After reading the stories, "Creation of the Whites" and How America was Discovered, it revealed that they each describe whiskey as one of their newfound "treasures." In each story, the whiskey was transported over to a new land by means of a boat and a white man. The manner in which each group handled the "treasure" was different, though.
The first piece of literature, "Creation of the Whites," dealt with the Native American culture and how the white people made visits to the Indian's land on a few different occasions, the first time leaving behind whiskey. The Indians found the whiskey to be very pleasurable and were happy when the white people returned, again. Wiget states: "A cup was left with this, and the Indians began pouring whiskey into this cup and smelling it, all being much pleased with the odor," (115). They began to trade their Indian goods for white possessions, and thus, that is how the white people came to be.
America West route map, March 1991
23349 Martin Sheen. Originals.
English: Belle of Nelson poster for their sour mas...The whiskey symbolized something positive in this story because it was, to the Indians, not only a gift, but an unspoken message telling them, "Although we are white people, we will not hurt you and we would like to be your friends." As contradicting as it would be in our society today, the whiskey was symbolic of friendship and trust to the Native Americans and the white people. This was not so true, though, in the second selection.
In How America was Discovered, the author tells of a young minister who is in search of the Creator, and little to his knowledge, actually discovers the devil. The devil convinces the young man to bring across the ocean five items, one of which was whiskey, and if he did, he would receive a great reward. In doing so, it caused uproar of carelessness. It was clearly obvious that the whiskey was symbolic of evil, not only for the fact that it involved the devil, but also, the text states: "â¦the whiskey will excite their minds to evil doing and turn their mindsâ¦" (183). So, in other words, in this story, the whiskey was negatively viewed and was symbolic of all things wrong and evil. It left the impression that our America today is demoralized due in partly to the fact that we accept alcohol in our society.
Whether or not the whiskey is a positive or negative symbol, in "Creation of the Whites" and How America was Discovered, will always be a matter of opinion, but in the above, is two very distinct viewpoints. One could take this a step farther and possibly examine the idea that if whiskey is evil, and the white people delivered the whiskey to the Indians, does that make them the Devil's advocates? There is no one right answer and there are many different paths to follow; the key is finding the one that will lead you to your beliefs.
1905 ad for Old Valley Whiskey (part of an ad for ...
Belle of Nelson poster for their sour mash whiskey...