Midterm

Below you will find the Midterm for this class. It is due at the beginning of class next Thurday, before Spring Break. You can hand it in early. You cannot hand it in late.

The American West and the Historical Imagination Midterm
Spring 2010
Dennis Kuhnel

Instructions: Answer all three questions below in essay-format. Each question is worth 1/3 of your overall midterm grade. Be sure not to exceed the page limit denoted for each question. This is an open book exam. You may consult all books assigned this semester and your notes, but you may NOT use the internet for reference. Your response to each individual question should not be longer than 1 typed page, double-spaced. Do not spend more than 2 hours completing this exam. The exam is due Thursday March 11th at the beginning of class. Late exams and emailed exams will not be accepted.

1) Explain the historical significance of the fur trade in the history of the North American West. What effect does the fur trade have on white-Indian relations, competition between European and North American nation-states, and the environment? Be sure to include in your answer examples and analysis from Bent’s Fort and “It’s Your Misfortune.”

2) In Jeremiah Johnson am anti-industrial and “anti-civilization” theme is developed throughout the film. Jeremiah Johnson is introduced by the narrator at the outset as a man “suited to the mountains,” while other fur trader/mountain man characters in the film, like Del Gue, express their beliefs likewise. Two statements by Del Gue to Jeremiah Johnson at the end of the film nicely encapsulate their worldview:

“Ain't this somethin'? I told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. "Make your life go here, son. Here's where the people is. Them mountains is for Indians and wild men." "Mother Gue", I says "the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world," and by God, I was right. Keep your nose in the wind and your eye along the skyline.”

“I ain't never seen 'em, but my common sense tells me the Andes is foothills, and the Alps is for children to climb! Keep good care of your hair! These here is God's finest scupturings! And there ain't no laws for the brave ones! And there ain't no asylums for the crazy ones! And there ain't no churches, except for this right here! And there ain't no priests excepting the birds. By God, I are a mountain man, and I'll live 'til an arrow or a bullet finds me. And then I'll leave my bones on this great map of the magnificent... “

Compare and contrast the historical representation of the fur trade and the lives of mountain men and fur traders in Jeremiah Johnson with the representation of them in Bent’s Fort. Do you think the portrayal in Jeremiah Johnson is accurate or idealized (consider the above quotes in your analysis)? Why do you think the history of the fur trade and mountain men drew so much interest in the popular culture of the United States in the late 1960s and 1970s?

3) Like the fur trade, the existence of various gold rushes in the American West greatly impacted United States and American Indian history. What were some of these impacts? Use the historical example of Deadwood and the Black Hills War to inform your argument. Compare and contrast the major historical themes developed by Pete Dexter in Deadwood and the writers of the HBO series Deadwood. Do you think they were accurate in their thematic emphases or not?