Apple: Skin to the Core

This section summarizes “Apple Records,” “Uncle Tomahawk Hangs Around the Fort Until He Finds His Own Metaphor,” “Boarding School Philosophy, Shorter, Simplified Edition: Practical Application,” and “Hello, My Name Is…”

In the first poem, “Apple Records,” Eric Gansworth quotes Revolution by The Beatles, changing the words slightly to introduce the topic of reconstruction.

In “Uncle Tomahawk Hangs Around the Fort Until He Finds His Own Metaphor,” Gansworth discusses cultural sharing among Indigenous Nations, including dances, songs, and metaphors. Some of these metaphors include “Uncle Tomahawk” and “Hang-Around-the-Fort Indian” (23), both of which refer to Indigenous people who spend too much time around white people. “Uncle Tomahawk” is analogous to “Uncle Tom;” both terms are derogatory, but one refers to Indigenous people and the other to Black people. Neither metaphor addresses the residential schools that changed Indigenous cultures forever. These schools wiped out memories, languages, family histories and culture, resulting in generations of Indigenous people being alienated from their culture. Neatly summing up this cultural alienation is the metaphor of the apple, a derogatory term for someone who is “red on the outside, white on the inside” (23).

“Boarding School Philosophy, Shorter, Simplified Edition: Practical Application” outlines the objectives of residential schools within the broader goals of colonization.