- The document discusses the book "The Education of Little Tree" which describes the life of a young boy named Little Tree who is orphaned and taken in by his Cherokee grandparents in the mountains of Tennessee during the Depression Era. He learns resilience and independence living with his grandparents who encourage him to make his own decisions. - Little Tree is taught Cherokee traditions about nature and mentoring. He learns the trade of whiskey distilling from his grandfather. However, he is later sent to an orphanage where he faces discrimination and abuse. - Despite these hardships, Little Tree's education in self-reliance and symbols from his grandparents gave him psychological protection. The document analyzes Little Tree's development

1. Little Tree: Resilience and
Independence
By: Gary E. Miller Jr.

2. The Education of Little Tree (1976)
by: Forrest Carter

3. Meet the Author
• Many suggest that Asa
Earl Carter is the true
author of the book
• Also author of The
Rebel Outlaw: Josey
Wales which became a
Clint Eastwood movie
• Speech writer for
George C. Wallace
• May have been a
former Ku Klux Klan
member

4. Life in the
Mountains
• Father passes away
• Mother passes one year
after the father
• Taken in by Cherokee
grandparents at 5 years old
• Lives in the mountains of
Tennessee during the
Depression Era
• Little Tree is encouraged to
make his own decisions
about how to live his new
life with his grandparents

5. Erik Eriksons’s Theory
of Psychological
Development
• Stage 3: Initiative versus Guilt
• 3-5 year old range
• Self concept and self-esteem
begin to develop
• Children develop
interpersonal skills through
lively play and interaction
with others
• Ability for planning, make
believe and games is
developed
• Children begin to take
initiative which should be
guided appropriately by
parents
• Too much guilt may hamper
the child’s development of
interpersonal skills

6. Cherokee
Mentoring
• The Way means taking
only what one needs from
nature
• Cherokee mentoring of
young males involves
guidance and counsel
while allowing a safe level
of decision making
autonomy
• This is consistent with
Authoritative Parenting

7. Cherokee View on Nature
and Animals
• Strong but diverse oral traditions on history and nature
• Animals, plants and even geological formations are seen as
sentient players in the cycles of nature
• Humans are superior to other animals and to plants but still find
themselves within the cycles of nature
• Humans have a responsibility to take only what they need from
nature

8. Learning the
Trade
• Granpa shows Little
Tree his whiskey
still
• Little Tree takes
pride in his new
trade
• Little Tree barely
escapes the law
• Little Tree is praised
for being better than
Granpa himself

9. Erik Eriksons’s Theory
of Psychological
Development
• Stage 4: Industry versus
Inferiority
• 5-12 year old range
• Children begin reading,
writing and arithmetic
• Peer groups become more
important source of self-
esteem
• Child seeks approval by
achieving competencies
valued by society
• If initiative is not encouraged
then the child may develop a
sense of inferiority

10. Learning to be
Weary
• First encounter with an ‘appeal
to character’ when Little Tree
naively trusts a Christian man
during a trade
• Loses his money and the calf
he purchases dies on the trail
home
• Little Tree decides not to trade
with Christians anymore
• Granma corrects Little Tree to
be more careful about what
strangers say to compel one to
make a purchase

11. Trust and Strange
Animals
• Children are more susceptible
to the character of the
authority figure involved in
novel situations
• When encountering a novel
animal younger children will
approach the animal based on
their trust in the authority
figure accompanying them
• Older children rely more on
pertinent information
regarding the threating or
non-threatening traits of the
animal

12. Academics
• Granma sends Granpa and Little Tree to the library
frequently
• Granma assigned new words from the dictionary every week
• Read classical literature to Little Tree and Granpa
• Mr. Wine helped with “figuring” mathematics

13. The Orphanage
• Grandparents deemed
unfit to raise Little Tree
• Discrimination for being
Native American and a
bastard
• Children in orphanages
experience high levels of
hopelessness
• Little Tree is beaten by
the minister until blood
runs into his shoes

14. Resiliency
• The mental, physical, emotional
and behavioral ability to face and
cope with adversity, adapt to
change, recover, learn and grow
from setbacks (US Army)
• Granpa said “no matter what
happens, if you can stay on your
feet you’ll probably be OK.”
• Little Tree remained standing
through the lashing by the
minister
• A study in Israel demonstrated
that after implementation of
resiliency training children were
able to cope better with PTSD
effects from rocket attacks

15. The Dog Star and
Symbols
• Granma and Granpa tell Little Tree to look
at the Dog Star whenever he wants to be
with them.
• Learning to attach symbols to conceptual
meaning has shown to improve spiritual
intelligence and imagination in children.
• The Dog Star provided a symbol for Little
Tree’s intimate contact with his loved
ones.
• Little Tree’s Grandparents pass
away shortly after they are
reunited.
• The Dog Star provides Little
Tree with a symbol of eternal
contact with his family.

16. Conclusion
• Loss of both parents and
grandparents sets Little Tree up
for adult depression
• The abuse he experiences could
lead to life long anxiety
• Little Tree’s education in
independence, self-reliance and
resiliency provided emotional
and psychological protection
• There is sufficient evidence to
suggest that Little Tree will
move into adulthood with less
bias and a calm demeanor in the
face of adversity

17. References
Aftandilian, D. (2011). Toward a Native American Theology of Animals: Creek and Cherokee Perspectives.
Crosscurrents, 61(2), 191-207. DOI: 10.1111/j.1939-3881.2011.00175.x
Baum, N. L., Cardozo, B. L., Pat-Horenczyk, R., Ziv, Y., Blanton, C., Reza, A., …Brom, D., (2013). Training
Teachers to Build Resilience in Children in the Aftermath of a War: A Clustered Randomized Trial. Child Youth
Care Forum, 42, 339-350. DOI: 10.1007/s10566-013-9202-5
Berk, L. E. (2014). Exploring Lifespan Development (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Bingler, R. S., Wright, Y. F., (2014). Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Racism? Risks and Benefits to Teaching
Children About Intergroup Biases. Child Development Perspectives, 8(1), 18-23. DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12057

18. References (cont’d)
Boseovski, J. J., Thurman, S. L. (2014). Evaluating and Approaching a Strange Animal: Children’s Trust in Informant
Testimony. Child Development, 85(2), 824-834. DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12156
Carter, F. (2008). The Education of Little Tree. Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press.
Coffino, B. (2009). The Role of Childhood Parent Figure Loss in the Etiology of Adult
Depression: Findings from a Prospective Longitudinal Study. Attachment and Human Development, 11(5),
445-470. DOI: 10.1080/14616730903135993
Costello, K., Hodson, G. (2014). Explaining Dehumanization Among Children: The Interspecies Model of Prejudice.
British Journal of Social Psychology, 53(1), 175-197. DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12016

19. References (cont’d)
Dunifon, R. (2013). The Influence of Grandparents on the Lives of Children and Adolescents. Child
Development Perspectives, 7(1), 55–60. DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12016
Flander, B. G., Mateskovic, D., Tuscic, S. J. (2013). The Consequences Of Child Abuse. Pediatrics Today, 9(1),
24-35. DOI: 10.5457/p2005-114.58
Lowe, J. (2005). Being Influenced: A Cherokee Way of Mentoring. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 12(2), 37-49.
Moriarty, M. W. (2009). Evaluating Children’s Use of Symbol in Some Recent Research. International Journal
of Children’s Spirituality, 14(1), 47-61. DOI: 10.1080/13644360802658750