Native American Dream Catchers

Identity in Native America is directly associated with culture and language. As a result, some of the issues today which are important in shaping the identity of modern Native Americans include: representations of native people by the media in sports and popular culture; how indigenous languages are being revitalized and maintained; and identity reclamation. The Native American lifestyle has changed significantly during the last half of the 20th century and that is because views on the Native people have drastically changed over time. They have had many hardships that have greatly impacted their culture over the past few centuries leading up to today.

are ideals used to define the American Dream. The American Dream promises immigrants and citizens a chance to pursue a better life, which is portrayed throughout the novel Behold the Dreamers . Behold the Dreamers , by Imbolo Mbue, follows the lives of Jende and Neni Jonga, an immigrant couple from Cameroon, who live in Harlem in hopes of providing a better life for their family. Throughout the Jonga’s journey, Imbolo Mbue proves that the essentials of hard work, education, and strong families are not enough for achieving the American Dream. Jende and Neni came to America in hopes of a brighter future for their family, but come to face with reality and are forced to make an impossible choice.

The United States of America is a country founded on the dreams of foreigners (pilgrims) and a symbol of freedom and a new life. According to the Department of Homeland Security, in 2012, there were 484,072 new, legal entries into the United States… (Batalova, Terrazas). The Times Tribune states, “There perhaps are no greater dreamers than immigrants, who often leave behind everything to build new lives in the United States” (Lockwood).

Discuss how your understanding of change has been developed by your prescribed and related texts.

What does it mean to be an American? America is the land of opportunity, with a free society that affords all people unlimited opportunity to compete for success. And in this competition there will be winners and losers, often determined by the choices we make, including the choice of our attitude. In Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the primary character, Holden Caulfield embodies the dark side of the American dream, by choosing the negative sentiments of judgement, isolation and fear.

The culture of chickasaw,the chickasaw had a really rich tradition steeped in the arts From music composition and performance art to painting, sculpting and writing, Chickasaw artists excel in a number of both contemporary and traditional artistic forms of

Culture, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is stated as “The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behavior that dpends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. The customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious or social group. The set shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes an institution or organization. The set of values, conventions or social practices associated with a particular field, activity or societal characteristic.” Of these four definitions, I shall be focusing on the second one to discuss what makes up the culture of American Indians.The culture of the various tribes that made up the Native Americans is one of close knit families, highlyspiritual peoples and living together as one with the land they lived on. They believed in spirits, worshiping and honoring them. Some settled into single locations while others were nomadic, but all had a focus on working with the land around them. Because there are so many varying tribes that make up Native

Native Americans are the indigenous people of the North American continent and the cultural traditions and art forms are unique to these regional groups. The people in these groups have several names and the first adopted name Indian by Spanish explorers proved erroneous, however, now accepted names include either American Indian or Native American. I will refer to these groups as Native Americans or by their tribal affiliation. There are diverse tribal groups original to North America who lived on the Great Plains, in the Woodlands, on the Northwest coast, and in the Southeast or the Southwest regions. Various Native American tribes created art forms such as the Apache, Cherokee, Pueblo, and Hopi communities. In my research, I found that the Navajo also contributed in many ways to Native American art through making jewelry, beading, drawing, painting, sculpting, carving, and weaving. These art works provided their tribe notoriety with countless “years of experience through their creativity and sense of design”, lending to an “astonishing volume and variety of artwork which has created a lasting legacy”, per NativeAmerican-Art.com (2010). Understandably, art comes in various forms and from various cultures, but the Native American Navajo tribe contributed vastly and merits mention for its beautiful contributions. Therefore, I

The poem, “The Theft Outright” by Heid E. Erdrich, a Native American poet, refutes claims made in another poem, “The Gift Outright” by Robert Frost, that America was empty before the colonists. In his poem, Frost claims that America was “unstoried, artless, [and] unenhanced,”(Frost 15) demonstrating blatant racism by erasing the entire Native American culture and race from American history. Erdrich counters his beliefs by citing the colorful, full lives of Indians in the past and now, directly juxtaposing his work by saying that the Americas are “still storied, art-filled, [and] fully enhanced”(Erdrich 30) from the Native Americans that lived there. Similarly, the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie deals with racism. It tells the story of Arnold Spirit Jr, a Native American boy who wants a better life, so he switches schools from his poverty stricken school to an all white school in a small town called Reardan. Junior frequently faces challenges of racism; he is seen as less than his white peers at his new school because he is Indian, and he is constantly being shown by others’ words and actions that he does not deserve a quality education because of his heritage. Despite the novel’s humorous style, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” provides accurate commentary on education and racism in recent times through Junior’s experiences at Reardan, with his developing friendship with Gordy, his views on the pedestals that white

In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man's ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. "Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition" (back cover) is a great way to show that the author's stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa's American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will discuss

In paragraph 1 the author is saying that “it is not a dream of owning motor cars and high wages” (Clark paragraph 1). He says that an american dream is to have social order. He also says that each man and women shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are capable. Which means all men should be created equal.

The American Dream is indefinable. There is no one set of words or characteristics that the entire population assigns directly to its definition. With the American population consisting of people of various races, ethnicities, ages, classes, and genders, it seems trivial to even attempt to attribute a single definition to the concept of the American Dream. It is this inability however, to be confined within one single meaning, that allows for the American Dream to govern the desires and goals of the large and diverse American population. And, regardless of all of the heterogeneity within society, the American Dream is generally a goal of all American peoples. In examining this idea, I began to think about the specific meanings attributed to the American Dream for different types of individuals. I broadly outlined the American Dream for myself, to represent the belief in hard work as a pathway to success and raising oneself in society. Consequently, this higher position in society allows for the possession of increased amounts of power. My definition however, neglects to take into account the certain other societal constructs that could possibly have a decisive role in how to both define and achieve the American Dream for the wide variety of people who pursue it.

When it comes to writing, the purpose and voice of the author is extremely important when it comes to reaching out to the intended audience. Writing is all about authors expressing themselves through poems, books, short stories, etc. For the most part, authors write for different purposes whether it is for informing, entertaining, or persuade. As for Joy Harjo, this author bases her writing on expressing her views and opinion on American Indian activism and setting ground as a Feminist writing. She is known for being an important voice in the rebirth of the indigenous culture and for relying her poetry for experimenting culture, structure, and language. Aside from her writing, she is also a musician; from my perspective Joy Harjo

One really significant point that I liked in this class was the origins of human civilization. I am fascinated by the Paleolithic period of art. Paleolithic period is the Old Stone Age and the earliest time period man has been alive. This era of time was the simplest lifestyle for humans, which consisted primarily of survival. This period was the breakthrough of art, artifacts, and stone tools. Many visuals artworks, such as Venus of Willendorf and Halls of the Bulls, have historical significance to help explain how life was back then. These artifacts are important because they added a sense

In Thomas Hardy’s aesthetic world ‘desire’ is not only an inevitable component, but it appears as a dominant dynamic of his creations. Especially in all the fourteen novels of Hardy, ‘desire’ is seen as a vital energy creating a new and a better realm of existence though its reverse turn is also apparent. In The Return of the Native (1878) desire works as a driving force as the narrative fabric of the novel manifests ‘desire’ with its manifold implications. In this novel ‘desire’ with its varied implications is seen to be integrated with the lives of the characters in such a way that it even influences human subjectivity, creating a visibly poignant universe.