From Harney’s “A Strange Land and a Peculiar People” and Frost’s “Our Contemporary Ancestors in the Southern Mountains,” I can agree that ways they discussed Appalachian people could be problematic.

Harney describes people of his journey to have “quaint speech and patient poverty” (1). He explains how isolated the people are due to geography: progression of community suffered, along with vernacular of the people. Harney also criticizes how the “influence of the moon” is still believed to be responsible for vegetation, and the methods of which they go about farming, specifically with iron. He states, “In all such cases the failures are unrecorded, while the successes are noted, wondered at and published. By shooting arrows all day, even a blind man may hit the mark sometimes” (3). He argues that glorifying unique methods is invalid if they don’t work majority of the time.

Frost argues that the remoteness of Appalachian societies resulted from people “unconsciously [stepping] aside from the great avenues of commerce and thought” (1).  He uses “illiterate, moonshiners, homicides… poor white trash” to describe people he encounters, and states these societies provide ways of “measuring [our] progress of the moving world” (3). He criticizes the “absence of convenience” in everything they make or do (2). He does, however, point out the sense of “initiative” people hold to live functionally, especially if venturing to modern-day America (8).

Both Harney and Frost refer to the people of Appalachia almost as if they’re a different species and are not respectful of the peoples’ ways of everyday life.

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