Parillo’s main argument in his second chapter of Diversity in America is that many Americans fall victim to to stereotypes when thinking about a diverse group of people like the Native Americans. Native American depictions in movies like Dances with Wolves (1990) are repeatedly branded as warriors on horsebacks who wear feathers and live in tipis. Although some of these depictions in movies and people’s minds are based on reality, Parillo argues that these depictions represent only a few possible realities of the hundreds of tribes that existed in aboriginal America. Just because a particular tribe hunted buffalo, does not mean that every last native relied on buffalo as a main food source. To support his argument that Native Americans are victims of broad generalizations, Parillo gives examples of how diverse and multicultural these groups of people were to prove to his readers that not all natives were and are the same. …show more content…
As a subtopic of gender roles, division of labor varied from region to region and tribe to tribe contrary to the beliefs of White-European observers. In the Northeast Woodlands, hunting and warfare were physically strenuous demands that men often did which would result in exhaustion and a few days of needed rest. After hunting or battle the men would recover while the women took over many tasks in the native settlements. According to Parillo, the European observers misinterpreted the division of labor for “lazy braves and industrious squaws,” but in reality the division of labor had a good balance of labor between males and females. (pages