Native American Men

I’m writing my single-story view on Native American men. The first single story I have of Native American men is that they all look the same, big noses, solemn faces, tan skin and a lot of wrinkles around the eyes. Most of the times that I have seen photos of Native American men in classes they have always been this same image, the people are different, but they portray this same Native American image. This occurred so much that when my wife told me that her dad was 1/34^th Native American I thought, well that explains his nose and his father’s (Katrina’s Grandfather) large nose. Turns out that her grandfather doesn’t have any Native American in him and it comes from her Grandmother’s side.

                Another stereotype that I see and hear in the media is that Native American men are frequently a little off their rocker and see the world in a backwards way. Tonto from the recent (and awful) movie The Lone Ranger is an excellent example of this. Tonto is obviously crazy and comically so. He carries around a dead bird on his head and went crazy as a child.

                The drunken Native American man is another part of the single story of these people. One example occurs in A Brave New World. Pope (I believe that is his name) is a Native American man who gets drunk and sexually abuses a woman in the story. In westerns, Native American are frequently portrayed as desperate to get alcohol from the “white man.” They are frequently portrayed as unable to resist their natural urges as if they are somehow below the level of other men.