One People

The American Southwest at the turn of the twentieth century was a place where Native Americans and Whites interacted every day. Whether it was riding along the trail, stopping at the trading post, or even exchanging cattle and hard goods, this interaction briefly closed the gap between cultures and brought racially fueled tension upon the area. Oliver La Farge’s Laughing Boy shows us multiple examples of these certain situations.


The first of the interactions happens at the dance at the beginning of the book. Laughing Boy has just won some goods off of another man in a bet and wants to sell something, so he and Jesting Squaw’s Son meet with the two American’s who attended the dance. The tourist and his guide are put off at first, apparently they had been persuaded into feeding several stray indians that day, this was the first of many examples of the Navajo trying to take advantage of the ignorant whites. The tourist takes and interest in the belts around Laughing Boy’s waist and allowed them to sit down. Before they begin the negotiations, the Indian boys are offered a “big black cigarette”. The tobacco brings them both almost to the point of vomiting, but they make it a point not to show their discomfort in front of the foreign men. They begin bartering and there is a noticeable lack of respect on both sides, with the boys trying to swindle the white men out of as much money and tobacco as possible, and the white men trying to pay as little as they could for the goods. In the end neither really wins and they end up paying what the belt was worth. On the last day of that same dance, another incident occurred.

Before the horse races, a shot was heard. All the Navajo men rushed toward the sound with their weapons, the younger ones all hoping for a fight. The scene included many Navajo, several Americans, and a few men from other tribes. The Navajo men lined up in front of the area in a slightly crescent shaped line, within bow range. The older men wanted no trouble, for fear that it would bring soldiers onto the reservation, but to the younger braves, something had been started and if the tribal officials would step aside it could be finished. The edges of the crescent begin to extend and they would soon have the area surrounded. Just then it is noticed that some Americans are wounded and immediately the mood lightens slightly. The break in tension allows the officials to explain that an American and a Navajo were selling whiskey and when they were being arrested the Navajo man started shooting and killed a Hopi, starting all the excitement. Smiles spread across the faces of the Navajo men once they heard that it was a Hopi man killed. Having found that only a Hopi man was killed and an American and a Navajo were only to be jailed, the men went back to their horses. The policemen from the other tribes were disappointed they didn’t get to fight any Navajo. This situation further illustrated Navajo’s disdain for Americans and the lack of respect between different tribes in the area.

Later on, after another dance, Laughing Boy, Slim Girl, and several other Navajo rode toward their homes and approached an established trading post with a relatively new owner. The trading post was run by an American who bought the business to make a living swindling the Navajo, but he wasn’t as bright as they were and they usually ended up tricking him. Laughing Boy pretends to be interested in trading his expensive horse bridle to convince the shop owner to supply he and his friends with coffee, tobacco, and candies. He then takes his bridle off the counter and tells the man he’s no longer interested in selling. Once again the quality of the relationship between Americans and Navajo is demonstrated through tricks and lies.

Laughing Boy does not give much hope for the two cultures one day cooperating peacefully and respectfully with one another. In fact, we have seen that the Americans oppressed the indigenous population until the point where they almost disappeared. Today, we treat them like an endangered species, kept largely confined and seen as needing our help to survive. In fact, throughout the book, there are no examples of positive, respectful, mutually beneficial interaction between the Natives and the Americans. They stole Slim Girl from her home and tried to teach the ways of the Navajo out of her system. They turned her away when they found she was pregnant. Even her relationship with George was based on nothing but her own revenge for wrongs done to her in the past.

Knowing what happens in the world this book was based in after the story was over makes it difficult to speculate on the relationship between the two cultures displayed in the book; however, with the interactions La Farge describes in the book, it seems he could see the future of the issue. Wrongs were committed on both sides by both parties, but by the time the story is over it seems that there is no permanently bridging the gap between these two cultures.

People are the same where ever you go, but as much evidence as gets presented that mankind is capable of coming together, it seems that more than twice that amount surfaces to say we will never truly be one people.

-- AW