The Gift Of Cochise Stereotypes Analysis

In his story, Louis L’Amour represents the chief Cochise as a peaceful and fair chief. Historically, Cochise was a chief of Southern Chiricahua Apaches. He has led numerous raids on the settlers living near the frontier between traditional Indians’ land and both American’s and Mexican’s lands. In the story “the Gift of Cochise”, Cochise and his warriors attack the little village and kill seven men. Cochise, as he enters in Angie’s cabin, decides not to kill Angie and her two children. He leaves her in her home, living peacefully. This representation is ironical compared to the real Cochise, which was a blood-thirsty killer. Another example is when him and his warriors capture Ches Lane, Cochise decides not to kill him. Compared to his warriors,
Stereotypes about the Native people nowadays still persist. Stereotypes such as the Indians savagery or the color of the Indians’ skin are seen in some of the recent movies. The stereotypes present in our society affected and influenced people minds. It has created “familiar characters with predictable role” (Matthews). The stereotypes show the white man as being the hero, whereas the Indians as the antagonist. “It’s the white men [….] making the world safe from savages(Matthews). Even if todays Indians “had nothing to do with those movie Indians”, the wildness of Indian stereotypes still remain (Matthews). In the movie Pocahontas, released in 1995 by the Disney Corporation, the stereotypes about American Indians still persist. The movie shows Pocahontas as a good Indians since she saved the life of a white man. One of the key theme in the movie is the interpretation of the good versus the bad Indian. The movie depicts Indians as “savage” and aggressive compared to English settler who are seen as good people. The song in the movie contains also stereotypes. This can be shown by the song’s title “Savages, Savages”, which is a term that prone the idea that the Natives are not civilized people. In the song, it says that “their whole disgusting race is like a curse”, and that “they must be evil”. In the gift to Cochise, Cochise is illustrated as civilized and not as a savage chief. In the movie, Peter Pan, the Indian tribe also contains stereotypes, such as the red face of the character or even the movie’s song “What makes the Red Man Red”. In the story of Louis L’Amour, the author never mentions the term “red-skin”. Myths about the skin color are still present in the society, even though “not all Indians are dark skinned (and none actually have red skin) with high cheekbones and black hair tied up in braids” (Fleming). In sum, the stereotypes about natives still remain in