![]() ![]() ![]() In an epoch not famous for cultural relativism, Bethia realizes - having just heard the Wampanoag creation myth - that "our story of a burning bush and a parted sea might also seem fabulous, to one not raised up knowing it was true." Once Caleb begins studying Greek and Latin, Bethia believes his Wampanoag accent helps him speak the ancient languages. Bethia uses Indian remedies to ease English sicknesses, and English cures for Indian illnesses. Caleb prays for Bethia's lost family members according to Wampanoag traditions. "Caleb's Crossing" charts the pleasures as well as the dangers of cultural crossovers. For each character, this new information constitutes forbidden knowledge whose perils only gradually become apparent. ![]() Each becomes a tourist in the other's Eden: Caleb teaches Bethia Wampanoag words while she instructs him in English Caleb shares the legend of his creator god, Moshup, while she tells him about Moses. Revisiting that history and filling in its many blanks, Geraldine Brooks harnesses the scant surviving evidence of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, a Wampanoag who grew up with his tribe in present-day Martha's Vineyard.īrooks invents for the young Caleb an English friend, Bethia Mayfield, who narrates the novel. "Caleb's Crossing" is fiction based on fact that sounds like fiction: In 1665, an American Indian graduated from Harvard College. ![]()
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