In her short story "She Waits in the Spirit Land," Lydia Maria Child explores the love between two young Indians. Though the couple is not married in an official sense, they are deeply committed to one another, and clearly enjoy the sexual aspect of their relationship. Indeed, the frank manner in which Child conveys the physical nature of Wah-bu-nung-o and O-ge-bu-no-qua's relationship is rather surprising given the fact that the story was written in the nineteenth century when Victorian values called for the repression of all sexual desire and curiosity. In this sense, Child's story seems "daringly erotic" (195) and appears to assert that the erotic is simply a normal part of life, as she employs an unapologetically candid tone in describing the romance and uses the setting to express the notion that sexuality and sexual desire are a natural part of one's life. Her casual attitude toward sexuality seems to imply that it is not only a pure and innocent response but one which falls outside of the purvey of society's judgmental role. It would not make sense to judge sexuality any more than it would make sense to judge love, compassion, or any other natural response to another human being. Child implies that the judgmental attitude toward sexuality evidenced in other societies is a result of those societies' perverted manner of looking at something that is without sin and attempting to render it sinful. In that sense, she seems to be suggesting that perhaps civilization itself is the problem, with all of its associated man-made taboos, rules, and sins, whereas sexuality itselfùapart from the taboos that make it sinfulùis simply innocent and natural.
In the story, Child describes the development of the relationship between Wah-bu-nung-o and Ol-ge-bu-no-qua. They begin as children who play together, but quickly become inseparable as young adults, and often go off to spend time alone together. The tone associated with this rela...