Indian Camp

In “Indian Camp,” wounds appear on three prominent characters: the pregnant woman, the husband, and Uncle George. Each of these wounds comes from interactions between white and Indigenous characters, with the pregnant woman cut open by Dr. Adams, Uncle George bitten by the woman, and the husband slitting his own throat in response to the white men’s presence. Because of this connection, the wounds represent the suffering caused by colonization.

This is most pronounced in the cesarean section performed by Dr. Adams on the pregnant woman. While caesareans are life-saving surgeries, Dr. Adams performs this one brutally, turning a standard medical procedure into a violent act. He chooses to bring surgical implements but not anesthesia, indicating that while he knew surgery was a likelihood, he did not consider his patients’ pain worth soothing. Likewise, while he sterilizes medical equipment at the start of the story, he mentions that he performed the surgery with a jack knife, or a pocketknife. This multipurpose blade is wholly inappropriate for the job; surgical scalpels are thinner, likely sharper, and usually sterilized. In the absence of anesthesia that would have subdued her, four men must hold her down while she is cut open.