Journal Response #10 4/20/2012 Based on the readings by the Native American authors, how might these groups of people relate themselves in similar ways to the traditional past and modern life? In the stories “The Way to a Rainy Mountain,” “The Man to Send Rain Clouds ,” and “Coyote Holds a Full House in His Hand,” we are able to dig into the lives of some Native Americans tribes to discover the complexities of their cultures. Both of these authors, Momaday and Silkon write about their heritage in their stories, which makes them more convincing since they are told from the point of view of someone who has experienced the Native American way of life. All of these Native American writers are able to convey to the reader a strong sense of knowledge about their cultural traditions, landscape of their regions and their understanding of modern life. Furthermore, as the author of the biography of Silko, the writer of “The Man to Send Rain Clouds ,” and “Coyote Holds a Full House in His Hand,” remarks, “She concentrates on the everyday life of the people she knows, the distinct mythical, historical, and present-day worlds in which they simultaneously exist.” Consequently, living between two worlds and two cultures adds to the life experience of many Native Americans who blend their ancient traditions with modern life to create a unique life experience.
Momaday goes back to his ancestral homeland Rainy Mountain to his grandmother’s grave making him experience a deeper personal connection to his ancestral past and his grandmother’s childhood and this is important to him because it’s a reflection of who he is, he thinks of his grandmother as a child and explains her childhood and how her childhood compares to his. The author then reflects back on Kiowa’s history tells of their migration and transformation into a greater people, via his grandmother’s childhood, Momaday steps further into the Kiowa part, from their migration from the Yellowstone to the Great Plains, and their transformation into great buffalo hunters. Momaday confesses it was the confines created by the landscape of Yellowstone that led to the great migration of the Kiowa tribe, who later on met another tribe called the Crows, who gave them the culture and religion of the plains and learned about the tai-me or Sun Dance who soon became very important to them as part of their tradition and a cause of becoming a stronger tribe, they acquitted horses, which led to them becoming the best horsemen and warriors. The Kiowa’s belief the dance shared the divinity of the sun and would become one of the tribe’s most sacred traditions. It is around the “Sun Dance” that
Aaron Nobles Mrs. Adela Garcia English 098 11 October 2013 Summary of “The Homestead on Rainy Mountain Creek” In the essay “The Homestead on a Rainy Mountain Creek”, N. Scott Momaday discusses his life in the town of Mountain View and his experiences with the Kiowa people. He describes different places on the homestead and memories from his childhood in each place. Momaday remembers the house and the many visitors that as a child he didn’t realize were significant to his culture. “The essential integrity of the tribe was maintained by means of a kind of institutionalized visiting, whereby persons and families would venture abroad to pay visits, to keep intact a whole network of news and trade” (141). Momaday also explains those
I chose the book Sacajawea by Harold P. Howard for my topic, the Louis and Clark Expedition. This book tells of the incredible journey of Louis and Clark as they made their way across the continent to explore and document the land and what it contained, and how Sacajawea at age sixteen, with her baby strapped to her back helped guide the explorers through the uncharted terrain of the western United States. This book also contains the controversial accounts of Sacajawea’s life after the expedition explaining what might have became of the beneficial Indian girl. I thought the content was very interesting and it explained the explorers’ journey well. The book Sacajawea made me truly understand what it was like to travel an extreme distance mostly
Comparative Essay Night Vs. The Things They Carried Discuss the significance of family in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and in Elie Wiesel’s Night. In The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien and Night by Elie Wiesel, the characters’ families influence the decisions that they make. In the two texts, father and son relationships have a role to play in how the characters behave, it is evident when Elie and his father choose to stay together and help each other in the death camps and in The Things They Carried when Norman Bowker is driving round the lake thinking of his father. Elie and Tim as characters of the book both had instances where they realised that they would probably never see their family again.
Also, I have found that Gundersheimer and Turkle have many of similarities. Turkle used objects to restore the missing memories about her father. Gundersheimer used family album object to find information about the unknown faces in the album and the missing memories and history of his Grandparents. When Gundersheimer looked at each photograph in the album, his brain started recalling those memories and events. So he remembered his mother’s parents and the letter that his mother wrote.
In Joan Aleshire’s poem, the theme she is portraying is her love for her father and that death is a toll that we all have to take. Aleshire’s poem is very meaningful to me. I can relate this poem to my grandfather. In the fifth line in the poem, “Years, like pickpockets lift his concentration, memory, and fine sense of direction” (pg. 89) is a strong metaphor.
(BODY) (KEY POINT) Alice Munro depicts childhood attitude of the narrator when she remembers her childhood. (SUPPORTING DETAILS) She has an eight years old friend Steve Gauley, drowned. It seemed a worse shame that there was no mother, no grandmother, aunt or even sister to received Steve Gauley and give him his due respect. He has a father who saw Steve as an accident to his life. The funeral held in their house and her mother did most of the arranging of Steve funeral.
/ I thought even the bones would do (Plath 58-60)”. The narrator’s father has died, and feels as though death is the only option to relieve her pain of missing her father. Although the theme of abandonment may not be seen throughout all of Sylvia Plath’s poems, it is common in the few poems mentioned above. In the poem “The Bee Meeting” Plath writes “They are all gloved and covered, why did nobody tell me? /They are smiling and taking out veils tacked to ancient hats.
When her brother fell ill, she decided to look after his house and moved in. Since her own place was empty, she invited a close friend to move in her shack ... Her friend moved into the shack with her then partner who was violent. Mamgo believes this was the primary factor leading to her losing her shack. She recounts the story of how her friend was badly beaten by her partner and she almost lost her life.