The Way to Rainy Mountain In the essay entitled "The way to Rainy Mountain" by N. Scott Momaday describes a location in which his Kiowa ancestors once lived. The Kiowa Indian reservations took place in Oklahoma and it was most sacred to the Indians. Momaday revisits his heritage on the occasion of his grandmother's death. He begins to learn about the history regarding the Kiowa tribe. Momaday explores old myths and history lessons passed down to generations. Momaday discusses how the Us Calvery invasions took away their tribe's freedom to express themselves. The author grieves for the loss of his beloved grandmother and culture The significance of Momaday's statement regarding the Kiowas "reckoned their statue by the distance they could see" (131) is illustrating the beauty and desolation of the Kiowa life. The statement relates to the ultimate fate of the Indian's life by describing the feelings of loneliness and the absence from the loss of their ancestors and traditions. It is clear the Kiowa people and their history are closely related to the land they journeyed. …show more content…
The key point to the quote is his grandmother faced many difficulties on the reservations. Mamaday gave his readers a glimpse of how deeply religious hid grandmother used to be. The concept of prayer supports the central idea of the Kiowas keeping their cutlers and beliefs alive by passing down their traditions. The author talks about his grandmother's journey which reveals how important she is to him. It is symbolic that Momaday could not understand those prayers because he never learned Kiowa, but it is an example of how separated he is from his
The book “The Road on Which We Came, by Steven J. Crum is a chronological report of the Shoshone peoples, and their history during the times from the Frontier to present-day. The main objective of Crum’s writings is the disposition of the Western Shoshone people. Unlike the majority of other Tribes, forgotten in history books as they assimilated into white society, the Western Shoshone have preserved their existence by cautiously dealing with settlers, defending their territory, and maintaining a large portion of their lands. From the initial mid-nineteenth century white contact, Crum describes the disruption of a way of life for the Newe, to the accepted need to adapt in the large modern society around them. The depiction of the Newe people as resilient and resourceful in the fight to preserve their culture and tradition, all while adapting to the forcefully changing environment around them (Crum, pp.
Momaday had many purpose’s in writing his novel Rainy Mountain. The main purpose is to educate the public about the Kiowa tribe that lived between the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States. Although the Kiowa tribe may have been forgotten by the prodominence of the population, Momaday refuses to let the history fade away into oblivion. Another purpose to writing the novel was the loss of his Grandmother who was a Kiowa symbol to him. His Grandmother was the last of the Kiowa’s known to Momaday so writing the novel helps keep the history of the Kiowa’s alive and proves to be very important and personal to him to continue his family name and culture through the novel.
Throughout the book we are given an interesting look into the role that the Native Americans played in the environment. Before the colonist arrived, the Native Americans lived a life of traveling from place to place depending on the season. They had a system of land ownership that was fluid and varied depending on the environment and on their source of food for that season. This was a stark contrast from the colonization strategies of the new settlers that we have seen. As the colonists continued their development of the environment the traditions that the Native Americans lived by began to deteriorate.
These soldiers cut down my timber; they kill my buffalo; and when I see that, my heart feels like bursting; I feel sorry.” (Santana, Chief of the Kiowas 1). This quote strikes strongly; he states his feelings of the Whites destroying the land, his land. The men start to spread into Indian territory and taking the sources of the land such as buffalo. Due to the Slaughter of buffalo this impacted the Natives spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
Character Analysis Essay Throughout the story, The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, the author presents Kiowa as a complex and intelligent troop by using multiple indirect and sometimes confusing quotes like, “The earth is slow, but the buffalo is patient…” (O’Brien 35). It is for these mystical and spiritual quotes/characteristics why I chose to write this essay over him. I found some of these characterizations through the character’s thoughts, his actions/what he says, and what others say about him.
Where Jacobson works with animalistic symbolism, Morrisseau expresses the Ojibway worldview within his work through the use of narratives. Morrisseau’s grandfather Potan was known as a Midewinini and Jissakan, a shaking tent seer, and was well versed in the traditional stories and teachings of his people. One aspect of the Ojibway world view is the importance of narrative, which was told by the elders of the community. These narratives “were instrumental in teaching about history and morality. The Ojibwa narratives were used to pass on knowledge,” (Wobodistch, 15)
Once European men stepped foot onto what is now known as North America, the lives of the Native Americans were forever changed. The Indians suffered centuries of torment and ridicule from the settlers in America. Despite the reservations made for the Natives, there are still cultural issues occurring within America. In Sherman Alexie’s, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the tragic lives of Native Americans in modern society are depicted in a collection of short stories taking place in the Spokane Reservation in Washington state. Throughout the collection, a prominent and reoccurring melancholic theme of racism against Native Americans and their struggle to cope with such behavior from their counterpart in this modern day and age is shown.
After watching Tecumseh’s Vision, I became more knowledgeable about the struggles Natives had to experience as western civilization occurred. Tecumseh was a trailblazer to his people and was a visionary. He was in favor of a strong Indian confederacy and was a strong Indian leader. As a result of rising tensions between the Shawnees and the Americans, it lead to a costly culmination of battles in order to claim Ohio land and westward expansion. Tecumseh’s legacy lives on and he is remembered for his leadership and courage to take on the Americans.
In Tim O’Brien’s short story, “On the Rainy River” he struggles with his response to a draft notice. The story describes the events that take place in the summer of 1968 after graduation, starting with a notice he receives, requesting him to take part in the war. He goes on to express his attitude towards the conflict that has led to the war; his stance is that of general opposition, the resistance originates from what he refers to as “no unity of purpose”. The narrator goes on to describe his summer job of de-clotting pigs at a slaughter house, then his decision to flee the country for Canada; on his way to Canada Tim-while looking for a place to rest- encounters an old fishing resort called the Tip Top Lodge. Here he meets the person who
October 1, 1734 marks the date that Chickasaw tribe was attacked. This battle lead to the answer of how the paint horses got there markings. It all started when the Chickasaw tribe invaded the camps of the Cherokee Indians, and abducted the wife 's and kids of the Cherokees. The Chickasaw men were envious of the Cherokee men for their ability, to create strong families; considering, the Chickasaw men were unable to marry, due to a curse set upon them by the artisans in 400 BC. If the Chickasaw men wanted to break this curse they were to abduct the families in plain sight from the Cherokee men.
In conclusion, Momaday essay of his grandmother gives the reader sense of the Kiowa Tribes’ history and that his grandmother was important to him. Also, he gives incredible imagery of what the weather and land was like back then. I say he did a good job focusing on the two aims and two modes. Also, he gets a feel of living that era by go back to the
In the history of our forefathers and the generations before us we find countless examples of sacrifice, people gave their blood, sweat, and tears in the hope of a better future. One would think that the penance given long ago should be honored, remembered, and carried on in days to come. Joseph M. Marshall certainly believes so and furthers his thoughts through his book, The Lakota Way. Marshall is a descendant of the Lakota tribe, a proud culture with deep roots in American history. Like many of his people before him, Marshall passes on stories meant to teach the proper way of life.
Native Americans have a very rich and interesting past. The story “The World on the Turtle’s Back” told by the Iroquois Indians is a story of how the world came to be and the good and evils in the world. The story “The Way to Rainy Mountain“ by Scott Momaday, is a story of about the Kiowa traditions and the way that they lived. Both of these stories show how important it is to respect the gods. “The World on the Turtle’s Back” is a myth about a man and a woman that lived in the sky world.
The Daughter of Dawn The film The Daughter of Dawn, directed by Norbert A. Myles, is important as it portrays a group of Native Americans that are preserved on screen in a way that captures their reality. Even though the voices of these Native Americans are not able to be heard, as it was not possible yet for films in the 1920’s when it was made, the film still accurately portrays the Kiowas. The fact that the Kiowas are able to present themselves as they actually are makes the film very progressive in the sense that the Kiowas are telling their own story with the use of their own costumes as opposed to clothing made for them by a non-Native.
“The Way to Rainy Mountain” is organized very well, it includes three narrative voices. Throughout this novel the first narrative voice is about the Kiowa legends. Then Momaday has a paragraph of contexts that relates to the legend. The author gives the reader a bit of his life by relating a family experience he had. Because some of the Kiowa legends and history go with Momadays own family history, then this three voice narration allows the author to have great detail about the Kiowa’s way of life in every way.