[Channing, E.T.]. “Essay on American Language and Literature.” North American Review 1 (1815): 307-14.
In this review, which comprises some of the USA’s earliest literary criticism, Channing offers an explanation for why America is so deficient in the literary art. He says that “national literature seems to be . . . the legitimate product of a national language” (312) and that, because America has been transplanted from other nations, its literature reduced merely to imitation rather than to originality. Only a native language, tied to the land from which it sprung, can give justice to the majestic beauty of the American continent. As a solution, Channing suggests that English American authors investigate and adapt “the oral literature of its aborigines” (314-14). This suggestion was taken up by many authors, including Child, who purposefully integrated the Indian presence and folklore into their historical fictions, often representing/imitating their language through dialogue.
Cobb, Lyman. “Diminution of the Indian Tribes.” Cobb's juvenile reader no. 3 : containing interesting, historical, moral, and instructive reading lessons, composed of words of a greater number of syllables than the lessons in Nos. I and II, and a greater variety of composition, both in prose and poetry, selected from the writings of the best American and English authors : to which are prefixed observations on the principles of good reading : designed for the use of larger children in families and schools. Pittsburg: Luke Loomis, 1831. 72–74. 4 Apr. 2009
---. “The Indian and the American Officer.” Cobb's Juvenile Reader no. 3. 174–177.
In the above sections of Cobb’s Juvenile Reader, the author makes use of the opportunity to educated white American children about the nature of the people whom they have displaced. The first selection listed, “Diminution of the Indian Tribes” paints a picture of a pitiable and weak race who simply could not survive in the presence of all-powerful civilization, and who were doomed to passively disappear in the shadow of Western greatness. The Indians are described as the most brave and worthy of human-kind, adopting much of Irving’s “noble savage” imagery and language. Little to no direct mention is made of the oppression which the Europeans exerted upon the Natives; instead, the reader receives the impression that the Indians are disappearing quietly, accepting with tragic despair the unalterable destiny of extinction. The second selection, “The Indian and American Officer” tells the tale of a young European prisoner of war who is saved and adopted by an Indian chief, to replace his recently dead son. The Indian teaches the young officer the ways of the Indians, and then peacefully releases him with deep emotions and tears, saying that he no longer loves to look at the blossoming tree. The implication is that Indians actually respect and love their white invaders, and have decided to acquiesce to their Lordship, seeing their own time on earth as over. Although this reader was published several years after Child’s Hobomok, it is an artifact which reflects the general sentiment toward and perspective of the Native Americans being propagated during Child’s time, in which the Indians were being forcibly exterminated by the United States government.
Eastburn, James Wallis, and Robert Sands. Yamoyden, A Tale of the Wars of King Philip: in Six Cantos. New York: Clayton and Kingsland P, 1820.
Yamoyden was an epic poem which was highly acclaimed by the North American Review for its successful adaptation of American themes to the historical Romance style of Sir Walter Scott. At the same time, the poem was criticized for the sentimental light it threw upon Indians and miscegenation. Eastburn and Sands tell the story of a white woman who falls in love with an American Indian, and marries him in rebellion against her father. King Phillip’s War is depicted with much sympathy for the Indians, but the romance is tragic. Nora and Yamoyden die in each other’s arms, and the father of the rebellious woman forgives her and promises to raise the couple’s child. The plot highly influenced Child’s construction of Hobomok, which often sites Yamoyden in its epigraphs.
Irving, Washington. “Traits of Indian Character.” The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. vol. 2. 1820. 6 Apr. 2009 <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HNS/Indians/traits.html>.
This treatise actively defends the rights of Indians, attacking the common view that Indians are either animalistic or infantile, defending the Native Americans’ right to their own land. Irving acknowledges the degeneracy of Indians on the skirts of white settlements, “corrupted and enfeebled by the vices of society without being benefited by its civilization. . . . Their spirits are humiliated and debased by a sense of inferiority, and their native courage cowed and daunted by the superior knowledge and power of their enlightened neighbors.” The “true” nature of the American Indian is painted by Irving as dignified and self-sufficient. While the portrait is flattering, it is also noticeably romanticized by Irving: “There is something in the character and habits of the North American savage, taken in connection with the scenery over which he is accustomed to range, its vast lakes, boundless forests, majestic rivers, and trackless plains, that is, to my mind, wonderfully striking and sublime. He is formed for the wilderness as the Arab is for the desert. His nature is stern, simple, and enduring; fitted to grapple with difficulties, and to support privations.” This idealized understanding of the “noble savage” which connect the Native with sublime nature has been both popularized and criticized by different circles of Americans over the last century. It is, however, the understanding which Child adopts in Hobomok.
---. [Excerpt]. A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. 1809. 6 Apr. 2009
In this excerpt from the fifth chapter of Irving’s 1820 book, the author uses a parable about the lunar-alien colonization of the earth to illustrate the evils and injustices of Europ’s colonization of America. He compares the moon-dwellers, “defended with impenetrable armor-- armed with concentrated sunbeams” to the white conquerors, armed with “all the terrors of glittering steel and tremendous gunpowder.” The name of the Pope, by which the Europeans originally conquered and subdued the people, is compared to the alien’s “most gracious and philosophic excellency, the man in the moon,” who gives his lunar servants permission to use all means to subdue the disgusting “sublunary” beings the aliens have discovered, and convert them from Christians to “absolute lunatics.” This passage seemed pertinent to Child’s novel for several reasons. Irving’s anti-colonial sentiments clearly value the technological, but not religious characteristics of Western culture, and identify the perceived “enlightenment” of the conlinizers as the source of European oppression. The piece is also noteworthy for its particular comparison of cultural differences through the imagery of the earth and moon. In Hobomok, the earth, moon, sun and stars play a significant roll in the novels religious and spiritual contemplations, and the light produced by the heavenly beings is often compared to variations of epistemology, philosophy and understanding. Similarly, Irving employs the imagery of heavenly beings, as well as the light from them, in his parable against colonization. Irvin’s lunar-aliens’ response to the complaining earthlings--“Miserable barbarians! ungrateful wretches! . . . does not our moon give you light every night?”—reflects Western bigotry which sees its own “light” (epistemological understanding) so great, even to surpass the sun. Child makes similar assertions in Hobomok, arguing that Truth, like the sun, shines its light of understanding on all, while all other forms of light/”truth” are only secondary reflections.
Reese, William S. and George Miles. “The Illustrating Traveler: Encountering Native Americans: 1780s-1829s.” Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscript Library. 4 Sep. 1996. Yale University. 4 Apr. 2009 <http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/native1.htm>.
This online collection compiles illustrations from travel narratives published in various countries which sought to provide a scientific study of the Native Americans. All the illustrations predate Child’s 1824 Hobomok, and reflect a less romanticized view of the Native Americans. Usually placed within or around man-made structures, the Native Americans tend to appear more “civilized” and less savage. When comparing these images to the sketches of Irving, Thomas Cole, and other Romantic artists who usually place the American in a majestic outdoor setting—implying a spiritual connection between Indians and nature—one can see how the “noble savage” image of the Native American developed—an image which Child contributes to in Hobomok.
Emanuel Swedenborg. The Dialights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love. 1768. 6 Apr. 2009
---. Indexes to the Apocalypse revealed: I. Of words, names, and things. II. Of the memorable relations. III. Of passages of scripture. Relating to the science of correspondences, spiritual instruction, and the study of the word. London: R. Hindmarsh, 1797.
Child was highly influenced by the works of Emanuel Swedenborg. His was the first theology she encountered which offered a viable alternative to the Calvinism of her parents and the Unitarianism of her brother, neither of which she could accept. In 1822 she joined Boston’s Swedenborgian New Church. Child specifically mentioned Swedenborg’s theory of correspondences and conjugal love in her letters as ideas which inspired her. Although she did not find complete satisfaction in this theology, it still aligned in many ways with her own beliefs which she presents in Hobomok.
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