Comparing The Medicine Bag And The Apache Girl

A similarity noticed was the main topic of each story. Each express their view and their experience living in America. Both being girls living in an American society. Both talking about their American identity while being a mix of different ethnicities.

The first aspect both stories have in common is the fact that both of the women are oppressed by a man in their life.“The

The “Apache Girl’s Rite of Passage” in talked about in a video rather than a story. Here, the ritual is a coming of age ritual. It is for 13 year old, Dachina, coming to become a woman. This ritual will prove her character, endurance, and strength. It proves that Dachina is ready to become a woman and is ready to handle all the responsibility that is coming her way. This ritual occurs every 4th of July. The mothers of the girls spend more than an entire year preparing for this. A huge task for them is preparing their medicine bag. The entire ceremony last 4 whole days because Dachina will go through all 4 stages of life which is and infant, child, adolescent , and a woman. To test her endurance, she has to dance all night for 10 hours! This ritual comes with very strict rules, little sleep, and having to set aside all emotions. She gets dusted in pollen, as a form of protection. The men fill a basket full of blessed objects and the girls run around the basket 4 times on the last day. When the tipi falls, it marks that they passed the ceremony, they are handed the medicine bag and they are now women.

The similarities between the stories may not appear very apparent at first over closer analyzation the appear more apparent .Both stories are focused around a brother and a sister whom

Although, the ritual has been passed on from generation to generation, how the Navajo rituals are ways of communication has been questioned by so many. Many believe that it way for the patient to come into “…harmony…

The last and final difference between “the Medicine bag” and the apaches girls rite of passageis that one is for the growth of girls and the other for boys. As said many time, the Apache celebrate the growth of girls and welcmoning them into woman hood.While in the Medicine bag, Gfrandpa clearly states the the bag is to be passed onto the oldest male in the famly, which makes sence ,maturity wise.

The Apache and Lakota rite of passages have their similarities and differences in the sense of their practices. For example, the Apache rite of passage for the young women is more physical than the Lakota rite of passage. The Apache rite of passage is represented in a video while the Lakota rite of passage is represented in a book therefor, the audience may find some advantages and disadvantages when learning about each rite of passage.

Another reason that the medicine bag’s rite of passage is most significant to me because when his

Imagine you are dancing all night and you can't show any emotion, you can't show any exhaustion or tiredness. That is what Indian girls of the Apache tribe must go through. In class we have watched a video called “Apache Girl Rites of Passage.” In this video a girl named Dachina goes through a grueling journey to become a women. In addition to that story read a short story called “The Medicine Bag.” In the Medicine Bag a boy named Martin goes through his on struggles and rites of passage from his Lakota family traditions and his struggle of accepting his tribe. In addition to these stories I researched a tribe from Ethiopia called the Hamar tribe. The Hamar tribe has a much more scary rite of passage to become a man which a boy has to jump

The Apache girl’s rite of passage is physically different and harder than the Lakota rites of passage. To become a woman for the Apache rites of passage the process takes four days to complete, when Dachina did the process she said that she barely gets any sleep and she can’t show emotions, one of the many things that she had to do is dance for 10 hours straight. For the “Medicine Bag” or Lakota rite of passage he doesn’t really have to physically do anything except put sage into a medicine bag while he is on the reservation and after that he is an adult. It is obvious that the Apache girl’s rite of passage is way more difficult than the Lakota rite of passage because they have to do physically challenging things.

The short story “The Medicine Bag” by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve and the video Apache Girl’s Rite of Passage by National Geographic have many differences and similarities to introduce the reader to Native American rites of passage. The most significant difference is that the short story emphasizes the emotional struggle of Martin, while the video shows the physical struggle of Dachina Cochise. This can be shown in the short story when it states, “’Thank you, Grandpa.’ I said softly...Two weeks later, I stood alone on the lonely prairie of the reservation and put the sacred sage in my medicine bag.”(Sneve 78, 79) In contrast, the video shows, “These four days mean little sleep, scant food, and the need to set aside emotion. Throughout the ordeal, she must wear a face of stoic resolve.”(National Geographic) At this point in the short story, Martin successfully receives and inherits the medicine bag from his Grandpa and goes to the reservation to put the sacred sage in the medicine bag, signifying that he is the new bearer. As shown from the video quote, Dachina Cochise is starting her trials, but she has to go with little food or sleep and keep a straight face the whole time. This proves that the type of journey they go through makes a big difference in the purpose and meaning of the story. Martin starts as embarrassed about his culture and the medicine bag because he is afraid his friends will make fun of him. Throughout the story, it emphasizes his emotional growth and he

The Plains Indians religious beliefs were quite similar and interesting. The Plains Indians believed in Animism. Animism is the belief that everything possesses a spirit. Besides Animism, the Plains Indians only worshiped one other “god.” That was the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit was the mother of all things. They would perform ceremonies for her. Sacred items were also important to the people of the Plains. They would have items that they believed had spiritual or talismanic powers. The items would be located in a pouch at the person’s side. The Medicine Man would also carry around multiple pouches with different talisman. This could come in the form of a peace pipe or a calumet or something that they

The Split Horn, narrated by a young Shaman’s daughter, illustrates the journey of a Hmong Shaman; a healer and spiritual leader, Paja, and his family moving from their motherland, Laos, to Appleton, Wisconsin. Along with numerous difficulties they face trying to keep and practice their family's ancient traditions in an unfamiliar environment. His daughter, Chai Thao, gives us an insight into what the family goes through as several of her siblings completely lose correspondence with their family’s long-established customs. However, as Paja’s children embrace and grow to learn the American culture, including: computer games, TV and Christianity, his concerns and worries for his family’s integration also increases. As the leader of the group, Paja must attend to the needs of friends and family with elaborate rituals that connect the natural and spirit worlds together. With that being said, Paja Thao, spirals into depression because of both his family and because he is unable to perform his rituals and heal his people. Ultimately, towards the end of the movie, after several obstacles he had faced, with the help of one of his relatives who performed a ceremony for Paja and his wife, he is able to heal himself and continue performing his rituals on others which further helps restore his strength and reunite his family members. Therefore, the filmmaker's thesis is that families who relocate from their homeland to the Western culture experience various

These two stories have few things in common that can be described in a way that

A. In what ways are the two shorts stories by Shirley Jackson and D.H. Lawrence similar and different.