The Idea Behind the Myth

Mary Kate Ryser-Oatman
Journal #5
Sarah Winnemucca, Life Among the Piutes
January 22, 2009


“You all know that a great while ago there was a happy family in this world. One girl and one boy were dark and the others were white. For a time they got along together without quarrelling, but soon they disagreed, and there was trouble” (Winnemucca 503).

Sarah Winnemucca describes the “happy family myth” of the four children; two of them were dark and two were white. The children got along until one day they started disagreeing.

I thought this passage was a significant part in her story. It does not describe her life, but it shows the kind of stories that are supposedly passed down, and it reveals some evidence of the white influence that was forced upon her. Winnemucca converted to Christianity, and as we discussed in class, this passage is closely related to the stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. I was not familiar with the story of Cain and Abel, so I did some research and was surprised to discover they were the first sons of Adam and Eve. This really resembles the idea of the happy family that Winnemucca was discussing. Adam and Eve were the parents, not just of Cain and Abel, but the parents of all the people of Earth. Cain and Abel were just two brothers, but Cain did become jealous of Abel and let his resentment get the better of him.

This could be the real story that has been passed down in the Piute tribe for thousands of years, it could be influenced on her Christianity that she had converted to or it could just be a coincidence. I am not sure what to believe. I think that she still loved her tribe at the time and wanted to show the white audiences a piece of her culture and how their ancient stories were closely related to the stories they knew so well from the Bible. Then again, I also can see her story being altered because of her new religion and from the anticipation of speaking in front of white audiences. It is possible that she put a Christian-spin on the story so that the hostile white audience would be able to relate to her story and perhaps give her some sympathy and understanding. She was trying to obtain rights for her tribe, so it would not surprise me if Winnemucca felt that she had to do whatever it took to obtain those rights, even if that meant selling out ancient stories that your tribe cherishes.

According to Wikipedia, Winnemucca was widely criticized for her two different lifestyles, “Sarah was a person of two worlds. At the time of her birth her people had only very limited contact with Euro-Americans; however she spent much of her adult life in white society…Many Piutes view her as a collaborator who helped the U.S. Army kill her people. Modern historians view her book as an important primary source, but one that is deliberately misleading in many instances.” This shows that while Winnemucca was part of her tribe and spent time in a white society, there is some speculation of her autobiography and how accurate many of the passages are. This quote further leads me to believe that maybe the passage of the “happy family myth” was not so truthful, but in fact twisted and misleading. There is no way of ever knowing the truth, so we will just have to go with our own opinions.