards assimilation.[13][10][8]

Other scholars, including Dexter Fisher, argue that Mourning Dove's inclusion of Okanagan stories was intended to translate Okanagan cultural concepts into literature. For example, Fisher makes note of a recurring motif of Okanagan "Spirit Power," in the novel. Throughout the book, characters with indigenous ancestry have correct intuitions about the future, which they attribute to guidance from their ancestors. For example, Jim knows that Cogewea will win the horse race because his "spirit power" told him. Fisher argues that Mourning Dove's fear was that an American audience would ridicule such Okanagan concepts.[6][10][8]

Publication

Mourning Dove finished writing Cogewea in 1912 but it was not published by the Four Seas Press until 1927, after Mourning Dove's friend and editor, Lucullus Virgil McWhorter had threatened to sue the press to have the book released.[3] Difficulties and delays in publishing the novel were partly due to war-time shortages in paper and printing materials, but there were also struggles pertaining to acknowledging Mourning Dove as an Indigenous novelist rather than an ethnographic source.[9]

Indigenous peoples in the twentieth century were largely excluded and even blocked from publishing in Canada and the United States.[14][15] Mourning Dove's eventual success can be seen as an aberration rather than the norm.[14]

Editor controversy

Scholars have debated the extent to which McWhorter was an editor or collaborator. The first take on the book, provided by Charles Larson in 1978, suggests McWhorter may be more than an editor.[16] Later, Linda K. Karell wrote, “Not only are two authors [of Cogewea] very evident, each author has at least two cited names, that in turn indicate the varied cultural positions of each occupied.” [17] Albert Braz also argues that Cogewea has “at least two” authors.[18] Though, McWhorter did not consider himself the author of Cogewea.[19]

Alanna Brown argued that though the novel was “ultimately co-written by L.V. McWhorter,” [20] Mourning Dove’s voice remains in the novel and “in it’s essence, the book is hers.” [3] Brown frequently used the term “collaboration” to describe the relationship between Mourning Dove and McWhorter, and most recent scholarship after Brown’s has used this term.

Susan K. Bernardin notes that while Mourning Dove and Cogewea had a “complex collaboration,”[19] his changes were focused on language and not plot, which would be typical for an editor.[10] Scholars such as Jace Weaver[21] and Louis Owens [9][22] focus on the Okanagan cultural knowledge provided in the novel, all of which must have come from Mourning Dove. To support his perspective that McWhorter was only an editor, Weaver argues that Mourning Dove, “had already completed a draft of the book, probably in 1913” before meeting McWhorter.[21] Further, Owens argues that while both figure’s voices can be heard in the book, Mourning Dove’s voice “easily” wins out.[21]

The debate has also been taken up in popular culture, by Okanagan writer Sherman Alexie.[18]

Reception

When first published, audiences found the novel's style awkward. Mourning Dove was accused by one Indian agent of falsely claiming she authored the novel.[23] After receiving a letter from McWhorter, the agent recanted his statements.[13] Over her lifetime, Mourning Dove gained more notoriety and respect as an author, but it was not until the late 20th century that Cogewea gained scholarly attention.

Recent scholarship has focused on Cogewea's infusion of Western tropes with Native American storytelling. In the novel, Alfred Densmore attempts to steal land and money he believes Cogewea possesses (she doesn't), and ends up brutalizing her when he finds out she is poor. Scholars agree that this plot line is a re-writing of the Silyx Okanagan oral story of Chipmunk and Owl Woman where Owl Woman is the devourer and Chipmunk barely survives her encounter.[24][25] Jeannette Armstrong, her grand-niece, explains that Mourning Dove had a "masterful knowledge of what Okanagan oral story is and how it works".[25]

Recent scholarship has also recognized the novel as a work of Indigenous empowerment.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Lukens, Margaret A. (1997). "Mourning Dove and Mixed Blood: Cultural and Historical Pressures on Aesthetic Choice and Authorial Identity" (PDF). 21 (3): 409–422.
  2. ↑ Beidler, Peter (1996). "Literary Critisim in Cogewea: Mourning Dove's Protagonist Reads The Brand". American Indian Culture and Research Journal. 19 (2): 45–65.
  3. 1 2 3 Alanna Brown. "Mourning Dove's Voice in Cogewea." Wicazo Sa Review. 4.2 (1988): 2-15.
  4. ↑ Godfrey, Laura (2006). "Mourning Dove's Textual Frontier". Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature Culture, and Theory. 62 (1): 65–83.
  5. ↑ Lucullus McWhorter, ed.Cogewea (1927) by Mourning Dove. University of Nebraska Press, 1981. 289.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Dove, Mourning (1927). Cogewea, the Half Blood: A Depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range. U of Nebraska Press (published 1981). pp. Introduction by Dexter Fisher, Notes and biographical sketch by Lucullus Virgil McWhorter. ISBN 0803281102.
  7. ↑ Mourning Dove. Cogewea.University of Nebraska Press, 176
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Humphreys, Sara (2010-05-12). ""Truer 'n Hell": Lies, Capitalism, and Cultural Imperialism in Owen Wister's The Virginian, B. M. Bower's The Happy Family, and Mourning Dove's Cogewea". Western American Literature. 45 (1): 30–52. doi:10.1353/wal.0.0089. ISSN 1948-7142.
  9. 1 2 3 Susan Bernardin."Mixed Messages: Authority and Authorship in Mourning Dove's Cogewea, The Half-Blood: A Depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range." American Literature. 67.3 (1995): 487-509. JSTOR.https://www.jstor.org/stable/2927941
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lamont, Victoria (2005). "Native American Oral Practice and the Popular Novel; Or, Why Mourning Dove Wrote A Western". Western American Literature. 39 (4): 368–394. doi:10.1353/wal.2005.0007. ISSN 1948-7142.
  11. ↑ Louis Owens "White for a Hundred Years." Reading The Virginian in the New West. ed. Stephen Tatum and Melody Graulich. University of Nebraska Press, 2003.
  12. ↑ Christine Bold. "Westerns." The Oxford History of Popular Print Culture. Oxford University Press, 2011.
  13. 1 2 Fisher, Dexter (1981). Introduction. Cogewea The Half-Blood,. By Dove, Mourning. McWhorter, Lucullus, ed. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-3069-9.
  14. 1 2 Greg Young-ing. “Aboriginal Peoples’ Estrangement: Marginalization in the Publishing Industry.” Looking at the Words of our People: First Nations Analysis of Literature. Ed. Jeannette Armstrong. Penticton: Theytus, 1993. 177-87.
  15. ↑ Sabine Milz. “Publica(c)tion”: E. Pauline Johnson’s Publishing Venues and their Contemporary Significance. Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en littérature canadienne, [S.l.], jan. 2004. ISSN 1718-7850. Available at: <https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/12765/13725>.
  16. ↑ Krupat, Arnold (1999). "From "Half-Blood" to "Mixedblood": "Cogewea" and the "Discourse of Indian Blood"". Modern Fiction Studies. 45 (1): 120–145. JSTOR 26285641.
  17. ↑ Karell, Linda (1995). ""This Story I am Telling You is True": Collaboration and Literary Authority in Mouring Dove's "Cogewea"". American Indian Quarterly. 19 (4): 451–465. JSTOR 1185559.
  18. 1 2 Braz, Albert (2011). ""Collaborative Authorship in Indigenous Literatures"". Comparative Literature and Culture. 13 (2): 1–10.
  19. 1 2 Bernardin, Susan (1995). "Mixed Messages: Authority and Authorship in Mourning Dove's Cogewea, The Half-Blood: A Depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range". American Literature. 67 (3): 487–509. JSTOR 2927941.
  20. ↑ Brown, Alanna (1997). "Collaboration and the Complex World of Literary Rights". American Indian Quarterly. 21 (4): 595–603. doi:10.2307/1185714. JSTOR 1185714.
  21. 1 2 3 Weaver, Jace (1997-12-18). That the People Might Live: Native American Literatures and Native American Community. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195344219.
  22. ↑ Owens, Louis (1994). Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806126739.
  23. ↑ http://www.historylink.org/File/9512
  24. ↑ Dexter Fisher. "Introduction." Cogewea: The Half Blood. University of Nebraska Press, 1981.
  25. 1 2 Jeannette Armstrong "Constructing Indigeneity: Syilx Okanagan Oraliture and tmixwcentrism." 2009. Universität Greifswald. PhD Dissertation
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