Chapter 2: Questions and Analysis Light in the Forest Part A: The context for the novel. The Light in the Forest was published in The title derives from a Wordsworth poem that prefaces the book, and it includes Richter's careful research of the Indian-white relations of eighteenth century Ohio and Pennsylvania. It demonstrates his fascination with the many accounts of white captives who desperately tried to leave white civilization and return to their adopted Indian families. As Richter writes in "Acknowledgements" preceding The Light in the Forest, his aim was to write an objective and realistic novel that could "give an authentic sensation of life in early America.” He also hoped that, by giving the reader a better idea as to how the Indians viewed their way of life years ago, he may help the reader gain a better understanding of how other cultures view American society, today. The story of The Light in the Forest is based on an actual event that occurred in the fall of 1764, during the White settlers westerly expansion into the Indian territory of Ohio. Colonel Bouquet, who is an historic figure in addition to being a character in the book, marched into Ohio with 1,500 soldiers and ordered that the Indians return the white prisoners they had captured. The troop came back to Fort Pitt on November 9, 1764 with 206 white captives. According to certain accounts of the ordeal, many whites were indeed angry about their forced return. In addition to Colonel Bouquet, Parson Elder is another real-life character in the book. The Paxton Boys' massacre was also an actual event that occurred in response to the Pontiac Indian uprising, a number of attacks that Indians wreaked upon Pennsylvanian settlers in As Richter explains in the novel, the settlers in western Pennsylvania resented the lenient attitude toward punishing Indians of influential judges and politicians of eastern Pennsylvania. These settlers felt that they had to take justice into their own hands. 1.Scan the context above and highlight the names of the actual historical people who are also mentioned in the book. 2.What resource were the Native Americans and White settlers in conflict over? 1.How many years ago did the key event in the book occur? ______________ 2.How close was the precipitating event to the beginning of the Revolutionary War? __________________ 3.Why did Conrad Richter write this novel? _____________________________ Part B: Chapter 2 Questions ____6. What does Del have in common with True Son? A) He is the same age. B) He is his brother. C) He spent lived with Native Americans when he was a boy. D) He hates White civilization as much as True Son. _____7. What does Del think about True Son? ___________________________ __________________________________________________________ 8.Find a quote to support your opinion. Page # ________ 8. Why do the white settlers consider True Son to be White, but True Son considers himself to be Indian? ____________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ What does this say about the Whites’ verses the Native American’s views on race? “I told the Colonel they’d never give in on that,” Del said. “I’d lived with the Delawares my own self when I was little, and I told him if white prisoners weren’t killed right off, they were adopted, mostly for some dead relative. They were made brother or sister or son or daughter or wife. It wasn’t any mock or make-believe business either. Those Injuns actually looked on their new white relations like full- blooded Injuns. And they’d never give them up any more than their own people.” “But I was plumb wrong. They hated to give them up all right. But they hated worse to see a white man’s town a settin’ there on the banks of their own river. They hated like poison the sight of our tents and redoubts. They couldn’t wait to clear out our axes from cuttin’ down their Injun woods and our cattle from eatin’ the grass on their river bottoms. They were scared we were takin’ over the country. So they started fetchin’ in their white relations.” 10. The Native Americans were very sad to lose their White family members, so why did they agree to do so?