Peregrinations: Walking the Story, Writing the Path in Euro-American, Native American, and Chicano/Chicana Literatures
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Peregrinations: Walking the Story, Writing the Path in Euro-American, Native American, and Chicano/Chicana Literatures Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Hamilton, Amy T Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 27/09/2021 19:52:55 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195967 PEREGRINATIONS: WALKING THE STORY, WRITING THE PATH IN EURO- AMERICAN, NATIVE AMERICAN, AND CHICANO/CHICANA LITERATURES by Amy T. Hamilton _____________________ Copyright © Amy T. Hamilton 2008 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2008 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Amy T. Hamilton entitled Peregrinations: Walking the Story, Writing the Path in Euro-American, Native American, and Chicano/Chicana Literatures and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 21, 2008 Dr. Annette Kolodny _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 21, 2008 Dr. Daniel Cooper Alarcón _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 21, 2008 Dr. Larry Evers _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 21, 2008 Dr. Judy Temple Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: April 21, 2008 Dissertation Co-Director: Dr. Annette Kolodny ________________________________________________ Date: April 21, 2008 Dissertation Co-Director: Dr. Daniel Cooper Alarcón 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Amy T. Hamilton 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to my wonderful committee: Annette Kolodny, Daniel Cooper Alarcón, Larry Evers, and Judy Temple. Your astute and insightful critiques and your unflagging support encouraged me to work harder, write better, and think more critically. I will deeply miss working with all of you – you have truly been inspirational. Thank you, too, to all of my friends, family, mentors, and colleagues who were always available to offer intellectual and emotional support throughout this process. There are far too many of you to thank by name, but I hope you know who you are and accept my heartfelt gratitude and love. Thank you to my parents who have always believed in me, even when I had trouble believing in myself. Their examples – as intellectuals, parents, and people – have kept me moving forward and inspired me. Daily walkers, they encouraged me to follow my instincts with the focus of this dissertation. My husband, Chris, picked up more than his fair share of slack and never complained. Thank you for your steady support and love and for helping me celebrate each achievement, no matter how small. And thank you to James, who napped while large sections of this dissertation were written. You are my most wonderful success. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.........................................................................................................................6 INTRODUCTION: PEREGRINATIONS...........................................................................8 CHAPTER I: PATHS IN THE WILDERNESS: WALKING AND AGENCY IN THE INDIAN CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES OF MARY WHITE ROWLANDSON AND SARAH WAKEFIELD......................................................................................................19 Mary White Rowlandson’s Pilgrimage Through Captivity.........................................23 Adventure and Social Critique in Sarah Wakefield’s Captivity Narrative..................42 CHAPTER II: “THIS WORLD-THAT-WALKS”: SUBJUGATION AND SURVIVAL ON THE TRAILS OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY NATIVE AMERICAN REMOVALS......................................................................................................................67 Navajo Memories of the Long Walk ...........................................................................76 Reclaiming the Cherokee Trail of Tears in Diane Glancy’s Pushing the Bear ........... 97 CHAPTER III: PERIPATETIC PHILOSOPHERS: WALKING, RHYTHM, AND NATURE IN THE EARLY WRITINGS OF JOHN MUIR AND MARY AUSTIN .....127 John Muir’s Thousand-Mile Walk.............................................................................131 Mary Hunter Austin’s Rhythmic Desert....................................................................158 CHAPTER IV: WALKING TO AZTLÁN: PILGRIMAGE AND BORDER CROSSINGS IN CHICANA/CHICANO LITERATURES............................................197 Walking to Chimayó..................................................................................................205 Border Crossings in Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway ..............................227 EPILOGUE: WALKING THE STORY, WRITING THE PATH ..................................248 ENDNOTES ....................................................................................................................255 WORKS CITED ..............................................................................................................272 6 ABSTRACT PEREGRINATIONS: WALKING THE STORY, WRITING THE PATH IN EURO- AMERICAN, NATIVE AMERICAN, AND CHICANO/CHICANA LITERATURES traces the act of walking as both metaphor and physical journey through the American landscape in American texts. Drawing together texts from different time periods, genres, and cultural contexts, I contend that walking is a central trope in American literature. Textual representations of traversing the land provoke transformation of the self recording the walk and the landscape in the imagination of the walker. The experience of walking across and through the heavily storied American land challenges the walker to reconcile lived experience with prior expectations. While many critics have noted the preponderance of travel stories in American literature, they tend to center their studies on the journeys of Euro-American men and less often Euro-American women, and approach walking solely as metaphor. The symbolic power of a figure walking across the American land has rightfully interested critics looking at travel across the continent; however, this focus tends to obscure the fact that walking, after all, is not only a literary trope – it has real, physical dimensions as well. Walking in the American land is more than the forward movement of civilization, and it is more than the experience of wilderness and wildness. In many ways, walking defines the American ideals of space, place, and freedom. In this context, this dissertation investigates the connections between walking, American literature, and the 7 natural world: What is it about walking that seems to allow American writers to experience the land in a way that horses, cars, trains, and planes prevent? What about the land and the self is revealed at three miles an hour? In the texts I examine, walking provides a connection to the natural world, the sacred, and individual and cultural identity. I trace American responses to nature and cultural identity through the model of walking – the rhythm of footsteps, the pain of blisters and calluses, and the silence of moving through the wilderness on foot. 8 INTRODUCTION: PEREGRINATIONS On March 15, 1976, the year of America’s bicentennial, George Hormell and Scott King left Portland, Maine and began a four month and 3,281 mile walk to Santa Monica, California. On the way, the two young men established a new record for long- distance walking and collected money for the American Cancer Society. They also carried with them a hand-written letter from Karen Pettee to her infant niece – me. My aunt had read about Hormell and King in her local newspaper and contacted them about carrying a letter to me. At the time, my aunt and her family lived near Portland, and I lived with my parents in Santa Monica. In her letter, my aunt explains the significance of the walk and of the letter: …There are several reasons why all this is so special for you. First, your mother’s birthday is the Fourth of July and, this year, that is the big day to celebrate our nation’s bicentennial. Secondly, the men who are bringing this letter to you just happened to plan to leave from a point very near our home and complete their trip very near where you