Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears

Content Warning: The source text addresses themes of genocide, displacement, and cultural erasure. In addition, both the source text and this guide contain references to sexual assault and racist ideologies against Indigenous people.

The Cherokee people travel for several days until they enter Tennessee, and several different perspectives illustrate the journey. The novel opens with Maritole’s point of view as white soldiers begin forcing the Cherokee people from their home. At this point, Cherokee settlements in Georgia and Tennessee are already being rounded up by the soldiers, and Maritole mentions her community’s hope that their settlement would be left alone. They begin marching towards the Hiwassee River in Tennessee, where white settlers have set up a stockade for Indigenous peoples. Many of the men are forced to walk during this journey, and women and children ride in covered wagons.

Before embarking too far on their journey, the soldiers allow the Cherokee people to gather some of their belongings. When Maritole arrives at her cabin, which used to belong to her grandmother, she discovers a white family sitting at her dining table and using her belongings. The man attempts to shoot her with Knobowtee’s