Sierra Adkins

Play Paper #1
Within the Body
I thought that if I ever read theatrical works by and about Native Americans, I would
immediately understand them because I share that same culture; however, I was completely
wrong. When I first read Body Indian, written by Kiowa and Delaware playwright Hanay
Geiogamah, I found myself struggling to grasp the main idea or theme of the play. The plot
focuses on a Native American man in his mid-thirties named Bobby Lee who presents himself as
a raging alcoholic. He visits a cramped, one-room apartment that belongs to his uncle Howard,
only to discover three other people in the apartment passed out from intoxication: Ethel
(Howards girlfriend), Thompson, and Eulahlah (Thompsons wife). Immediately after Bobby
walks into the room, he is cornered by Howard and approached for money in order to buy
alcohol. Scene after scene, he is badgered and pestered for alcohol money, and, at first, I was
under the impression Geiogamahs goal was to insinuate that Natives were actually a bunch of
drunkards. However, I eventually realized that the money and alcohol served as metaphors for
white superiority held over Native Americans in the United States, in addition to Bobbys
prosthetic legs and the echoing sounds of the train throughout the.
From beginning-to-end, the characters in the Body Indian continue to badger each other for
money for alcohol, or in Bobby Lees case, an Alcoholics Anonymous rehabilitation program.
Early on in the production, it is established that each one of the characters receives money from
their lease men for leasing out land on their tribes reservations. Surprisingly, all of the
characters, besides Bobby, spend all of their money on alcoholic beverages. The supporting
characters most likely remain in a constant state of drunkenness in order to escape from the
struggle of their everyday lives. It is safe to that the lease men belong to Caucasian ethnic
backgrounds, and, in a way, the money that is used to pay for the lease goes straight back into the

pockets of the white American population due to the fact that taxes from the any purchased
alcohol are collected by the government, which is predominated by middle-aged white males.
Even though Bobby conceals his saved up money in his prosthetic leg, his friends proceed to
get him repeatedly drunk and steal his cash while he remains blacked out on the bed in the
center of the apartment. Similar to the others, Bobbys money gets used to buy an assortment of
wine. This shows that no matter what, Native Americans will lose money and power of selfcontrol in the white society.
In addition to the loss of money as an image of power over the entire Native American
population, Bobby Lees prosthetic leg serves as a symbol of how the degradation of his culture
affects him. Right when Bobby enters the stage for the first time at the start of the play,
Geiogamah makes it a point to illustrate the level of discomfort that the false ligament gives the
main character as he lumbers across the stage with crutches. Only to make the situation even
more uncomfortable for him, each of the supporting characters take turns at detaching his limb in
order to rummage for any loose bills. As this action continues to occur more often, Bobbys leg
seems not to be a part of him anymore. The leg turns into an entirely separate entity that only
lingers on it host to aid him in walking and hiding any spare cash. It is the only unnatural and
non-Native part of Bobby, and it is easily removed without any trouble which aids in the loss of
his money. The prosthetic leg is a man-made product that hinders the movement of its owner, and
that prevents him from escaping his deteriorating lifestyle which mirrors how white society has
hindered the movement toward a better future for Native.
The ultimate hindrance for Bobby Lee is the train that ran over his leg as he drunkenly laid
on its tracks. Bobbys train accident is the reason that he receives his prosthetic limb in the first
place. Throughout the production, the sound of a train will interrupt a scene and proceed to echo

louder and louder, causing all of the supporting characters to halt in their tracks while staring
timidly into space, similar to how a group of people would react to being threatened by a higher
power. The train is one of the ultimate inventions created by white males, and it happened to be
the mechanism that ran over a Native American mans legs as he remained helpless in its path.
Every time the battle over money and alcohol neared its climax, the trains whistle would begin
to blow, causing everyone to stop what they were doing. In a sense, the train imagery matches
with the concept of white supremacy. Trains are powerful forces that have the ability to crush
whatever gets in their way. Caucasian Americans have pushed Native Americans off their land
and taken parts of their culture for generations. They claimed what they stole as their own. The
train whistle reminds Bobby Lee of the part of him he lost and also serves as symbol for what he
could potentially lose as a member of an indigenous people group in the near future.
The money, prosthetic leg, and train that repeatedly get mentioned in the play Body Indian
symbolize the power that Caucasians have over Native Americans in todays society. The three
symbols display the effects of the degradation of Native Americans such as the continual loss of
their money, bodies, and culture. The characters created by Hanay Geiogamah exude a sense of
hopelessness that remains very real to the indigenous population today. Similar to Bobby Lee, all
Natives stand to have something valuable taken away from them.