The Application of a Blind Double Standard: Religion and Cultural Acceptance in Oskison’s “The Problem of Old Harjo”

In John M. Oskison’s “The Problem of Old Harjo,” two white American missionaries come into contact with a polygamous Native American named Harjo, who is also a willing convert. The story focuses on the missionaries’ attempts to evangelize Harjo, which ultimately means attempting to persuade him to give up one of his wives. This does not happen in the story, and one element of the story that is problematic is the unresolved conflict that this creates between Harjo and the missionaries.

Harjo in “The Problem of Old Harjo” is subjected to a double standard in terms of his acceptance into white American society. The white missionaries in the story are not judged for adhering to what is acceptable behavior to them, while Harjo, acting according to his natural custom, is subject to scrutiny that the whites do not apply to themselves. Due to this irony, this text brands the acceptance of Native Americans into white American society as dependent on a double standard.         

What the whites in the story consider acceptable stems largely from their adherence to their national customs and their goals as Christian missionaries. In terms of marriage, Beth H. Piatote describes typical customs in the United States: “the most conducive model to produce ideal citizenry has historically been the monogamous, patriarchal heterosexual union, preferably intraracial” (97). Being white missionaries toward Native Americans further shapes their views and behaviors. As C. L. Higham notes, “Protestant missionaries from Canada and the United States entered their work in nineteenth-century North America as distinct products of their societies” (31). In part, this was a society that generally believed that the uncivilized were inferior: “a lack of ‘civilized’ behavior could reduce any ‘superior’ society to the ‘inferior’ level  . . . though the racial theorists began to think that the Indians could change, [Indians] continued to represent the idea of a fallen society. This theory was a prominent one until the early nineteenth century” (34). Also, missionaries generally believed in their religious superiority: “Protestant missionaries believed in the idea of the noble savage, and so they assumed that Indians would see the logic and superiority of Christianity and convert as many whites had” (36). What could be accomplished by white missionaries preaching monogamy is clear: “marriage functioned as a colonial administrative mechanism” (Piatote 97). It is within these ideals that the whites in the story are working, and it is from these ideas that they conceptualize acceptable behavior.

Mrs. Rowell, the main representative of acceptable white behavior in the story, is never subjected to any scrutiny regarding her behaviors. What she considers to be acceptable behavior is seen in what she says and does regarding what is considered not acceptable. She condemns Harjo’s choice to have two wives: “Then ask him . . . if he will put away one of his wives. Ask him, before he comes into the presence of the Lord, if he is willing to conform to the laws of the country in which he lives” (Oskison 532). Through her adherence to what is considered acceptable, Mrs. Rowell not only assumes a position of authority in the story, but also exempts herself from criticizing her own harsh behavior. She is a steadfast proprietor of acceptable behavior: “No one who knew Mrs. Rowell would say that she lacked sincerity and patriotism” (532). It is in relation to her cousin that it can be seen she avoids even the possibility of scrutiny: “Her own cousin was an earnest crusader against Mormonism, and had gathered a goodly share of that wagonload of protests that the Senate had been asked to read . . . In her practical, tactful way, Mrs. Rowell had kept clear of such embarrassments” (532). Instead of putting herself at risk, she conducts herself so that she can nestle comfortably in acceptable behavior. She learns how to avoid unpleasant confrontations: “At first, she had written letters of indignant protest to the Indian Office against the toleration of bigamy amongst the tribes. A wise inspector had been sent to the mission, and this man had pointed out that it was better to ignore certain things” (532). Based on this information, she carries out her mission work: “Mrs. Rowell had discreetly limited her missionary efforts to the young, and had exercised toward the old and bigamous only that strict charity which even a hopeless sinner might claim” (532). If Mrs. Rowell, at any juncture, either questions herself or is questioned by a higher authority, it is not stated, so it can be assumed that this does not happen. In the critical time when this could happen—when Miss Evans returns to her with news that Harjo will not give up one of his wives—she simply reverts back to acceptable behavior: “But Mrs. Rowell could suggest no way out; Miss Evans’ talk with her only gave the older woman another opportunity to preach the folly of wasting time on old and ‘unreasonable’ Indians” (536). Unbending in her adherence to what is acceptable, she does not question herself.

Miss Evans, while displaying a more complex attitude towards Harjo, still is not required to question her behaviors in the story. It is primarily through her insistence that Harjo give up one of his wives that this is seen. She initially presents him with an ultimatum: “Harjo, you must have only one wife when you come into our church. Can’t you give up one of these women?” (534). Harjo, having acted according to a custom he believes is not a problem, does not understand Miss Evans right away: “‘Give up my wife?’ A sly smile stole across his face. He leaned closer to Miss Evans. ‘You tell me, my friend, which one I give up.’ He glanced from ‘Liza to Jennie as if to weigh their attractions” (534). Miss Evans, not aware that she has crossed into unfamiliar cultural territory, continues: “Harjo, you are making a mock of a sacred subject; I cannot allow you to talk like this” (534). The reason Miss Evans continues to attempt to evangelize Harjo even after she sees that it is, in his eyes, normal for him to take two wives is because she has not considered that her own belief system may not be the only one that exists. If she questioned what she herself considered acceptable, she would not make these demands of Harjo. Instead of doing this, she feels “embarrassed, humiliated, angry” and thinks that “In her anxiety concerning the spiritual welfare of the sinner Harjo, she had insulted the man Harjo” (535). Given the level of concern and distress Miss Evans feels on behalf of Harjo, she is still confused at the end of the story: “If she was sometimes tempted to say to the old man, ‘Stop worrying about your soul; you’ll get to Heaven as surely as any of us,’ there was always Mrs. Rowell to remind her that she was not a Mormon missionary” (537). One possible reason she has so much confusion is because she never questions her own belief system. She questions her abilities but not her beliefs by continuing to contemplate what the mission could do for Harjo and his wives: “What could the mission provide as a substitute for the little home that ‘Liza had helped to create there in the edge of the woods?” (536). If her abilities as a Christian cannot succeed in redeeming Harjo, nothing can.

If any character in the story could cause Mrs. Rowell or Miss Evans to question their belief system, it is Harjo; however, this also does not happen. Despite his willingness to become fully Christian, he is nevertheless outside of what is considered normal by the white missionaries due to having two wives. Instead of correcting or questioning the missionary he comes into the most contact with, Miss Evans, he presents himself honestly and directly to her while showing a willingness to submit to her belief system. After Miss Evans asks him if he is willing to take on her beliefs, he responds with, “Oh, yes, I would come to Jesus, please, my friend” (534). Miss Evans insists he give up one of his wives, encroaching on what Harjo believes to be a working family model. Yet, how Harjo reacts to this request is interesting: he does not respond in anger or indignation, but rather with a quiet disappointment containing no admonition about how Miss Evans has insulted him. This is seen in his behavior: “‘But did you not speak in fun, my friend?’ Harjo queried, sobering . . . Harjo saw that the young woman was serious, distressingly serious. He was silent for a long time, but at last he raised his head and spoke quietly, ‘It is not good to talk like that if it is not in fun’” (535). This is Harjo’s best opportunity to explain to the missionary that she has asked him something harmful. Although he expresses disappointment and sadness, he never tells the missionary that she is wrong, primarily because the missionary has power over him through having command of standard acceptability in the context of the story. Harjo, due to his ethnicity, most likely has knowledge and experience with other ways of life other than the standard Christian way; at least, more than the missionaries do. However, he never mentions this, instead continuing to ask to become a Christian: “‘I cannot forget to love Jesus, and I want to be saved.’ Old Harjo spoke with solemn earnestness” (536).

Contrasting to the lack of harsh scrutiny the missionaries undergo, either from an outside source or from within themselves, Harjo is examined fiercely. The scrutiny begins with Mrs. Rowell when Miss Evans gives her the news that Harjo wishes to join the church: “To the older woman it was as if some one had said to her ‘Madame, the Sultan of Turkey wishes to teach one of your mission Sabbath school classes’” (532). She is shocked at the proposal because she does not see Harjo’s perspective, and it is implied that such a request is preposterous because there is no consideration for Harjo’s perspective. The implication that the missionaries’ views are correct is continued in Miss Evans’ thought process when she considers what kind of request she will have to make of Harjo: “Miss Evans regretted the necessity for forcing this sacrifice, but had no doubt that the Indian would make it an order to accept the gift of salvation which she was commissioned to bear to him” (532). Harjo must be redeemed in only one way: by giving up one of his wives according to the missionaries’ customs. No consideration is given in regard to attempting to redeem Harjo on his own grounds, and this lack of consideration ultimately shows that only one perspective is viewed as acceptable. If Harjo was to be placed on an even plane with the missionaries, his “problematic” choice to have two wives would come under no scrutiny at all. Yet this is, in large part, the point of the narrative concerning the missionaries: “This attempt to rehabilitate old Harjo morally, Miss Evans felt, was not one to be made in the mission; it should be undertaken in the Creek’s own home where the evidences of his sin should confront him” (533).

The entire angle of the narrative is to show Harjo’s misgivings, which, considering his perspective previous to his knowledge of Christianity, are not misgivings at all. Kathryn E. Holland Braund describes Creek marriage practices as allowing for polygamy: “Polygamy was also allowed in Creek society, but few men took more than one wife since only the best hunters could manage the burden of supporting more than one wife and set of children” (241). Harjo is a Creek Native American. When Harjo describes his situation for taking two wives, it fits into the Creek notion of marriage due to its concern for children. Harjo and his first wife ‘Liza are unable to have children, so Harjo takes on another wife in hopes that they will be able to produce children. Harjo explains the conversation he and ‘Liza have: “So ‘Liza say to me, ‘Why don’t you take Jennie in here?’ I say, ‘You don’t care?’ and she say, ‘No, maybe we have children here then’” (Oskison 535). Although Harjo’s family “never [has] children” (535), it is clear that Harjo would not have taken a second wife had having children not been a concern. This is a concern that aligns with the Creek notion of polygamy only being practiced due to certain circumstances. Harjo admits he did not know he was doing something wrong: “‘Long time ago’—Harjo plainly meant the whole period previous to his conversion—‘me did not know. The Lord Jesus did not speak to me in that time, and so I was blind. I do what blind man do’” (534).

Acceptance into white American society for Harjo depends on a standard not applied equally to those who are responsible for doing the accepting. Mrs. Rowell and Miss Evans, the two figures in the story that represent acceptable behavior, do not question their religious practices or national customs while at once subjecting Harjo to the same scrutiny. If the story presented the situation between the missionaries and Harjo as inclusive of Harjo’s perspective, it would not have nearly as much conflict; however, there is conflict that never gets resolved. At the end of the story, the narrative presents a question: “And meanwhile, what?” (537). This is a question that never gets answered, yet may have been avoided had the white missionaries considered a perspective other than their own.

Works Cited

Braund, Kathryn E. Holland. “Guardians of Tradition and Handmaidens to Change: Women’s Roles in Creek Economic and Social Life during the Eighteenth Century.” American Indian Quarterly 14.3 (1990): 239-258. JSTOR. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.

Higham, C. L. Noble, Wretched, and Redeemable: Protestant Missionaries to the Indians in Canada and the United States, 1820-1900. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 2000. Print.

Oskison, John M. “The Problem of Old Harjo.” The Portable American Realism Reader. Ed. and introd. James Nagel and Tom Quirk. New York: Penguin, 1997. 531-537. Print.

Piatote, Beth H. “Domestic Trials: Indian Rights and National Belonging in Works by E. Pauline Johnson and John M. Oskison.” American Quarterly 61.3 (2011): 95-116. Project Muse.  Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

(Academic plagiarism is a serious offense. This website is public.)