Heritage: Family and Life

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.

This shines light upon her Native American roots and how it can be an inspiration for her Century Quilt, each square representing her family’s racial diversity and mixed roots. It is quite difficult to learn of all the harsh animosity they were enduring, such as Meema and her yellow sisters whose “grandfather’s white family nodding at them when they met” (24-27). The hostility is clear as the white relatives only register their presence; no “hello” or warm embrace as if they didn’t acknowledge them as true family. However, with descriptive imagery, the speaker’s sense of pride for having the best of both worlds is still present as she understands Meema’s past experiences and embraces her family’s complexity wholeheartedly; animosity and all.

Hogan wanted to end the poem is a way that was able to leave the reader wondering what they just read, but she also wanted to make it clear by simply having the reader re-read the text. Heritage is a poem that not only relates to the speaker’s heritage but also many other Native Americans who struggled to keep their land. By writing this poem, Hogan was able to bring awareness to current issues between the Native American’s land and the white

Many were forced to evacuate to other regions within the country and endure the infamous Trail of Tears. While Native Americans are not forcibly removed from their homes anymore, this story shows a modern-day example of mistreatment or borders that Native Americans deal with. While the mother faced many different conflicts, externally and internally, she readily accepts the challenge and is not willing to step down. She displays the pride of the Blackfoot Indians and is not willing to let the government tell her who she is and let them define her. She sets an example for Native Americans, standing up against a government that has held them down for so long. That they should always have pride in who they are, and where they came

Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel, Ceremony, reveals how the crossing of cultures was feared, ridiculed, and shunned in various Native American tribes. The fear of change is a common and overwhelming fear everyone faces at some point in their life. The fear of the unknown, the fear of letting go, and the fear of forgetting all play a part in why people struggle with change. In Ceremony the crossing of cultures creates “half-breeds,” usually bringing disgrace to their family’s name. In Jodi Lundgren’s discourse, “Being a Half-breed”, is about how a girl who struggles with understanding what cultural group she fits into since she is a “half-breed.” Elizabeth Evasdaughter’s essay, “Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Ceremony”: Healing Ethnic Hatred by

In the poem "Heritage" Linda Hogan uses many colors to describe and to show to her readers about her mixed feelings that she has for her own two colors, white from European side and brown from Native American Indians side. Linda defines herself as part of A Chickasaw tribe, and white

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…”

People come to America in order to seek the freedom to life, speech, education, jobs, and free will. Back in Guatemala, Estevan and Esperanza’s daughter Ismene was “taken in a raid on their neighborhood”(183). This unjust treatment causes Estevan and Esperanza to strengthen their will to escape out of the country. So after many difficulties, they are able to escape out of Guatemala and enter America. However, soon after the entrance into America, they face the American discriminated society.. The Americans negative attitude towards Indians causes them to live in fear and discomfort everyday. But, even after all those hardships, they are still willing to stay in America. Their will to remain in America is so strong that they “sacrifice their

In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," the message about the preservation of heritage, specifically African-American heritage, is very clear. It is obvious that Walker believes that a person's heritage should be a living, dynamic part of the culture from which it arose and not a frozen timepiece only to be observed from a distance. There are two main approaches to heritage preservation depicted by the characters in this story. The narrator, a middle-aged African-American woman, and her youngest daughter Maggie, are in agreement with Walker. To them, their family heritage is everything around them that is involved in their everyday lives and everything that was involved in the lives of their ancestors. To

The author’s universal insight about life is that the white man and the Native American must learn to live in harmony with each other. Silk develops this into Ceremony by showing us the history of Native Americans and their struggles with the American government and the white man. American setters have attempted to destroy the Native American people and their traditions just so they can use the land for their own personal purposes. The Native American people are subjugated by the white people by forcing them onto Indian reservations, forcing them all to live only in certain places. “They see no life when they look they see only objects. The world is a dead thing for them” (Silko 135). To the Native American their land meant more than anything and they felt the white people just possessed the power to use the land for their own uses.

In Jeannette Armstrong’s poem, History Lesson, she writes in perspective of Indigenous people reacting to the first encounters with European settlers. Historically, Indigenous people did not have a positive encounter with the first settlers due to their clash of beliefs and values of how communities and structures should run. Instead, they had many disagreements which caused the partial destruction of their whole culture. It is clear that Armstrong uses the theme of history to portray the destruction that the first European settlers had on the Indigenous way of life through various points in history. Armstrong imbeds the theme of history throughout her poem to further emphasize her stance on the assimilation of the Indigenous people with the restricting and destructive effects the early settlers had on them throughout history.

This novel focuses on the Native American tribes of the midwestern portion of the United States. The author’s purpose is to portray that from the time Columbus made his ominous remark regarding the demeanor of the Native Americans, the reader was able to predict that most of the interactions between the white settlers and the Native Americans would not be positive ones. This was an example of foreshadowing which Brown employed throughout the entire novel. The author’s purpose in writing this book was to tell the unvarnished , unadulterated and at times, unpleasant truth, and showing that not all things were grand and glorious in the establishment

The general meaning of "heritage" is the characteristics and traits of a family passed from one generation to the next. In this case, the quilts are being passed down from Grandma Dee and Grandpa Ezra to Walker. But now the question is, "who will the quilts pass down to next?" Just right after the controversy, Wangero is unsure about if Maggie should have the quilts because Maggie knows how to sew. Wangero says, "You just will not understand. The point is these quilts, these quilts!" (126). Wangero is attempting to explain to Walker that the quilts have sentimental value. In her own mind, Walker questions Wangero, "what would she do with the quilts?" Wangero's response is that she would display the quilts. Wangero looks over at Maggie and contemplates about the quilts which she holds in her hands and says, "Mama, she can have them, like somebody

I live in Hidalgo, Texas a small city in which everyone knows each other. I was raised in this city since I was born. When I was young there weren’t many schools for our neighborhood there was only an elementary, a middle school, and a high school. Now it is a much bigger school district. Since it is such a small town we all know each other since we were kids. I had the best moments in school with my friends of all time. I grew up in a great environment with great education. I couldn’t have asked for better people to grow up around. My family is from Veracruz, Mexico as any normal Mexican family I grew up with all the traditions and the beautiful culture. I was always taught that I should be very proud of my roots and I am nothing makes me more proud then

Heritage and life experiences. Looks and actions. Culture and Traditions. The basis to a person’s identity stems from all these things. They make each person a beautiful and uniquely sculpted individual. There are no two people with the same identity because identity is what makes one person who they are. Second Glance demonstrates the journey each individual takes in their lifetime in order to learn their identity through heritage and life experiences.