Themes
The Mandie books are Christian in theme. Mandie prays when troubled, and attempts to demonstrate Christian virtues of tolerance and compassion. Mandie is proud to be part Cherokee and she has a diverse group of friends, including a girl with mental retardation. However, some critics have complained that the Cherokee characters in the Mandie books are depicted in a stereotypical manner; for instance, Uncle Ned's English is poor and his speech is filled with terms like "happy hunting grounds", "squaw", and "papoose". African Americans are also portrayed stereotypically, as well as unrealistically, as seen in Mandie's close friendships with the servants which goes uncensored by her family.
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Famous quotes containing the word themes:
“I suppose you think that persons who are as old as your father and myself are always thinking about very grave things, but I know that we are meditating the same old themes that we did when we were ten years old, only we go more gravely about it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In economics, we borrowed from the Bourbons; in foreign policy, we drew on themes fashioned by the nomad warriors of the Eurasian steppes. In spiritual matters, we emulated the braying intolerance of our archenemies, the Shi’ite fundamentalists.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)