William Apess

Spencer Lambert
ENGL 48A
Journal for William Apess
October 28, 2009

"What folly it is to try to make the state of human society worse than it is."

Internet Quotation: White men are the only persons who have imposed on us, and we say that we love our red brother, the Rev. WILLIAM APES, who preaches to us, and have all the confidence in him that we can put in any man, knowing him to be a devout Christian, of sound mind, of firm purpose, and worthy to be trusted by reason of his truth. - Three Selectmen of the Marshpee Tribe

Summary: The first quotation is one that I use in my ideas. It is for me personally the most important statement in the essay because of how direct of an appeal it is. Channelling Christ and Christianity (aside: that sounds like a self-help book, doesn't it?) is fine and well, but this one is so simple, ruthless, and effective. It's the type of rhetoric to upset people and start something.

The second is from a letter by the three Selectmen (chief administrative officers) of the Marshpee Tribe, Israel Amos, Isaac Coombs, and Ezra Attaquin. Their letter is in defense of William Apess (Apes as was more common during the period in which it was written), part of their distinctly print-based campaign for self-government. It is interesting to see the views of those Apess helped, especially when they stand so firm behind him.

My Ideas: This has to be the most scathing critique of anything we've read this year. Which makes sense, given Apess's status as a Native American, and therefore a second-class citizen. Flipping the black-white relationship on its ear by claiming that the whites have a "black principle" within them that makes them enslave the Other, whomever the Other is.

The one argument I particularly like is what I suppose I will call the "Jesus was a brown person argument." As Apess says, "you know as well as I that you are not indebted to a principle beneath a white skin for your religious services but to a colored one" (Norton 1055). Many people, Americans especially, seem to forget that Jesus Christ was born and raised and killed in -- drum roll -- what we now consider the middle east. Which makes him, as one might expect, not exactly the whitest man who ever lived. White Christian like to take Jesus and refigure him as some glorious white Messiah whose teachings some how give justification to their vile deeds. We've seen it in past readings, especially in Douglass: the white slave master reciting the word of God while he beats a slave. But it is all wrong. First, the teachings of Christ are distinctly anti-anything white people have ever done to people of color. But also, Jesus himself was a person of color. Do white people really believe that He would have condoned their actions? No wonder people believe the stereotype that Americans are stupid.



I also especially enjoyed the image of all the people of the world gathered together, portraying how much of a minority the whites are. The fact that whites have so long ruled over these people, through slavery, colonialism, wars, etc., is astounding and mathematically improbable. But it certainly happened. By asking the reader to use his imagination to see this scene, Apess is able to more accurately place the white man in the greater context of the world. This is an exercise in becoming aware of the world, a mindful thing to do in those times when people feel a little larger than life. There may be some of you with some good weapons, Apess seems to say. But there will always be more of us.

But most powerful of all, for me, is not Jesus or imagined gatherings. The most powerful part of this entire piece is a single sentence: "What folly it is to try to make the state of human society worse than it is" (Norton 1056). Such utter pessimism that perfectly encapsulates what it is the white man is doing. Human beings are essential screwed as it is -- I think this is fairly obvious, given all the evil we do to each other and ourselves. Why make it worse? It is a startling statement that makes you sit up and listen if all of the Christianity was going in one ear and out the other. You can't ignore this sentence because it is so true and so real.



I find Apess's life very interesting along with his essay. He isn't exactly the most known figure in American literature, and his complete drop off the map in the last year of his life is intriguing. He comes off as a man who didn't just want to write about problems, like so many writers, I think, do; he wanted to be actively involved in the struggle for justice. I don't view people like Apess strictly as writers, but as people whose writing was a byproduct of their commitment to their fight, whatever it might be. His life as a Christian minister and his work with the Mashpee show that his writing was done mostly because it was the natural thing for him to do to advance his cause. I have much respect for Apess in that regard. He isn't set away from his subjects, scribbling on some pad in his cozy study. His subjects are real people and his writing is set in their reality.