Wayah of the Real People by William O. Steele
**Concept Overview: Wayah of the Real People by William O. Steele**
"Wayah of the Real People" is a novel that follows a young Cherokee boy named Wayah as he navigates the complexities of life at Brafferton Hall, a Christian school in Williamsburg, Virginia. Chosen for a year of education, Wayah faces cultural challenges and personal insecurities upon his arrival in a world that is vastly different from his Chota Cherokee village. The story explores his experiences with language, unfamiliar customs, and social dynamics, highlighting his initial sense of inadequacy and growth throughout the year. Key encounters, such as befriending a fellow student named Duncan and translating for the visiting Emperor of the Cherokees, illustrate the tensions between different Cherokee factions and the misunderstandings that arise between Native Americans and Europeans.
The narrative emphasizes Wayah's perspective, illustrating the wonder and confusion he feels towards the white man's world and the recognition of his own cultural identity. Steele's portrayal of Native American experiences invites readers to appreciate the diversity within indigenous cultures, challenging the stereotype of a singular "Indian" identity. By showcasing Wayah’s journey, the book encourages empathy for the complexities of Native American life and provides insights into the historical context of Cherokee struggles during a transformative era. This novel is noted for being one of the first to present a nuanced Native American viewpoint to young audiences, paving the way for future works that seek to deepen understanding and appreciation for indigenous narratives.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Wayah of the Real People by William O. Steele
First published: 1964; illustrated
Type of work: Historical fiction
Themes: Education, and race and ethnicity
Time of work: 1752-1753
Recommended Ages: 10-13
Locale: Williamsburg, Virginia
Principal Characters:
Wayah , Cherokee of the Chotas who, at eleven, leaves everything familiar to him to study in WilliamsburgThe Reverend Thomas Dawson , a white teacher who kindly helps Wayah understand some of the strange customsDuncan , a wealthy white student who befriends Wayah and takes him to the family plantation for a holiday
The Story
Because the young Wayah, in Wayah of the Real People, has learned several English words from a wounded trader recovering in his Chota Cherokee village, he is chosen for a one-year Christian education at Brafferton Hall in Williamsburg, Virginia. On his arrival, he feels very inadequate, but the schoolmaster, the Reverend Thomas Dawson, reassures him. Wayah’s impressions when entering Brafferton Hall, the first multiple-story building he has ever seen, include viewing the “series of little wooden shelves, one above the other.” He has never seen steps. Then he reaches to touch the tree just outside his room, and when something stops his hand (glass), he is amazed to be able to touch something he cannot see. He has heard of books, and so when he sees one in class he listens for the “talking marks” (letters) but hears nothing. The bell seems like the “voice of a powerful god,” but he cannot understand its request. The clothes constrict, and the noisy and uncomfortable shoes hurt his feet.
Soon after his arrival, the college president announces that a valuable garnet is missing from his ring. Wayah has no idea what a garnet is. A week later, when a boy pushes him into a bush, his hand lands on a beautiful red stone. Delighted to have a lucky amulet, he expects it to help him survive the year. He hides it in his trunk, but one day, the Shawnee student and quasi-enemy, William Squirrel, almost catches him looking at it. Wayah rushes outside and hides the stone behind a loose brick. In the late spring, men come to repair the bricks and find the stone. No one confesses to hiding the stone, and not until Wayah sees it does he realize that they blame him. Master Dawson suddenly understands that Wayah thought the stone valuable only to himself.
During the year, two interesting opportunities occur. Duncan befriends Wayah. He takes Wayah to see the town’s shops and to his plantation home. The mounds of food surprise Wayah, but he enjoys the games with Duncan’s family. He even teaches Duncan’s father to shoot his bow and arrow. He only tolerates Duncan’s mother’s playing on the “black box” with a “huge row of fiercely grinning white teeth” (piano), never adjusting to the music.
The second opportunity is the Emperor of Cherokees’ visit to the school. Since this man belongs to the Great Tellico Cherokees, he is a Chota enemy. Master Dawson, equating all Cherokees, enlists the unwilling Wayah to translate. Wayah even attends William Shakespeare’s Othello with them, riding in a carriage. Unable to understand the performance, Wayah sleeps.
During the Williamsburg year, Wayah learns to read and begins to comprehend number relationships; however, Uncle Two Sticks’ arrival at the end of the year relieves him. He knows that he will miss Duncan and Master Dawson, but he longs for his family and his friends.
At home, he defuses an argument between a brave and a trader. The Cherokee pays three skins for an axe and the trader wants four. Wayah listens to the trader and translates that three skins in Virginia is reasonable but that the trader wants an extra skin for traveling to the village. The brave understands and acquiesces. Afterward, Wayah’s paternal grandfather, Otonee, once opposed to Wayah’s year in Williamsburg, admits that Wayah will help keep peace with the Virginians.
Context
During William O. Steele’s youth and adulthood in Tennessee, stories about the strength of the prerevolutionary pioneers and the historic Cherokees continued to engage his imagination. In many of his thirty-nine books, he presents the viewpoint of the white pioneers, their blood cooling at the startling fierceness of Indian war whoops. Wayah of the Real People, however, reveals Steele’s ability to take the Indian’s point of view, amazed at the white man’s magic and uncertain in the white man’s world, yet content and competent in his own. Some of Steele’s critics have complained that all of his stories show pioneers wanting to kill the Indians; to a pioneer, as Steele reiterated, “the best Indian was a dead Indian.” These same critics could not have read Wayah of the Real People. In this story as well as in The Man with the Silver Eyes (1976), the reader begins to empathize with the Indian and to comprehend the difficulties that Indians would have understanding the motivations of the white man.
Most important, Steele illustrates that the term “Indian” is generic. He emphasizes the battle between the Chotas and the Great Tellicoes for control of the Cherokee tribe. Additionally, Steele chooses to have Indian boys from four different tribes at Brafferton. Their differences reveal that the contemporary name for Indian, Native American, more accurately reveals diversity.
Wayah of the Real People, as the first quality work published for young people presenting the continental Native American point of view, has led the way for insightful interpretations such as Scott O’Dell’s Sing Down the Moon (1970) and Elizabeth George Speare’s The Sign of the Beaver (1983). Wayah’s appraisals of the white culture help the reader cast a more objective eye on the time—not only to identify excess but also to appreciate achievement.