Indian Camp Themes

In “Indian Camp,” a young boy named Nick watches his father, a doctor, surgically deliver a baby without anesthetic. The baby’s mother, an “Indian lady,” is clearly in excruciating pain, but she and the baby live. Meanwhile, in the course of her labor, the Indian woman’s husband dies quietly, slitting his own throat as he lies above his wife in the top bunk. The bloody and painful birth occurs simultaneously with the…

When Nick’s father brings Nick along on a trip to deliver a baby, he intends to initiate his son into adult life by teaching him explicit lessons about life and the value of work. However, the trip takes an unexpectedly traumatic turn when the baby’s mother requires an emergency surgery and her husband kills himself. In their debriefing afterwards, Nick’s father tries to tell his son how to interpret what he saw, but his simplistic…

In “Indian Camp,” the Adams family (who are certainly white, though this is never specified) come to an Indian village to assist a difficult childbirth. The complex dynamic between these characters of different cultural backgrounds shows that such encounters often have mixed results. When people share their unique knowledge with people from a different culture, the results can be positive, as when Nick’s father’s medical expertise saves the lives of the Native woman and her…