Chapter 5

Meriwether Lewis on the Divide

Summary
      This chapter begins with Meriwether Lewis and three other desperate explorers at the Rockies, looking to cross the Continental Divide on a mission to find the elusive Northwest Passage. These men were completely lost, and they needed directions and horses from the Shoshone Indians. Without their translator Sacagawea; however, there was a great cultural barrier between the groups, but Lewis used gifts as a form of communication instead. Although the Shoshone were a little on edge, they still treated the visitors with respect, and Lewis was impressed with the way they lived peacefully - there was only a bit of trouble between them.
      For one, the Indians were a little suspicious of these strange people, wondering about their intentions. Lewis solved this problem by challenging them, asking the men who were not afraid to come with him and retrieve the group's equipment. Suddenly, he witnessed their savage way of eating and recoiled from their world, shocked (73). But then, both suspicious parties underwent a double transformation by exchanging clothes (and identities), and everything went smoothly after that. Lewis' experience with Cameahwait, the chief, and the rest of the Shoshone was pivotal, a moment where the Enlightenment met the wilderness. His journey across the cultural divide changed him forever...or did it? The writings in Lewis' journal are extremely unreliable, scattered with plagiarism, exaggeration, and outright lying, leaving us with only a vague idea of who he really was and how he truly felt during the expedition.

Reflection
       It's ironic that he wrote in his journal his disappointment that he hadn't done anything with his life to "advance the information of the succeeding generation," when he is a famous explorer whom everyone knows (76)! I'm confused as to why he felt "offended, threatened, confused, and disgusted with himself," with "an uneasiness about his own identity" simply because he had to "enter the Shoshones' world" (72). What's the big deal? And if he felt so disgusted, why did he choose to have himself painted as an Indian warrior and give his clothes to the wax museum, "memorializing forever that moment when his identity as a white man wavered" (74). Finally, it bothers me that we have no way of knowing whether or not he "grew from his experience" with the Shoshone, or if he "stayed forever walled within his own world" (78).