The Importance of History Essay Example
📌Category: | History |
📌Words: | 484 |
📌Pages: | 2 |
📌Published: | 14 January 2022 |
What is the meaning of history? And why should we care about what it means? Well, history has several meanings. The first meaning of history is the study of past events, especially events that would connect with someone or something. But there is a better way to describe the definition of history. The second meaning of history refers to a written record of what happened in the past. In another way, history was written by other historians. In Jane Tompkins’s essay “Indians: Textualism, Morality and the Problem of History,” she wrote about her learning experience and similarities to Indians, but while finding information for her literature class, she found several different topics about the Indian culture. Which lead to her research about finding the truth. During her research, she read many resources, but all had unique pieces of information. Tompkins criticized these historian writers and their different perspectives, but then she realized everyone sees the world differently and that nothing can change their opinions.
When Jane Tompkins was younger, she was very familiar with her Indian culture. When she was a little girl, she would visit all the different festivals and celebrations in Inwood Park, NY. People would go there so that they can learn more about their history. There, she learned she had some significant similarities with the Indians. One thing she learned as a kid was the partnership between the English settlers and the Indians. After becoming a teacher at Duke University, she started with Perry Miller. And it didn’t end very well after she read his work. It frustrated her with the bias historical accounts. Especially when she talked about how: “... Miller’s experience in Africa is‘tawdry,’ his tropic is barbaric because the jungle he stands on the edge means nothing to him, no more, indeed something less, than the case oil” (Tompkins 104).
After reading Perry Miller’s work, she continued her research until she found the truth. She then read other historians’ perspectives of the Indian culture. Jane then read Alden Vaughan’s work. He showed in his work that the Puritans have been very humane in dealing with the Native Americans and how they were unified. Another source with different information. Jane researched source after source, but they all were telling different stories of the Indian culture.
She then looked into the fur trade that the Indians had with the Englishmen. In Calvin’s work, he stated that the reason the spiritual Indians were so interested was because of what the Englishmen offered. And some things they offered included their weapons. Calvin claimed that the reason they were so interested in fur trading was to gain the Englishmen’s respect so that they’re trusted.
After reading through all these different sources, she was stuck and confused. Each primary source differed from the other or shared some similarities. It seemed impossible to find the truth of Indian culture. But then she concluded, she concluded historians tell history in their way. It is difficult to tell what happened, but that’s what lead to her research. Tompkins criticized these historian writers and their different perspectives, but then she realized everyone sees the world differently and that nothing can change their opinions.