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Richard Henry Pratt is a historical figure who is also the novel’s primary antagonist. He runs the prison at Fort Marion where Bear Shield and Jude are held captive. Pratt then helps found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, underlining the connection between imprisonment and the forced residential education of Native people in the U.S. Pratt represents the campaign of the U.S. government as a whole to eradicate Native people and Native culture and traces how those attempts shifted over time from massacres to the institutional violence of prisons and then residential schools. By showing the impacts of Pratt’s bigotry and racism in the present day, the novel underlines how that legacy of racism and bigotry continues to harm Native people in the U.S. today. Notably, in a section from Pratt’s perspective, the novel highlights that Pratt considers himself an upstanding and noble person who acted in Native people’s best interests, highlighting how “good intentions” and a belief in one’s own righteousness can become a way to justify heinous actions.
Richard Henry Pratt Quotes in Wandering Stars
The Wandering Stars quotes below are all either spoken by Richard Henry Pratt or refer to Richard Henry Pratt. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Prologue Quotes
To become not-Indian the way they meant it at Carlisle meant you killed the Indian to save the man, as was said by the man who made the school, which meant the Indian children would have to do all the dying.
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The essay in the prologue describes the mission of residential schools for Native children like Carlisle—founded by Richard Henry Pratt—which operated for decades throughout the U.S. The stated mission of the schools was to fracture Native children’s connections to Native culture, which amounted to attempted cultural genocide. The idea that Native people would have to be “killed” to sever their connection to their culture directly links the mission of the schools to the genocidal massacres carried out by the U.S. government, showing that while the tactics may have changed, the underlying goals and principles remained the same. The novel, then, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. R
Chapter 2 Quotes
[Pratt] said he would train us as soldiers. Give us discipline and rank. Give us guns to guard ourselves, keep us clean and uniformed and regimented. Pratt said he would make us wolves of the U.S. Army. When he said that, something cold slid up my spine […] that was all we ever did besides school and church—train to be military men, dressed as the very kind of men some of us had seen wipe our people out.
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Jude and Bear Shield have become prisoners of war at Fort Marion, a prison run by Richard Henry Pratt. The passage shows how Pratt and the prison attempt to erase Native culture by inculcating Native people into U.S. military culture. As the quote points out, the practice is especially insidious because the U.S. military had killed friends and family members of many of the people held captive. Later in the novel, Pratt uses the same tactics at Carlisle, the school that Pratt helps found and then becomes the superintendent of. This passage, then, shows how Pratt adapts techniques he developed Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a
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Richard Henry Pratt Character Timeline in Wandering Stars
The timeline below shows where the character Richard Henry Pratt appears in Wandering Stars. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
...Saint Augustine, Florida. Once there, they were imprisoned. At the prison, their jailer Richard Henry Pratt ordered that the hair of the Native people be cut and made them wear military...
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Chapter 2
...years in a “prison-castle” in Florida as prisoners of war. Their jailer is Richard Henry Pratt. He makes them wear military uniforms, which are the same uniforms worn by the men...
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...planning process because everyone but Bear Shield thinks that because he’s mute, he’s a “fool.” Pratt discovers the plan before they can make the attempt and then makes Bear Shield and...
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After that, there are no more escape attempts. Jude imagines what he would do to Pratt, or any white man, if he had the chance. Later, someone comes to make plaster...
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Chapter 5
Richard Henry Pratt sits on his porch in retirement, reflecting on his time spent as a jailer in...
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Chapter 7
Pratt takes a train to San Francisco, which is more taxing than any train ride he...
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Chapter 9
On Pratt’s second day in San Francisco, he goes to look for Charles Star. Pratt finds him...
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