Donehogawa / Ely Samuel Parker Character Analysis

Iroquois man who rose to become a successful engineer and later, through his friendship with President Ulysses S. Grant, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Parker fought to protect Native Americans from theft and attack during his tenure as Commissioner, but he was pressured out of office by his rivals, many of whom resented that a Native American should have risen so far in the U.S. government. Donehogawa is a poignant character because he believes that he can “work within the system” of American society, using his intelligence, training, and passion to protect his fellow Native Americans. His failure to do so could be considered the ultimate counterexample to the argument that the Native Americans could have pursued peaceful means of resistance to the United States at the end of the 19th century—in the end, violent leaders like Sitting Bull probably did more to protect Native American lives than did peaceful government figures like Donehogawa.