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altered their own community system and eventually, they often succeeded in converting the Whites into their own way of life Tindall and Shi, 1984, p. 8.
This fact proved that there were mutual relationships between the Indians and the Whites instead of clashes and colonialisms.
4.3.1 John Cooper’s Peer Relationships with the Indians
The discussion of this part encompasses a peer relationship that John Cooper builds with a member of each Indian tribe he has joined all along his
journey. From the very first Indian he has met, Kandaka, until the Jicarilla Apache Indians, John Cooper has impressively made friends with all of them. It is evident
that John Cooper achieves jubilant acceptance from all of the tribes he has come to.
This process encompasses sharing thoughts, playing outdoors, solving a problem and making wise decision in which those contribute to the firm growth
from being a protected child into a self-dependent person Jersild, 1955, p. 230- 231. These processes that John Cooper undergoes thoroughly influence his
maturity as becoming a grown up man who can stand on his own feet during his journey to the west.
4.3.1.1 Kandaka
The first Indian whom John Cooper meets is Kandaka from the Ayuhwa Sioux tribe. John Cooper meets him when he is coincidentally hunting a deer that
is also Kandaka’s target. Unfortunately, Kandaka breaks his leg in an accident that he slips in the river bank because the thundering sound of John Cooper’s musket
shocks him. John Cooper gives his hands on his broken leg and takes care of him
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until the broken leg gets better. Kandaka takes him to his village. He introduces John Cooper to his father, Minakotay, and his people that he has saved his life and
aided his broken leg. The people of the Ayuhwa accept him with honor for his good demeanors and honesty pp. 71-78. Henceforth, John Cooper’s experiences
with the Indians begin as he is now a friend of Kandaka. Their peer relationship happens as Kandaka figures himself as a language
instructor for John Cooper. He teaches him the language that the Ayuhwa Sioux speak and exemplifies him the signs and symbols mostly understood by almost all
Indians. It is because the Indian languages vary in a great number that each tribe speaks differently than the others. Using that signs rather than language will be
useful in delivering messages to other Indian tribes who speak different tongue. “Most of that time, much to John Cooper’s gratification, the young Ayuhwa brave
spent with the towheaded boy, teaching him the language of the Sioux” p. 98. It can be seen that between John Cooper and Kandaka, there is a mutual relationship
that enriches both of them with experiences and knowledge. The mutual relationship that John Cooper builds with Kandaka gives him
the knowledge and experience that he needs in the future when he someday meets with other tribes. As the present for what Kandaka has done good deed to him,
John Cooper presents him the musket he has obtiains from the renegades trying to rob him on the other day. Kandaka’s feeling grows more cherished to John
Cooper for what he has presented him with. Kandaka then, with pleasant bliss, teaches John Cooper how to make traps for rabbits without using neither of any
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tool nor even a knife pp. 100-102. This is evidence that they build a mutual relationship with their peers.
John Cooper shares his experience happening with his family with Kandaka. During their sharing thoughts, Kandaka sees the nature of John
Cooper’s characteristics and his way of thinking that he does not possess the hatred to Indians despite the fact that the Shawnee have murdered his family.
Hence, Kandaka puts great respect and senses a feeling of belonging to John Cooper for his good heart. Kandaka also shares his stories about his tribe also
about the curse that dwells over a family of Ayuhwa Sioux tribe because the black bear that has slain the brave.
Kandaka often takes John Cooper to their hunting games on purpose of introducing him his way of life and in order to teach him the way that his people
will appreciate him. “’Come John Cooper, today we hunt the buffalo’ Kandaka exclaimed as he strode through the opening of his white friend’s small lodge and
peered inside” p. 124. This peer relationship in which they play outside as they hunt the buffalo influences them to strengthen their cooperation and give deeper
respect to each other. As the result of John Cooper’s kindness and honest deeds, he is granted with great respect by the Ayuhwa Sioux people, Mikanota, the chief,
and Kandaka himself. They consider that John Cooper’s arrival to their village brings them good fortune for John Cooper has hunted down much food that is
enough for their needs. Eventually, as the tradition of almost all the Indians in order to bond
someone into a firm relationship as a family, Minakotay as the chief of the
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Ayuhwa Sioux tribe bonds both John Cooper and Kandaka in the blood-brother ceremony.
‘Let the blood of Kandaka and the wasichu mingle, let both of them, through the long summers and winters which await them until their days
are done, be brothers out of one mind and heart and blood. Let them remember always how they shared the hunt and the games and the ways of
our people, and may these memories go forth to their children and their children’s children, so that it will always be said that Kandaka of the
Ayuhwa and John Cooper of the wasichus lived together in peace, friendship, and brotherhood’ p.207.
Mikanota signifies blood-brother ceremony as grandeur of respect to someone who is very important and beloved. This ceremony also becomes the summit trust
to John Cooper that is now nobody but a family to the Ayuhwa Sioux. His peer relationship with Kandaka through sharing thoughts, hunting and learning
language has brought him to the strongest brotherhood and trust. The way that they have often shared their knowledge and experiences to
each other contributes a mutual relationship that grows even stronger and stimulates them to learn each other’s thoughts, feelings and characteristics. This
process contributes one factor that underlies John Cooper’s self-dependence and maturity when he meets the de Escobar family, especially Carlos and Catarina de
Escobar. A boy in his fifteen-year age can rarely survive in the wilderness of the unknown and make friends with many Indians and hereby, he obtains great
capacity of experiences that Carlos and Catarina de Escobar may lack of.
4.3.1.2 Degala
