Blood and Thunder: Indians and Manifest Destiny

Perhaps the most inter-group communication part of Blood and hell dust is the famed and fabled Kit Carson himself. He begins the book as a duty-driven youth who is able to kill any mavin or anything without a sense of remorse, akinly because of his experiences with the harshness of spirit as a child. However, once he begins to have a familya real family, one he raises and takes care of and looks afterhe begins to shift. Carson begins to balk at whatever cleansings, even going so far as to decry the killing of indian warriors at Carletons order.Whether it was the need to take care of his family or the need to find peace in the face of his increasingly helplessness healthy, Carson provides a look at the changes a man can undergo over the course of his life. He starts as one man, filled with sure ideals and desires, and over the course of his life, his goals and priorities shift. His sense of duty that was instilled in him from his childhood eld fails him in his older age, lea ding him to increasingly attempt to leave bottom of the inning the front lines and seek solace at piazza.This shift in mention seems odd when the book is merely skimmed however, the book structures Carsons life in a way that provides clear understanding of the changes. This was non an coarse shift, nor was it a conscious one. This change, rather, came as a result of the overall benignant need to adjust, to shift with the changes that life presented. This change makes Carson truly feel kindred a real someone, or soone who isnt merely a instance from a book. It makes Carson human, and thus served to catch my attention.The second part of Blood and Thunder that caught my attention was the conflict between the American mentality and the mentality of the innate Americans who already lived in the area. As is noted throughout the book, the inherent Americans could not understand the point behind many of the clear traditions that men like Carleton tried to impress upon them. The white ways had no resonance with the Native Americans because everything differed between them.The concept of ownership of the land meant nothing to the Native Americans because they saw themselves as stewards, caretakers of the land. The concept of Christianity meant nothing to Native Americans because they came from a rich, diverse, usually polytheistic religion that held nothing that mixed with Christianity. The concept of a single vox for an entire race of Native Americans (i. e. for the entire people Navajo, Ute, Kiowa, etc. ) skint the tradition of having spokespeople from many tribes forming a council for the people.This imposition of mentalities on Native Americans caused at least some of the breakdown in communication however, there were some aspects that the Native Americans chose to learn and accept in order to deal with the white men. Showing their ability for change, the Navajos elect Barboncito, at the end of the book in the epilogue, to serve as their spokesperson to Gen. Sherman. This collaboration between the Navajo need for the discover tribes and the white mens need for a single person to deal with led to the eloquent plea to Sherman that ended with the Navajo returning to their home lands.