Deciphering Colonial Tools: Missionaries in P...

Deciphering Colonial Tools: Missionaries in Pauline Johnson’s Story “As it was in the Beginning”

Author Name : Virender Pal

ABSTRACT

Pauline Johnson is one important Native American writer whose central character are the Native women. Through her writings she shows that women in their society were not only strong, but also capable of extreme decisions. In most of her stories the native women are forced to participate in the debates that are about Native culture versus White culture. In these debates Pauline Johnson’s heroines take a stand for their people and exposes the hypocrisy of the whites. In the story “As it was in the Beginning” readers come across a native woman Esther who has been brought up in a mission run by white missionaries, but she retains the vitality of her culture. This paper is a study of her story “As it was in the Beginning.”

Key words: Missionaries, Native, Indian, mission.