Fur, Fangs and Feathers: Colonial and Counter-Colonial Portrayals of American Indians in Young Adult Fantasy Literature Alice Nuttall (2015)

RADAR Research Archive and Digital Asset Repository Fur, fangs and feathers: colonial and counter-colonial portrayals of American Indians in young adult fantasy literature Alice Nuttall (2015) https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/c2b39c47-ca72-43df-ad6d-615dba4faa49/1/ Note if anything has been removed from thesis: Images on pages 28, 34, 117, 140, 145, 167, 175, 277, 332, 384, 388 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, the full bibliographic details must be given as follows: Nuttall, Alice (2015) Fur, fangs and feathers: colonial and counter-colonial portrayals of American Indians in young adult fantasy literature PhD, Oxford Brookes University WWW.BROOKES.AC.UK/GO/RADAR Fur, Fangs and Feathers: Colonial and counter-colonial portrayals of American Indians in young adult fantasy literature By Alice Nuttall Abstract Although there have been many postcolonial studies of the portrayals of Native American characters in children’s and young adult literature, the majority of these have focused on historical novels, rather than analysing fantasy literature. Additionally, I have found no direct comparisons between texts by Native and non-Native authors, and the impact of authorship on the representations of American Indian characters. I believe that a study of this area of literature is important, as it will serve to examine how the portrayal of Native characters in texts varies depending on the insider or outsider experience of the author. In my thesis, using critical theory around Gothic, gender and queer studies, I analyse three examples of young adult fantasy literature; the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer, the Tantalize series by Cynthia Leitich Smith, and the novel Wolf Mark by Joseph Bruchac. In the first chapter, I study the texts’ portrayals of Native American spiritual beliefs, comparing Meyer’s use of Quileute legends to bolster her series’ mythology with Bruchac’s reinterpretation of Abenaki beliefs in Wolf Mark. In the next chapter, I focus on the role of Christianity in the novels, considering historical contexts of missionary movements and colonisation. Chapter Three analyses the novels from a gender studies perspective, considering the racialised representations of masculinity and femininity in the texts, while Chapter Four studies the theme of sexuality in the novels. Finally, in the fifth chapter, I look at postcolonial Gothic space in the novels, and its connections to frontiers and borders, both physical and psychic. i As a result of my research, I discovered that the Quileute characters in Meyer’s novels correspond with images of Native peoples as ‘savage’ and animalistic, with Native men portrayed as violent and sexually threatening, and Native women as pitiable and subordinate. Her focus on the ‘treaty line’ established by the vampires, and the ‘civilising process’ the main Quileute character Jacob undergoes during his time with the Cullen family, perpetuate colonialist narratives. By contrast, Leitich Smith and Bruchac write against these stereotypes. Bruchac focuses directly on Abenaki characters, writing from an insider perspective that allows him to create a nuanced, non-stereotypical portrayal of a Native protagonist. Although Leitich Smith does not write directly about Native characters or cultures, her representations of gender, sexuality and race correspond with a counter-colonialist perspective. My direct comparison of texts by Native and non-Native authors shows that an author writing from an outsider perspective is far more likely to use stereotypical portrayals of American Indian characters and cultures than an author with an insider perspective of a Native culture. It also indicates that young adult fantasy literature, with its emphasis on the boundaries between childhood and adulthood, can be used as a site for both conservative and radical narratives on colonialism and postcolonialism. ii Acknowledgements This thesis has been five years in the writing, and would never have appeared at all had it not been for the help of a great many people. Firstly, a huge thanks goes to the people who supervised me over the years; Lis Jay, Steve Matthews, Dan Lea, and Eoin Flannery, who has been there for the duration. I apologise wholeheartedly for forcing the four of you to read the Twilight saga. Thanks also to my colleagues in the Audio Visual team; Katie, Keeley, Ben, Paul, Stelios, and Tony (who very kindly told me about the fee waiver for part-time students, meaning that I didn’t have to scrimp and save quite so much to get through my degree. Sorry about that time I nearly squashed you with the rolling stacks). Finally, thank you to my friends and family, who have put up with me ranting about sparkly vampires for half a decade; truly the greatest test of loyalty and affection that ever was. iii Terminology Throughout this thesis, I have attempted to use the specific names of American Indian nations when possible. When writing more generally, I have used the words ‘Native’ and ‘American Indian’ interchangeably; as far as I have been able to ascertain, they are the most neutral terms available for referring to Native North American peoples. iv Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………….. pi Acknowledgements…………………………………………………….. piii Terminology……………………………………………………………...piv Introduction……………………………………………………………… p1 Chapter One……………………………………………………………. p22 Chapter Two……………………………………………………………..p78 Chapter Three…………………………………………………………...p135 Chapter Four……………………………………………………………. p204 Chapter Five……………………………………………………………. p263 Conclusion………………………………………………………………. p324 Bibliography…………………………………………………………….. p339 Appendix 1……………………………………………………………….p359 Appendix 2……………………………………………………………….p381 Appendix 3……………………………………………………………….p384 Appendix 4……………………………………………………………….p385 Appendix 5……………………………………………………………….p387 v Introduction Building Blocks and Cementing Stereotypes Primary Texts: Twilight, Tantalize and Wolf Mark Texts aimed at children and young adults form an important area of study, not least because, as Clare Bradford et al argue, they often encourage certain mindsets or beliefs in their young readers:1 Children’s literature cannot escape, even if some of its practitioners would wish it to, from ideology, past or present. Because the text is for supposedly ‘innocent’ readers, it can scarcely be expected to be innocent of itself.2 While the ‘ideology’ of children’s literature may be an unconscious inclusion, resulting from social influences on the author, it nevertheless impacts on the reader. The negative stereotypes that initially influenced the text are normalised and internalised, thus becoming self-perpetuating; new authors, influenced by stereotypes in works that they have consumed, may reinvoke these same stereotypes in texts that they produce. However, an awareness of these stereotypes can lead to their being challenged and deconstructed. This thesis will examine the portrayals of American Indian characters, cultures and related themes in a range of recent young adult texts. It will explore how the authors’ uses of these themes relate to colonial stereotypes, either by conforming, or by initiating a process of deconstruction. The chosen texts are teenage fantasy 1 Clare Bradford, Kerry Mallan, John Stephens and Robyn McCallum, New World Orders in Contemporary Children’s Literature: Utopian transformations (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), p1 2 Peter Hunt, Criticism, Theory, and Children’s Literature (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1991), p14 1 novels by three contemporary authors; Cynthia Leitich Smith, Joseph Bruchac, and Stephenie Meyer. Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels have sold millions of copies worldwide, and have been adapted into high-grossing films. The first novel in Meyer’s supernatural romance series was released in 2005, to immediate success. Although the story features vampires and werewolves, it is set in a real town, Forks, and much of the action takes place on a real reservation, La Push, home of the Quileute Nation. Several Quileute figures, notably the teenage werewolf Jacob Black, become central characters in the Twilight saga; in the final novel Breaking Dawn, Jacob takes over part of the narration, making him the only character other than Bella whose perspective is directly represented in the series.3 The prominent role of the Quileutes in the Twilight saga, and the popularity of the series, makes it an important focus of study when examining representations of Native peoples in recent young adult literature. Two prominent Native authors, Joseph Bruchac and Cynthia Leitich Smith, have also produced young adult fantasy novels. Although his novels have not become a worldwide phenomenon like the Twilight series, Bruchac, a member of the Abenaki Nation, is a popular and prolific children’s author. His work invariably features Native American protagonists in both historical and modern settings. While many of his novels are realistic fiction, others draw upon fantasy and the supernatural. His young adult novel Wolf Mark falls into the second category. It 3 Meyer began a novel titled

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