Resurrecting Native Pride: D.H. Lawrence's The Plumed Serpent ?

In his writings of the 1920s about the native American people where he gives an acute analysis of the damaging influence of colonization on both the white men as well as the American Indians, D.H. Lawrence is much ahead of his times. Indeed the writer?s imagination is strained to the utmost as he makes a genuine effort to grasp the ethos, the ways of living and being of a different race and culture. It is to be admitted that Lawrence has oscillating responses to colonial issues. At times, he seems to clearly share the prejudices of his age as, for example, when Somers contends in Kangaroo that the Indians are not prepared to govern themselves. However, Lawrence?s rejection of the values of his own culture is so very authentic and forceful that it puts into a clear perspective his stance toward the issue of colonialism. The novel makes a tremendous effort to decipher the meaning of the call made directly on the blood by the massive, angry and desecrated elements of Mexico. While the white man?s attempts to improve the social conditions are shown as lacking a proper understanding of the pulse and the psyche of the people, the native?s desire for a bygone era, for wonder and mystery, and for living beyond money and externalities is underlined with sympathy. The novel fore shadows many of the ways adopted by later African writers to undermine colonialism. While depicting the damage caused to the psyche of both the natives and the white men, the novel seeks to resurrect a sense of pride dignity among the natives, aiming to rid them of their feeling of inferiority.