Journey into Mohawk Country

AUTHOR: Bogaert, Harmen Meyndertsz van den

ARTIST: George O’Connor (illustrator); Hilary Sycamore (colorist)

PUBLISHER: First Second Books

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2006

Publication History

George O’Connor’s Journey into Mohawk Country was published in September of 2006 by First Second, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, which is a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers. First Second was established in 2004 under editorial director Mark Siegel to develop graphic novels. The entire text of O’Connor’s book was a twenty-two-page journal written by Dutch trader Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert in 1634. Bogaert’s journal was translated into English by Charles T. Gehring and William A. Starna in 1988 and published by Syracuse University Press as A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634-1635. Every word that appears in O’Connor’s book is taken directly from the Gehring and Starna translation of the original; O’Connor has not changed (either adding or excising) anything in the original text. However, he has done more than simply “illustrate” it; as O’Connor explains in his publisher’s blog about the development of the project, his panels “fill in the gaps of his story, as they were suggested by what [Bogaert] wrote.”

Plot

The journal on which O’Connor’s book is based was written over a two-month period in the winter of 1634-1635 by Bogaert, a barber-surgeon who was stationed at Fort Orange in New York. He traveled through Mohawk and Oneida Indian territory in an attempt to secure trade relations with the natives, who the Dutch believed had begun trading with the French. Although brief, the original journal is full of impressive detail about Native American culture that Bogaert observed in his travels.

Bogaert opens his narrative by explaining the reasons for his travels and introducing his companions, Jeromus La Croex and Willem Tomassen. Dressed in knee breeches, collared shirts, and fancy shoes and hats, the three men begin a difficult and extremely cold journey, immediately facing privation and physical challenges. Their physical appearances become more and more ragged as their adventure proceeds. The plotline of the book involves them moving from one Native American settlement to the next, engaging in conversations about trade and learning more about the various indigenous groups and their habits. After gathering all the information they can, the men return home to Fort Orange, where Bogaert ends his diary.

O’Connor’s interpretations often add humor and irony to what is sometimes dull text. For example, early in the journal, Bogaert explains the purpose of his journey in plain terms; O’Connor uses a whole page to illustrate what is going on behind the dry journal text. Between the text box that reads “I went with Jeromus La Croex and Willem Tomassen” and the text box “May the Lord Bless our Journey,” the reader sees Jeromus and Willem in a sort of slapstick, bumbling attempt to cross a river that devolves into them fighting. The text of the original journal is reproduced faithfully, but O’Connor’s images change the tone of the journal, adding visual humor and irony to the writing.

Throughout their travels, the men rely upon the Native Americans they meet to serve as guides and to help them find shelter and food. Bogaert also provides detailed descriptions of the Native Americans’ settlements, including the buildings where they lived, stored food, slept, and entertained. O’Connor’s illustrations use both the information from Bogaert’s text and the footnotes from the scholarly edition of the book, providing excellent and well-researched background scenery that fleshes out the sketch provided by Bogaert.

Characters

•Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, the protagonist, is a Dutch trader leading an exploration of Mohawk settlements, seeking to improve trade in beaver pelts. He is portrayed as young and attractive with blond hair; he is considerably shorter than his traveling companions and most of the indigenous people he meets. In the text, he relates his experience in a matter-of-fact tone. In the images, he is a much more lively figure, portrayed as frequently surprised by the things and people he encounters. He is the keeper of the journal; thus, he is the filter through which the reader learns everything in the story.

•Jeromus La Croex is one of Bogaert’s two companions on his travels. His name is sometimes spelled “Jeronimus.” O’Connor portrays him as portly and round. He repeatedly—and apparently needlessly—becomes alarmed about the behaviors of the Native Americans, worrying at one point “that an Indian was planning to kill him with a knife” and later fearful “that the Indians were arming themselves” to attack them, when in reality they were preparing for war games. He provides some comic relief in O’Connor’s illustrations of the journal.

•Willem Tomassen is the other of Bogaert’s two companions. O’Connor portrays him as tall and slender. Although the text itself does not mention this, O’Connor’s images show him commencing a romantic relationship with one of the native women, whom he ultimately brings back to Fort Orange with him at the end of their travels.

•Marten Gerritsen is the commissary of Fort Orange who sends the men on their mission. Although he does not actually appear as a character in the story, he sends the Dutch travelers several letters over the course of their travels, and they report to him on their progress.

Artistic Style

Although the book is based on real events, the illustrations are not particularly realistic, veering occasionally into an almost superhero style; at times, the images of the Native Americans are quite stylized and even stereotyped. Kirkus Reviews wrote that “Several facial expressions are presented with exaggerated juvenile quirkiness, marking the work’s interest level as definitely middle school.” Although at times comic, the illustrations are detailed in their portrayal of various clothing styles and the tools and homes of the Native Americans.

The color choices throughout the book serve to further emphasize the differences between the Native Americans and the Dutch explorers. Warm brown and orange earth tones are used to portray the natives, while the Dutchmen wear black, white, red, and purple. Color also serves to underscore tone and emotions. During the intense rituals of the medicine men, the color contrasts are stark with black, red, purple, and yellow creating frightening scenes in darkened, fire-lit tents. During one of the passages describing the Native Americans singing, the illustrations depict Bogaert dreaming; the color palette changes to pastels and the illustrations become even more simple and childlike, as Bogaert imagines all his dreams for success coming true.

Color is also used effectively to signal the temperature; inside the natives’ huts, warm browns and oranges signal warmth, in contrast with the blues of the frigid outdoors. Toward the end of the book, Bogaert strikes out on his own on a particularly cold and stormy night. Unable to start a fire, he explains, “I had to walk around all night to keep warm.” Following this statement are six, near-wordless full pages portraying Bogaert cold and terrified, being either haunted by or hallucinating a native man who appears to give him directions.

Themes

The original journal is simply a recounting of daily life as an explorer and trade ambassador to the Mohawk Indians. One major theme for the book can be seen as a questioning of what “really” happened compared to what Bogaert chooses to tell (or what O’Connor chooses to illustrate). While the original journal can be read as “just-the-facts” reporting, O’Connor’s version is adept at bringing out some of the curious resonances between the two supposedly alien cultures, showing them to be foreign not only to each other but also to modern readership.

Notions of religion, superstition, and medical treatment are notably intertwined within both the Dutch and the native culture. Bogaert describes some of the native religious rituals and worship of animal idols, but also mentions his own, such as shooting off his gun “in honor of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesu Christo.” Clearly both the natives and the Dutch hold to traditions and rituals that, to outsiders, may seem silly. Early in the book, Willem Tomassen’s leg “had swollen from walking,” and so Bogaert “made some cuts with a knife . . . and then smeared it with bear’s grease.” Bogaert’s supposed healing is juxtaposed with another incident when he observes a healing ritual in which one of the doctors—called “sunachkoes”—put a stick down his throat “and vomited on the patient’s head and all over his body.” Modern readers see both of these practices as disgusting and of questionable medical value.

Another central issue throughout the book is the ongoing misunderstandings between the two cultures. The Native Americans repeatedly provide the three Dutchmen with hospitality, yet despite the fact that they never encounter any violence at the hands of the natives, the Dutchmen repeatedly indicate their fears of them, both in the original text and in O’Connor’s illustrations. Bogaert notes during one gathering “if they had wanted to do anything to us we could have done nothing” and at another “had they any malicious intentions, they could have easily grabbed us with their hands and killed us without much trouble.” There is an undercurrent of a threat in the original journal, although it never amounts to anything. O’Connor picks up on this tension and amplifies it, showing the real and, more so, imagined fears of the three men. Bogaert describes entering a Native American settlement that is decorated with “three locks fluttered that they had cut from the heads of slain Indians.” In the image paired with this text, the reader sees three dangling scalps that match the hair colors and styles of the three Dutchmen, which they eye with concern.

The most substantial (and possibly controversial) addition that O’Connor provides is a love story playing out in the background between Tomassen and a Native American woman. In several early scenes, it becomes clear that Tomassen is flirting with her, despite the fact that there is no mention of this in the original text. Later, Bogaert’s journal indicates “I found many acquaintances,” and in the illustration, he looks on approvingly while his friend and his romantic companion are reunited. Later, while Bogaert explains his trade negotiations with the natives, the action in the images turns to the blooming relationship between Tomassen and his native girlfriend, who walk holding hands and who play games while Bogaert and La Croex negotiate the deal.

Impact

Journey into Mohawk Country is a unique collaboration between an author and illustrator, since the author was dead for three hundred years before the illustrator began his work. It is a singular example of a primary document being made into a graphic novel. Reception of Journey into Mohawk Country has been generally positive, with many librarians and teachers praising it as a way to get younger students to read history.

This was O’Connor’s first graphic novel. Prior to this book, he was known for children’s books, including Ker-Splash (2005) and Sally and the Some-Thing (2006). Since the publication of Journey into Mohawk Country, O’Connor has begun a graphic novel series with First Second Books called The Olympians, which focuses on retelling Greek mythology.

Further Reading

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006).

Lat. Kampung Boy (2006).

Neufeld, Josh. A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge (2010).

O’Connor, George. Zeus: King of the Gods (2010)

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Olympians (2010).

Bibliography

Abler, Thomas S. Review of A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634-1635. Ethnohistory 38, no. 3 (Summer, 1991) 340-343.

Bogaert, Harmen Meyndertsz van den. A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634-1635: The Journal of Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert. Translated and edited by Charles T. Gehring and William A. Starna. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1988.

Jackson, Tom, and Emily S. Rueb. “From Dutch to Drawings.” The New York Times, December 28, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/12/28/nyregion/200912-MOHAWK-ILLOS.html

“O’Connor, George: Journey into Mohawk Country.” Kirkus Reviews 74, no. 17 (September 1, 2006): 910.

Schwartz, E. A. “A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634-1635: The Journal of Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert.” The American Indian Quarterly 18, no. 1 (Winter, 1994): 119. http://find.galegroup.com.libproxy.uml.edu/itx/start.do?prodId=AONE.

Sheyahshe, Michael A. Native Americans in Comic Books: A Critical Study. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2008.