Figure I

 

A Teaching Guide for A Far-Off Land by Rebecca Caudill and The Trail on Which They Wept by Dorothy Hoobler

 

I. Major Themes

            A. Treatment of Native Americans

            B. Attitude toward the Land and Material Possessions

            C. Wisdom Figures

            D. Displacement/Loss of Home

            E. The Quest

            F. Value of Family/Children/Community

            G. Desire for Freedom/Autonomy

            H. Experiencing Death and Loss

II. Interdisciplinary Topics

A. "Relocation" of Cherokee compared with the Japanese forced into Interment Camps or with the Jews being forced into ghettos and eventually concentration camps

                        l. Parallel with Elie Wiesel's Night

                        2. Parallel with Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's Farewell to Manzanar

            B. Revolutionary War study

                        1. Francis Marion

                        2. George Rogers Clark

                        3. Roles of the Appalachian colonists

            C. The Moravians

                        1. Philosophy

                        2. History

            D. Sequoyah and other Native American leaders

            E. Cherokee Beliefs

                        1. Naming

                        2. Burial customs

            F. Retaining Cherokee language and culture

                        1. Cherokee words in the text

                        2. "the Raven Mockers"

                        3. "the Darkening Land"

 

 

Figure I Continued

 

G. Establishing Appalachian culture and tradition

            H. The historical background of The Trail of Tears

                        1. Role of the state of Georgia

                        2. Role of Andrew Jackson

                        3. Role of Martin Van Buren

            I. Role of the elders/Influence of wisdom figures

                        1. Grandmother and medicine belt

                        2. Sequoyah

                        3. Sister Oesterlein in the Moravian community

 

 

 

Figure II

 

III. Significant Quotations for Writing Prompts/Discussion

            from The Trail on Which They Wept by Dorothy Hoobler (with         Thomas Hoobler)

            1."He [Sequoyah] is a wanderer.  But he knows where his home is"  (8).

            2."They [some Cherokee who had taken money for land] will spend the                         money, and soon it will be gone.  But land cannot be spent or sold.                It is the gift of the Great Spirit" (15).

            3. Cherokee Chief John Ross, in conversation with President Martin Van     Buren is offered five million dollars for the Cherokee land.  Ross says, "I         asked what price he would take for the graves of his parents and house

            where he was born?" (18).

            4."The soldiers are already here.  They have guns, and we do not.  They   are many, and we are few.  Let me tell you what they have already done   to clear one of our towns.  They rounded up all the children and put             them into camps.  Their parents had to follow, or they would never see      their children again" (18-19).

5."Our children are our future...We cannot risk their lives.  We cannot keep the Americans from taking our land..." (19).

 

            6."Each family could take only what they could carry.  Sarah's family was lucky--they had enough horses to pull two wagons.  But even so, they             would have to leave a lot behind" (20).

7. Father takes the Cherokee newspaper: "He had saved all the copies of the             Cherokee newspaper that was printed in the letters that Sequoyah had     invented. 'This must never be lost,' he told Tsaluh. 'Someday you will             teach your own children to read'" (26).

8. "The soldiers forced everyone into the stockades--mothers with             newborn babies, sick people, old men and women who could barely             walk.  No one was allowed to stay behind" (29).

9."Families began to discard some of their belongings to make the load             lighter.  Tsaluh's mother threw away the sewing table that had been a

            wedding present.  Then Father's favorite chair.  Finally the mattresses     went too.  The road behind was strewn with all the things that reminded       them of their old home" (34).

10. [at the burial of a young mother and her infant] "There was no time for             a proper ceremony, just a few words and a prayer.  The living had to

move on.  The man left behind his loved ones with only a hastily carved piece of wood to mark their resting place" (36).

11. Grandmother, Tsaluh's wisdom figure, refuses to go the whole journey:             "You will take my spirit with you.  But I will never go where the sun             dies" (38).

12."The government, as it had promised, gave them land, horses, cows, and             food.  But nothing that the Cherokees received was as good as what they

            had left behind.  The land set aside as 'Indian territory' was empty             because no one wanted it.  The cattle they were given were so thin they    could hardly stand.  The food was so poor that it only made more people            sick" (44).

13."The Cherokee did not punish their children.  They expected them to             learn by watching what the adults did.  If a child did something wrong,           she would have to find it out for herself (46).

14. Tsaluh asking why her grandmother had to die: "That is an easy             question.  Because everyone has to die.  But you know that those who die       on Earth go to live among the stars.  We think that they are happier             there" (48).

Writing Prompts Quotes from The Far-Off Land  by Rebecca Caudill

            1."'As you go into the far-off land, Ketty, every person crossing your path will call to you.  He may not call so you can hear.  But he will call just

            the same because he needs somebody to listen to him--to understand             him, to speak to him in a friendly voice, to care about him, maybe to

            laugh with him.  So, when people cross your path, and when voices             speak, whether or not you hear the voices, be present'" (35, advice of             Sister Oesterlein).

            2."'The second rule is, be reverent.  Reverence God and all that He has             created.  Especially reverence life, Ketty--all life.  Reverence and enjoy

            the lovely things of earth--wind in wheat fields, cucumber vines in             bloom, the smell of scythed hay in windrows, the noise of thunder, and     the stillness of the snow.  Whatever falls to your lot, lean times or times of plenty, if you care about people and walk reverently, Ketty, you will

            be doing right.  And you can make any far-off land a good land'" (35-6,         Sister O.'s advice continued).

3. Ketty's description on her niece Lennie as a poet prompts this definition: "A poet is somebody who can see things ordinary mortals can't see" (45).

4."People are always trying to find some far-off land--leaving behind the             fields they've tended and the friends they love and crossing ocean seas     and climbing high mountains to get to it.  How are we to know when we       get to the French Lick if it's the far-off land we're looking for?" (53)

5. Ketty and Anson in discussion about the Indians: "'All of Salem met up with Indians many time,' Ketty said.  'Whenever Indians came to Salem they were treated like human beings.  If they were hungry, they were given a warm place to sleep in the hayloft, since that was more to their liking than a proper bed.  And the next day they went on their way'" (57).

6."'You've left Salem behind, Ketty,' Anson told her.  'Out here in the             wilderness folks live by a different law.  It's a fight to the finish 'twixt

            the red men and the white, and nobody's a-thinking he can make             Indians over by teaching little red rapscallions their ABCs'"

            "'But wouldn't it be better if we lived in peace with the Indians?' Ketty             asked."

         "'Sure,' said Anson. 'Ever'body wants to live in peace.  But out here in             the wilderness, ain't but one way to live in peace'" (58).

7. "But her mind was a ferment of questions.  Why should she be afraid of             red men in the wilderness when she had not been afraid of them in             Salem?  How did anybody, gripped in the ice of fear, break out of it?              Where was this strange voyage among strange people taking her?" (78)

8. "What else is waitin' but not knowin'?" (103, Tish's words)

9. pp. 141-47  George and Ketty are in conversation and there are many             significant quotes here; the following is a segment of George's words in        attempting to explain why the Indians are hostile, why the whites

            feel free to kill and take the lands, and why the tension exists.  "Because        they're land-greedy...They're always pushing west, and always in the             same way.  First one ventures out, a hunter or a trapper.  Then other hunters come.  They like the lay of the land, so they decide to fetch their   families and settle.  They cut done trees that shelter the wild game, and     plant corn.  Their neighbors follow and take up claims of their own.              And nobody says by-your-leave to the red men..."

10."Through the nightmare of her own fear, Ketty discovered Farrer's

            small hand resting in confidence in the palm of her hand.  To her,

            suddenly, it seemed the hand of all men, time out of mind, who, forever

            lured toward some far-off land, had hungered and thirsted and been

            afraid, had asked questions and got only stillness for answers, had loved

            and waited and died in lonesome places, clutching in the fog and the

            willful wind and the rain for a hand to steady them" (169).

11. George shares that thoughts are not enough to change the course of red

            men's/white men's relationships:  "Deeds. Deeds born of loving thought

            and acted out in love...This bloody river of hate that has its headwaters

            in both red men and white men--even one loving deed might change

            the directions of its channel a little.  But who is strong enough and

            good enough to do the deed?" (183)

12. After leaving a group of people, the Shanors, who are beset by the             Indians, words of Ketty and George: "Everybody--sometime or other--

            comes to helplessness..."

            "You're right, Ketty,...all men everywhere, sometime or other, come

            to helplessness.  No man is ever so strong but at some time he stands in

            need of pity--love and pity" (213).

 

13. Tish to Lettice, who has just had her baby drown and now Lettice says             she wants to die: "Life ain't a purty to throw away when you get

            tired of hit.  Even when life's a burden, you don't throw hit away.

            You hold on to hit, hard" (214).

14. "But the wilderness kept a stern school.  In it a body learned

            quick enough what comes first and what waits" (279).

 

 

Works Cited

 

Caudill, Rebecca.  Barrie and Daughter.  New York: The Viking Press, l943.

 

___.                 The Far-Off Land.  New York: The Viking Press, l964.

 

___.                 "The High Cost of Writing."  Cumberland, KY: the Southeast             Community College, the University of Kentucky, l965.

 

___.                 My Appalachia: A Reminiscence.  New York: Holt, Rinehart and                 Winston, l966.

 

___.                 Susan Cornish.  New York: The Viking Press, l955.

 

___.                 Tree of Freedom.  New York: The Viking Press, l956.

 

Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas.  The Trail on Which They Wept: The Story of a                  Cherokee Girl.  Morristown, NJ: Silver Burdett Press, l992.