Fast Cars And Frybread Analysis
In Gordon Johnson’s collection of essays, Fast Cars and Frybread, he shows the evolution of Native American’s culture. What is more interesting is the blending of cultures that we know many years ago with the European Americans and the Native Americans. Johnson shows a lot of comparison between these two cultures. First, he emphasizes the feeling of these cultures to being “otherness” to the white colonists. For example, in his essay, A Hawk’s Cry, a Dusty Saddle, and Memories, he describes about his buddy Jimmy Balcone’s aunt as living with “no electricity, no refrigeration, no TV, not even a dog” (Johnson 11). It is implied how at first, the Native Americans generation back to Luther Standing Bear’s generation lives like this without technology;
however, as the generation modernizes, the Native Americans got a means of contact from the outside world such as the “battery-operated transistor radio” that Jimmy Balcone’s aunt uses. Moreover, he mentions that “she didn’t like bureaucrats calling Indians ‘minorities’” (Johnson 11). This is where both the European Americans and the Native Americans both collide the feeling of “otherness” and the title of being a minor despite being the first and true settlers in the United States. Furthermore, in Surrealistic Juxtaposition of Cultures, Johnson describes the comparison between a Native American’s costume at a powwow being traditional “of tanned buckskin, yellow and brown beadwork, leather shield, and staff topped with an eagle claw” and with “an Indian guy in black slacks, black silk shirt, black patent-leather slip-ons, white silk tie, and white sports jacket with a black handkerchief folded into the pocket” (42). This is the most obvious evolution of Native American’s culture –the idea of having powwows which includes the whole and true Native American culture and the blending of Native Americans who are just as like the white men in suits due to the influences of modern generation, and of course it is because of assimilation.
however, as the generation modernizes, the Native Americans got a means of contact from the outside world such as the “battery-operated transistor radio” that Jimmy Balcone’s aunt uses. Moreover, he mentions that “she didn’t like bureaucrats calling Indians ‘minorities’” (Johnson 11). This is where both the European Americans and the Native Americans both collide the feeling of “otherness” and the title of being a minor despite being the first and true settlers in the United States. Furthermore, in Surrealistic Juxtaposition of Cultures, Johnson describes the comparison between a Native American’s costume at a powwow being traditional “of tanned buckskin, yellow and brown beadwork, leather shield, and staff topped with an eagle claw” and with “an Indian guy in black slacks, black silk shirt, black patent-leather slip-ons, white silk tie, and white sports jacket with a black handkerchief folded into the pocket” (42). This is the most obvious evolution of Native American’s culture –the idea of having powwows which includes the whole and true Native American culture and the blending of Native Americans who are just as like the white men in suits due to the influences of modern generation, and of course it is because of assimilation.