FREE ESSAY ON JEREMIAH JOHNSON: THE MOUNTAIN MAN

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: THE MOUNTAIN MAN

American History I
Jeremiah Johnson: The Mountain Man
In this movie, one may observe the different attitudes that Americans had towards
Indians. The Indians were those unconquered people to the west and the almighty brave,
Mountain Man went there, "forgetting all the troubles he knew," and away from
civilization. The mountain man is going in search of adventure but as this "adventure"
starts he finds that his survival skills are not helping him since he cant even fish and
as he is seen by an Indian, who watches him at his attempt to fish, he start respecting
them. The view that civilization had given him of the west changes and so does he.
Civilization soon becomes just something that exists "down there." 
The movie starts by showing the Indians as "bad" when Johnson finds a note of another
mountain man who has "savagely" been killed by the Indians. This view changes as the
movie points out tribes instead of Indians as just one group. Some of the tribes are
shown dangerous and not to be messed with while others are friendly, still each tribe
treats Johnson as "outsider." Indians are not portrayed as greater than "white men" yet
white men respect their laws, rituals and specific beliefs. Johnson is at first very
naive and unaware of how the Indians work. Soon he learns from bear claw that there are
different type of Indians some which you should never even think of fighting and some
that had never hurt a white man before. More than to be respectful the mountain men
submit to the Indians out of fear. 
Johnson accommodates to the environment and learns to coexist with the Indians.
Jeremiah is "given" a wife forcefully and as much as he does not want it he soon realizes
he has everything he needs to just settle. Like in every good movie, just when you have
all it is take away. The real trouble with the tribes comes when white men intervene and
intrude. The Indians expect that these "Americans" respect their territory and whatever
rituals and beliefs they may have but just as Johnson was unaware of this when he first
came so where the white men that came to save the Christian families. Civilization never
would approve or respect many of the things that Jeremiah had learned to appreciate and
even love. The view of all white men was best said by the bald guy when he referred to
the Flathead leader, "He may speak well and read the bible but he is still an injun."
The "Mountain Man" is very romanticized in the movie. The Actor that was chosen for the
part for example was Robert Redford the typical American hero, Blond, handsome, strong
and able to survive in the wild, what else can you ask for? What really does it is the
song at the beginning of the movie, which is a sort of song to a hero, a song of praise
to this brave man on his way to the "West." The life of a "Mountain Man" is a hard and
arduous job that involves even risking your own life like the first dead mountain man he
finds with a 50 Caliber rifle or the men that were killed by Indians and left "crazy
woman" alone. Another romantization of a "Mountain Man" is struggle. The bad fishing at
the beginning of the movie was not to show that the Indian was better but instead to show
how this mountain man can struggle, start at zero and climb to the top. This struggle is
proof of "The Mountain Man's" extraordinary ability to adapt.
Throughout the movie, the struggle with adapting to the environment and to the Indians
and their beliefs plays a big role. The "Mountain Man" is able to do all or learn how to.
This mountain man leaves civilization in search of adventure, forms a family and learns
to live this life in the wilderness and coexisting with the Indians. The "Mountain Man"
is the Good Samaritan who takes in a kid and a wife and helps those in trouble. He learns
about tribes and how they are divided, which ones can be delt with and which ones you had
better run from. The movie portrays the Indians as they are in tribes, their rituals and
believes. The mountain man assimilates with the Indians and when he has lost it all he
leaves, making peace with the crows, the enemy.