Jane Tompkins, author of "'Indians': Textualism, Morality, and Problem of History," questions the va
lidity of every history book and most facts that have been written. She first writes her perspective
as a small child and her own young understanding of American Indians. She imagines herself as an In
dian playing in the caves that is the pleasurable perspective of an Indian. When her parents took he
r to meet real Indians, it "was always a disappointment" ( 718) for her. She would see them for who
they were: real Indians in full headdress were not fun. Perhaps this perspective would be different
if the Indians were excited to see her, as she was to see them, perhaps not. After Tompkins starts r
esearching the relationship between the Indians and the Europeans she reached an "impasse". The diff
iculty she faced in finding the truth about what happened to the Indians at the hands of the Europea
ns questions the value of what society has been assuming is the truth. In almost every history book
she read different interpretations which have the same story and what were found were not only diffe
rent, but completely opposite recordings of history. "In simpler language, it concerns the differenc
e that point of view makes when people are giving accounts of events, whether at first or second han
d. The problem is that if all accounts of events are determined through and through by the observer'
s frame of reference, then one will never know, in any given case, what really happened" ( 719). Thi
nking critically about this can lead to the questioning of every thing ever written about history, a
nd to the question of which research to believe and why. After researching the facts of the relation
ship between the Indians and the Europeans, those facts, although it seems to be true, has unfairnes
s attached with it. Tompkins, who was encouraged to conduct this research because she was teaching a
lecture about the subject for college students, could have easily followed the standard of today's
lecturers and restated the first thing she read about the Indians and Europeans' relationship. That
is the way our educational system works for many of the students today. Students hear what teachers
want them to hear, and many teachers validate what they are teaching because they read it in some bo
ok claiming to be the truth. The truth is that history might not ever have an accurate description o
f what happened hundreds of years ago. People might think they do, but proof of this is almost impos
sible to come by. Even the most authentic source, such as Tompkins example of the writings of, Heard
, a girl taken prisoner by the Indians, can be biased. "Upon reaching the village, the child might f
ace such ordeals as running the gauntlet or dancing in the center of a throng of threatening Indians
" (727). The writings taken from the prisoner girl seemingly must be true because the girl was actua
lly there, but the perspective she was taking tainted her truths. Tompkins also illustrates the conf
licting ideas of first hand, who witness the events, evidence of writings of two people describing t
he same culture. One man describes the Indians as monsters who need to be conquered for their own go
od; another man describes how wonderful it would be to be captured by them and live with and among t
hem. These two very different ideas of Indians illustrate the importance of perspectives and objecti
veness. The man describes the Indians as ruthless beasts had his own perspective of possibly not the
Indians, but of the situation. These accounts were made by "minister who wishes to convince his rea
ders that the Indians are in need of conversion" (729). Someone who might read this description of
the Indians may believe this man because unlike any historian, he was there with the Indians but, th
is does not make his claim true however. It only makes clear the importance of taking into account a
ll information given and deriving the truth from an individual point of view. In the future anthropo
logy might be somewhat easier because of the advances in technology but, the recordings of the world
's history can never be totally accurate. It is important for anthropologists to be careful to avoid
bias in their research. They should gather together the perspectives of the ones who were there an
d draw together the contradicting points of view. It is also very important that when claiming facts
one must not include their own perspective (as possible), but only the undeniable facts. For instan
ce, "there are 75 members of the tribe"; "their houses were made of mud"; these are examples of fact
s that should be recorded as such. Observations that include things such as: "they are a violent tri
be", "their ideas of religion are tainted", are just that, observations, and should not be recorded
as "facts". "If the experience of encountering conflicting versions of the "same" events suggests an
ything certain it is that the attitude a historian takes up in relation to a given event, the way in
which he or she judges and even describes "it"--and the "it" has to go in quotation marks because,
depending on the perspective, that event either did or did not occur--this stance, these judgments a
nd descriptions are a function of the historian's position in relation to the subject" (730). It mak
es you wander about our past, and our future. When archaeologists receive those important elements t
hat help draw conclusions, they have only facts. In the case of the interpersonal and intercultural
anthropology we will tend to shape the facts of the world around us to best represent our perspecti
ve. In conclusion, Tompkins essay illustrates the importance of finding the answer that best suits t
he question "What really is the truth?" by reading different written works from different perspectiv
es. I believe this perspective is essential to our understanding of the world. Although history may
pull events in one direction or another the facts will exist in one person's perspective. Through
this we can conclude two simple "facts". One, before drawing any conclusion of history, looks at bot
h sides and tries to find conflict and then draw your own big picture. Two, before placing a judgme
nt, experience the people to the best of your ability and draw as accurate a record as possible. The
se two things will help ensure a future history that draws as accurately as possible a record of any
said event, person or "reality".
Work cited Bartholomae, David, Perosky Anthony: W
ays of Reading an Anthology for Writers. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/ST. Martin's, 2002.
jane tompkins
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