Westward Expansion Analysis

The song begins with a dreamy description of a “desolate” land to the west. Natalie Merchant’s description comes across as sarcastic, implying that this beautiful land that families or individuals could travel to and receive a free share of was only the surface of the horrible circumstances of a more gruesome reality. Eric Foner’s description of the term “Gilded,” seems to apply to this sentiment. Foner explained the term as, “covered with a layer of golf, but it also suggests that the glittering surface covers a core of little real value and is therefore deceptive.” (616-617). Westward Expansion gave people hope of achieving economic success in new places, but did not prepare these people for the hardships that would involve their families or the Native-Americans who already occupied the land. The first verse appears to show the appeal of the west to struggling families living in eastern states and goes on to explain, “the land was free and the price was right.” At the end of the next verse, Natalie Merchant uses the first-person perspective for the only time in the song, stating, “I see Indians that crawl through this mural that recalls our history.” This seems to further express
There was the concept of success that was supposed to equal freedom and liberty, but these are vague terms. Similarly to the era of Reconstruction, during the era of Westward Expansion and the Gilded Age it was difficult to understand what was meant by terms such as success, freedom, or liberty. Not only were these concepts unclear in how the government would choose to define them, but also in terms of who the government would choose as the potential recipients of such concepts as success, freedom, or