Where Does It Start?

This week I read Algonquin Indian Tales. It's a very readable book about two adorable White children of missionaries. They are at least partially raised by their Indian nurse, and the local tribe, and have an insatiable appetite for stories.

But the White children are...coddled, almost beyond belief, by their nurse (who flips out when they are punished, and won't get them in trouble, even to save them), and the local Indian chief (who thinks it's sweet when they rudely interrupt and demand stories), and...pretty much every Indian they meet.

This, coupled with repeated references to 'Their Indian Ways' and other such cliches, gave the book a faint air of racism. But you could tell that, for the time, the author (and his characters) were actually doing a pretty good job of being fair and non-biased.

So then I wonder if I'm over reacting to it all. Is it even there? or am I upset because it strongly reminds me of a horrid book of African Tales that was set up on the same premise--two perfect missionary children, coddled and told stories by beloved, yet crippled, family servants, learning all the useful native knowledge while still remaining superior and White.

Sure, that one was clearly racist, but is *this* one racist? or is the family just nice in that they took in a cripple to care for their kids? are they tolerant and patronizing that they allow their children to have Indian names in addition to their own? Or is that actually really open-minded and accepting of them?

And then there's the meta-questions that include such things as; Who am I to even ask this? I'm about as white as Wonder Bread. So am I more likely to notice racism where there is none, or is there mere fact that I perceive some mean that, yeah, it's PRETTY OBVIOUS?

So many questions. No answers.