Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears

Written by Diane Glancy in 1996, Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears follows a group of Cherokee people as they are forced to relocate to “Indian Territory” in Oklahoma in 1838 and 1839. The novel is told from varying perspectives of members of the Cherokee Nation as well as soldiers, reverends, and disembodied voices. These shifting perspectives create a fragmented yet nuanced narrative as Glancy weaves together multiple viewpoints and utilizes real historical figures and documents to create a sense of verisimilitude.

Pushing the Bear focuses on providing a voice to the Cherokee people who struggled to survive the Trail of Tears after being forcibly removed from their homes. Glancy embodies their resilience and utilizes traditional Cherokee legends as well as the Cherokee language. The novel emphasizes the importance of community even as it examines the various ways in which the United States government has displaced the Cherokee people and actively attempted to erase their culture.

This guide refers to the 1996 Harcourt paperback edition.

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.

Plot Summary

Throughout Pushing the Bear, the Cherokee people are displaced from their home and are forced to walk more than 900 miles through harsh winter conditions to reach a government-designated area in Oklahoma. The novel is primarily narrated by Maritole, a Cherokee woman who is also a wife and mother, and the story follows her struggles as she attempts to navigate the Trail of Tears with her family and renegotiate her relationship with her husband, Knobowtee. Maritole worries for both the future of her people and the future of her marriage. During the journey, she reflects on the losses of family members, such as her mother, father, and child. She also spends most of the novel reflecting on her relationship with her grandmother to find the strength to survive the trail. She also feels abandoned by Knobowtee, who spends most of the journey with his mother, sister, and brother. Knobowtee also worries for the future of his marriage and his own future as he attempts to come to terms with their forced resettlement. Knobowtee, like Maritole’s brother, Tanner, and several other characters, blames the Cherokee leaders from Georgia for signing a treaty with the United States government that led to this removal.

Knobowtee, who was not able to take personal belongings such as his musket, feels shame and anger for having been forcibly removed from his home. Feeling powerless, he directs his anger at Maritole, who engages in a romantic relationship with a white soldier named Sergeant Williams. Sergeant Williams spends time with Maritole as they travel from North Carolina to Oklahoma, and they learn each other’s languages as Maritole tells him stories from Cherokee culture. However, Knobowtee and Williams eventually get into a physical fight, and Williams is forced to leave the trail. Knobowtee also spends much of his time considering his relationship with his father and ruminating on his previous marriage.

Maritole’s brother, Tanner, and her sister-in-law, Luthy, attempt to protect their two sons throughout the journey. They also provide different perspectives on the turmoil of Maritole and Knobowtee’s marriage. During this time, Maritole and Tanner worry for their brother, Thomas, who has not been seen since they were forced off their land. Meanwhile, Tanner often fights with Knobowtee for being violent and not taking care of Maritole. Tanner claims that Knobowtee only married Maritole for her land. Since the Cherokee people have a matriarchal society, land is passed down through the women. Luthy, Maritole, and several other women must overcome illnesses and delirium as they walk the Trail of Tears. Because they have limited access to food, the Cherokee people are forced to cook their rations using ingredients from the white soldiers, and several of the characters worry about how they will grow corn in the new territory; corn is a major staple within Cherokee culture.

The author includes other narrators, such as the soldiers, several disembodied voices, and two reverends, providing perspectives that originate outside the Cherokee Nation. Apart from Sergeant Williams, the soldiers hold much disdain for the Cherokee people, and the voices narrate the surroundings as they walk the trail. One of the reverends, Bushyhead, is a Cherokee man who converts to Christianity. He attempts to preach to the Cherokee men and women as they make their way to Oklahoma, trying to convert them to Christianity as well. His wife gives birth to their second daughter during this journey. Overall, the novel’s chapters follow the path that the Cherokee people take on their way to “Indian Territory,” and each chapter represents their passage through a different state. By the end of the novel, they arrive in Oklahoma and establish their new lives. Knobowtee and Maritole attempt to mend their marriage, and he joins a council of men to help guide their people.