Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears

Throughout the novel, Glancy utilizes multiple perspectives in each chapter to illustrate the Cherokee people’s different reactions to their forced march on the Trail of Tears. These deliberately fragmented perspectives provide a nuanced view of the trail by focusing on a wide range of inner struggles and external challenges. For example, Maritole’s narration dwells largely upon her thoughts or describes the immediate physical landscape, and her voice is therefore instrumental in illustrating both the external and internal battles that many of the characters face. At the start of the trail, Maritole’s reflections on the state of her home highlight the deep trauma of her people’s displacement, and her focus on small yet significant possessions demonstrates the attachment she feels to her history and her home. As she states:

I looked back at the cabin […] My grandmother’s scissors and her bone hairpin and shell beads were on my dresser. The bed my father helped Knobowtee make. The nutting stone and pestles he gave us when we married. Sometimes I still heard my grandmother’s voice in my cabin. I couldn’t leave (5).

Here, the images of the bone hairpin, beads, bed, and the nutting stone and pestles illustrate the craftsmanship of the Cherokee Nation and imply that the people deeply value their connections to each other and their community. These objects serve as reminders of Maritole’s life, and they also ground Maritole within her family and her culture. As she relates her memories, her grief over the loss of her cabin allows the author to explore the internal struggles of the characters and the subsequent realities of the Trail of Tears. Maritole’s perspective therefore represents the collective voice of the Cherokee people, for they were all forced to leave their homes and the objects and places that connect them to their heritage and culture. Thus, Maritole’s sorrowful reflections herald the challenges to come and emphasize The Importance of Community.

By contrast, the inclusion of the soldiers’ perspective creates a framework for understanding the degree to which the abysmal, dehumanizing treatment of the Cherokee people was socially accepted and even expected during this time. For example, when forcing the Cherokee people from their homes, the soldiers irreverently complain that the people are “harder to stop than horses running loose” (5). The comparison of Cherokee people to horses dehumanizes Indigenous groups and cultures, while also illustrating the contempt and outright hatred with which the soldiers regard the Cherokee Nation as a whole. Not only does this attitude reflect how deeply ingrained such injustices were, but it also provides an accurate depiction of the emotional and mental abuse that the Cherokee people endured even as they suffered the physical abuses of the Trail of Tears. At the same time, Glancy’s decision to incorporate other Euro-centric perspectives, such as that of James Mooney, provides a practical method of including historical facts for the purposes of exposition. Mooney’s perspective, which only appears once in the novel, simply lists the stockade forts that have been constructed on Cherokee land. The list includes territories in Georgia and Tennessee and mentions at least a dozen of these stockades. Unlike the soldiers, Mooney’s matter-of-fact tone does not indicate any emotional responses towards the forced resettlement, nor does it imply an unspoken judgment of Indigenous beliefs and heritage. Thus, Mooney is essentially a plot device that allows the author to include accurate historical accounts that help to create a more nuanced view of the Trail of Tears. It also acknowledges all the Cherokee people who are not part of Maritole’s immediate community. This approach grounds the novel in the historical reality of the Trail of Tears while providing the author with infinite flexibility to explore the inner worlds of those involved, including both Cherokee and non-Indigenous perspectives.

In the first two chapters of the text, the novel begins exploring themes of loss and conflict between the Cherokee Nation and the United States government as well as the perseverance and strength within the Cherokee community. However, at this point in the novel, the characters face a sense of dissolution. The inclusion of Reverend Bushyhead illustrates this sense of detachment by demonstrating the growing conflict between Christian beliefs and Cherokee culture. Despite his attempts to care for his people, Bushyhead acknowledges his complacency in the issue of their resettlement, stating “I was going to be the conductor of a detachment. Who had chosen me? Why?” (24). At this moment, he not only recognizes his hand in the resettlement, but he also questions his role. However, due to his Christian beliefs and Cherokee heritage, Bushyhead prioritizes his role as a leader in the community. He wants to help get his people to Oklahoma, but characters like Tanner wonder who the people will “choose to hear” (40): the Christian ministers or the Cherokee conjurers and leaders. This conflict creates divisions within the Cherokee community, adding more internal stress for the individual characters.