Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 2011
Abstract
There have been numerous studies of the frontier myth as it operated in the early republic and throughout our history. As a result of this work, we know a lot about the frontier myth, its history, elements, and ideological functioning. We know less, however, about how that myth developed when its ideological elements met the empirical realities of western emigration. I argue that four specific cultural fictions—erasure, civilization, community, and democracy— are integral elements of the larger fiction of the American frontier myth. By understanding them through the vehicle of the Donner Party narratives, we can deepen our understanding of that myth and the ways in which it operates and resonates throughout the national culture and contributes to the development of American national identity.
Recommended Citation
Stuckey, Mary, "The Donner Party and the Rhetoric of Western Expansion" (2011). Communication Faculty Publications. 24.
https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_facpub/24
Comments
Originally published:
Stuckey, M. (2010). The Donner Party and the Rhetoric of Western Expansion. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 14(2), 229-260. DOI: 10.1353/rap.2010.0224