Analysis Of I Have Killed The Deer

The United States at one point decimated native people along with their identity and culture, simultaneously, exploiting them as individuals. In the novel “How to Write the Great American Indian Novel”, Sherman Alexie admonishes against toxic stereotypes held by white people against native people thus, showing hegemonic structures of them. This is because the dominance of white culture exploits people of other culture, race, identity and gender to acculturate to the white norms. The novels junctions are informed through a lens of an American Indian to awake the ignorance on stereotypical views for native people. The author draws attention not only to native people’s beauty, but also to their poverty, alcoholism and frequent

Native American literature is considered by many as the traditional written and oral literature of Native cultures around the world. Many of these literatures are transmitted over periods of time by storytellers. This particular literature has many features that includes a mixture of oral tradition techniques along with tribal mythology. The majority of these historic manuscripts of the Native Americans is deeply rooted in symbolic and mythic standards. This assignment will focus on how Native American literature is rooted in storytelling. The selected text of choice for the assignment is

Throughout human existence, mankind has had to overcome difficult obstacles in order to prosper. In Diane Glancy’s “Pushing the Bear”, the reader discovers how the Cherokee Indians overcome their hardships and flourish into a new, thriving community. In this novel, the audience observe how these Cherokee Indians outlast the harsh environment during the Indian Removal Act. Additionally, Glancy creates a human experience during the Trail of Tears; giving a different perspective of various characters. Through the eyes of characters such as Maritole and Knobowtee, the reader is able to sense the desperation that the Cherokee endured. The upheaval of being forcefully removed from the land stripped the Cherokee of their identity. This disruption left the Cherokee confused, causing frustration to arise because they were unable to live their familiar roles. Men were no longer able to farm. Women had a loss of property and wealth. The bear symbolizes these struggles throughout this novel. Maritole explains, “The bear had once been a person. But he was not conscious of the consciousness he was given. His darkness was greed and self-centeredness. It was part of myself, too. It was part of the human being” (183). In other words, the “bear” is the personal dilemma each character is put up against during this removal. Furthermore, each character has their own personal struggles to overcome; whether that be Knobowtee’s loss of masculinity or Maritole’s loss of family. These struggles,

Within the two passages, two Native American writers, N.S. Momaday and D. Brown, deliver two contrasting views on the Native American landscape and experience. Momaday’s awestruck diction and peaceful imagery revel in the seclusion of a scenario which promotes creation. On the other hand, Brown’s forlorn diction and passive tone mourn the lifeless landscape and loss of people forcibly detached from their land. While Momaday writes to explain the admirable beauty of Rainy Mountain, Brown writes to mourn the loss of life stripped in the barren landscape.

Popular culture has shaped our understanding and perception of Native American culture. From Disney to literature has given the picture of the “blood thirsty savage” of the beginning colonialism in the new world to the “Noble Savage,” a trait painted by non-native the West (Landsman and Lewis 184) and this has influenced many non native perceptions. What many outsiders do not see is the struggle Native American have on day to day bases. Each generation of Native American is on a struggle to keep their traditions alive, but to function in school and ultimately graduate.

“The drink had me snared. I spoke less and drank more, and I became the Indian again; drunken and drooling and reeling, a caricature everyone sought to avoid,”(Wagamese,181). This stomach-turning quote displays what several First Nations thought their identity to be. With this in mind, to begin, “Indian Horse,” by Richard Wagamese is a somber and intriguing novel, with many thought-provoking points within the book. To illustrate this, the book follows a First Nations boy through his youth to adulthood. It is filled with traumatic events, depressing stories and even a few joyful moments. In addition, the novel takes place from around 1960-1980 throughout Ontario. Furthermore, this essay will explore several events and factors which impacted, Saul, the main character's identity.

In this short story, Blue Winds Dancing, depicts a personal closeness of a Native American and his home to values learned along the way. As we continue to read the entire story, you will discover how the content and various selections of literary are well-created. Whitecloud introduces this story in the 1930’s, where this story takes place, about a man struggling with his white culture and his Indian culture way of life. Whitecloud says, that “These civilized white men want us to be like them-always dissatisfied getting a hill and wanting a mountain” (pg. 320). Whitecloud is dissatisfied with the white people’s behavior, but also knows that his people have taken things away too. “They know how to give; how to tear one’s piece of meat in two and share it with one’s brother.” “They know how to make things with their

“The Way of a Cherokee” by Foxxy is about her memories and experiences growing up as a young child with her sister, Sierra, and grandpa. She is a Native American that has lived in a world that is different from the world her grandpa grew up in. In addition, she learned to love and appreciate nature just like her grandpa did. I can relate to her relationship with her grandpa because I have created many memories with my grandpa. My grandpa told me stories about his childhood. In Foxxy’s essay she explores the relationship between identity and cultural history through physical location, family relationships, and language differences.

Traditions and old teachings are essential to Native American culture; however growing up in the modern west creates a distance and ignorance about one’s identity. In the beginning, the narrator is in the hospital while as his father lies on his death bed, when he than encounters fellow Native Americans. One of these men talks about an elderly Indian Scholar who paradoxically discussed identity, “She had taken nostalgia as her false idol-her thin blanket-and it was murdering her” (6). The nostalgia represents the old Native American ways. The woman can’t seem to let go of the past, which in turn creates confusion for the man to why she can’t let it go because she was lecturing “…separate indigenous literary identity which was ironic considering that she was speaking English in a room full of white professors”(6). The man’s ignorance with the elderly woman’s message creates a further cultural identity struggle. Once more in the hospital, the narrator talks to another Native American man who similarly feels a divide with his culture. “The Indian world is filled with charlatan, men and women who pretend…”

The American Indian occupies a unique place in the White American imaginary. Indians, one is told, are cordial, wise, poor in the “humble poverty” sort of way, brown, there assist whites with either mystic knowledge or humorous ignorance. Figures such as Squanto, Tonto and Disney’s Pocahontas along with a large smattering of Westerns and cartoonish depictions have created this image of the Native American – an image which rarely translates into the present day. In contrast to this, Sherman Alexie’s novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a Native American coming-of-age story centered around the first-person point of view of the Native protagonist Arnold “Junior” Spirit, Jr. and his dual life on the Spokane Indian Reservation and his time off the reservation at an all-white public school in the town of Reardan, Washington. The novel revolves around themes like race, identity formation and mortality and details life on Indian reservations as it attempts to give a realistic account of contemporary Native American life, each which shape the novel in unique ways.

This book is the story of Thomas Yellowtail, a religious leader, and a “pivotal figure in Crow tribal life”. In his youth, Yellowtail lived alongside great men who have tasted the freedom of the days before the reservations life, and were familiar with the sacred ways. Thomas Yellowtail was a Crow healer and also a top religious figure in the Sun Dance, which was the most important part of the Plains Indian spirituality. Yellowtail describes the social problems in reservations, and explains how alcoholism, drug abuse, and poverty were manifested by declining values (pg.28). By trading their daily contact with the nature and prayer, for the modern day fast pace, and things like television, Yellowtail suggests that Indians have become out of

Loss of Identity and Culture One of the biggest issues anyone can face is to maintain a strong identity within the temptations and traditions from others. The famous novelist Frank Delaney’s image search for ‘ancestors’ is one of the preeminent; quoting that one must “understand and reconnect with our stories, the stories of the ancestors… to build our identities” (Frank Delaney). For one, to maintain a firm identity, you should not follow the path and traditions of one else because it can end up making a change to your own tradition and culture.

Like a coin dropped between the cushions of a couch, traditional oral storytelling is a custom fading away in current American culture. For Native Americans, however, the practice of oral storytelling is still a tradition that carries culture and rich history over the course of generations. Three examples of traditional oral stories, “How Men and Women Got Together”, “Coyote’s Rabbit Chase”, and “Corn Mother”, demonstrate key differences in perspectives and values among diverse native tribes in America.

In Sherman Alexie’s novel The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven shows the struggles of daily Native American life, which is shown through the point of view of male character. All though out the book the following three questions appear: ‘What does it mean to live as an Indian in this time? What does it mean to be an Indian man? and What does it mean to live on an Indian reservation?’ Alexie uses literary devices such as point of view, imagery, characterization to make his point that the conflict of being an Indian in the U.S. in these short stories using the following short stories “An Indian Education” and “Amusement”. “An Indian Education” uses both imagery and characterization to show us what the narrator is

Tradition is a big part of a cultural identity. Traditions are not loved nor understood immediately, however with time the importance of tradition becomes evident as it makes people unique. As a kid, serving meals every thanksgiving may feel insignificant and tedious, but as an adolescent the small amount of time spent as a family doing something annually has a lasting impact on one’s values. Frank Waters’ fictional novel, The Man Who Killed the Deer, Martiniano struggles to find a faith after he illegally kills a deer. Neither the whites not the Indians seem welcoming because he offends both by breaking the law and not showing respect to Indian ideology. The deer continues to haunt him until he understands the role of nature and the cycle of life. The poem “I Have Killed the Deer”, written by a Taos Pueblo Indian, emphasizes the importance of equality and the mystical connection with nature. Both works highlight the unique Indian perspective of nature and its contribution their identity. Both Martiniano and the Taos Pueblo Indian use nature to provide life; Martiniano’s self-centered view on the old Indian traditions prevent him from finding peace in a faith, while the Taos Pueblo Indian fully appreciates and understands his role in nature.