At the end of chapter 6, there appeared a new character who's identity was unknown. Throughout this next section of reading, he appears more often, "saving" those who are in distress. It's kind of ironic that all of the villains are armed with either knives or guns and he has nothing.... besides a stern deep voice that captures every one's attention. Despite this, he still seems to have the people afraid.
This point brought about great thought for me. It seems like he symbolizes the "fear of the unknown" that the whites experienced upon first settling in the Americas. They weren't afraid of the Indians but afraid of not knowing who they were and what they were capable of. This is the same with this dark character.
The Red Chief has become one of my least favorite characters. I was rooting for him in the beginning. I sympathized that he had lost all that he had and also was forced out of the land that was given to him in return. But that was short lived after he gave in to the dwarf and agreed to let him harm the innocent Indian girl. I was relieved when the unknown man appeared and saved the child from the dwarf.
For this novel to be titled Deadwood Dick's Doom, there is sure a lack of Deadwood Dick. This leads me to believe that he is the unknown character. He saved the Indian girl in the beginning and rescued the black man and Vergie, so I suspect that it's him. I guess I will have to wait and see in the chapters to come!
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11 years ago
I love that you pin-point here the moment your opinion on the chief changes and why--this is exactly the type of thing you want to keep track of because you're pointing to a moment when the author is changing directions on us, and it's interesting to think about why.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you, by the way, about the "dwarf." Totally loony. And totally creepy. I keep thinking about him and what he's doing in this novel.
So many strangenesses in this novel--provoking so many wonderful questions!