Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears [Hardcover]

Diane Glancy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1996

Chronicled through the diverse voices of the Cherokee, white soldiers, evangelists, leaders, and others, a lyrical historical novel captures the devastating uprooting of the Cherokee from their lands in 1838 and their forced march westward. A first novel. 15,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Poet, dramatist, short-story writer and essayist Glancy (winner of an American Book Award for Claiming Breath) turns her talents to the novel, recreating in this bone-true tale the sorrow, struggle and betrayal suffered by the Cherokee along the Trail of Tears. In the winter of 1838-39, 13,000 Cherokee were forced to walk the Trail of Tears from North Carolina toward the "new territory" of present-day Oklahoma. Following the Native American belief that many voices are needed to tell a story, Glancy employs a multitude of narrators. There are the voices of Cherokee of all ages and clans, of white soldiers and preachers, and snatches from actual historical records. The central narrator, Maritole, emerges to tell her personal story of "pushing the bear," a dark heavy burden of anger, impending madness, physical distress and, above all, doubt in herself and her heritage as she perseveres in the grueling walk. Maritole's shaky relationship with her husband, and the deaths of her baby and parents, push her into a relationship with a white soldier, Sergeant Williams. Ultimately, however, he can't fathom the Cherokees' mystic, symbiotic relationships with the land and with each other. At times, the novel proceeds as slowly as the march itself, but it rewards the reader with a visceral, honest presentation of the Cherokee conception of story as the indestructible chain linking people, earth and ancestry?a link that becomes, if not unmitigated salvation, then certainly a salve to the spirit.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

First novelist Glancy (Claiming Breath, LJ 3/92) prefaces her stunning narrative with a stark statement of fact: "From November 1838 to March 1839 some 11,000 to 13,000 Cherokee walked 900 miles in bitter cold from the southeast to Indian Territory. One fourth died or disappeared along the way." Drawing on these statistics and other surviving documentation, the author imaginatively re-creates a nearly unimaginable experience: the forced removal of the Cherokee peoples from their homes in four Southern states. The story is told in many voices, principally those of the uprooted?Native men and women, conjurers, Christians, politicians, leaders, and rebels?but also heard are the white soldiers, settlers, evangelists, sympathizers, oppressors, and opportunists who witnessed their passage to what is now Oklahoma. The fictional testimony creates a graphic and compelling mosaic of human tragedy. Highly recommended.?Starr E. Smith, Marymount Univ. Lib., Arlington, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 241 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt; 1st edition (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151002258
• ISBN-13: 978-0151002252
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,552,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars feeling the pain, August 25, 2000

By 

penny barker (OHIO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pushing the Bear (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

Having heard the story in my partly-Cherokee family all my life, this is the first telling that has put me there on the trail with the suffering of the people, native american and whites alike, who walked it. The varying voices expressing the ordeal of each day thru their eyes and being, brought this historical experience to life , especially since the various characters are given very different amounts of speaking time. Things weren't fair on the trail of tears nor were they equal. The many characters Glancy uses to speak, bring this message alive. I loved this novel and will re-read it several times.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Walk the trail of tears through many eyes, January 20, 2005

By 

Michael Bond (Shawnee, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pushing the Bear (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

Diane Glancy's fictionalized account of the very real forced march of the Cherokee Indians from their land in Georgia and South Carolina to Oklahoma paints an unforgettable picture of the hardships the people faced. This is one of many shameful moments in our history. Several thousand people died as a result.

The main character struggles to deal with the estrangement of her husband, the deaths of her family, loss of her farm and her relationship with a white soldier.

This book is not a Whites-are-bad and Indians-are-good tirade, and it does, in fact, show good and bad actions of individuals of both sides. It is also not just written to make Americans ashamed of their past. But it does ask poignant questions, such as How could so-called believers of Christ treat other people like they did?

Good question.

How would I make out on such a trip? I do not know.

Glancy explores human nature through Cherokee culture, the decent of human to animal and back. Under what conditions do we turn back into the animal, the bear?

It is hard to read - literally - it is told in the first person viewpoint by over a dozen people. After the first third of the story, however, I got used to it. That is the only reason I did not give it 5 stars. But stick with it, it is worth the trip.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I felt the horror on the trail, April 21, 2004

By 

Ann Carol Goldberg "image maker" (Rochester, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pushing the Bear (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

Diane Glancy has given us an extended glimpse into the pain, cold, fear and agony felt by the oppressed cherokee people forced to march on the Trail of Tears. I experienced the cold, the pain, the anguish, the disbelief and loss much as it must have been back in 1838. I have traveled in areas covered by the Trail of Tears and now feel a sense of those who lived thruough this horrible episode in American history. The technique using repetitive testimony by many of the characters was effective, although, sometimes repetitive or distracting.

This is a beautiful book in its design and use of graphics, the use of the exquisite Cherokee language, and description of characters. I now feel a familiarity with the characters and with their culture as they were wrenched out of their homes. The book reads fast and stays in your mind well after you have finished the last page.