The Lost Salt Gift Of Blood Short Story

Everyone has a desire, something that they want to achieve or obtain for them. Whether it is ethical or immoral, having desires is almost inevitable. Sometimes these desires make people go through tough times. Tragic occurrences such as death and broken relationships shape the lives of people positively or negatively. In the following essay, “Many Rivers to Cross” and the short stories, “Two Kinds” and “Everyday Use”, the protagonists of these texts struggle to achieve their desire, but because of those struggles the main characters do eventually come to a revelation.

Throughout the story, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Junior goes through many ups and downs. This story is about how Junior, an indian from the Spokane reservation, decides to go to Rearden, the school for non-indians because of how run-down his school is and has trouble fitting in. Some of the ways Junior dealt with those downs include his uncanny sense of humor, his love for his friends, and the want to fit in and prove he’s just as good as everyone else at his new school.

Waterlily by Ella Cara Deloria tells the story of a young woman, Waterlily, and her family as they experience the every-day life on the prairie as Oceti Sakowin. Through the clever storytelling of Waterlily’s childhood, Deloria’s novel covers the Oceti Sakowin family life, camp circle, ceremonies, hunts, and war parties, and the introduction of white presence in the Midwest. Themes of reverence for tradition and honoring of beings and nature span the book; however, the story also exceptionally demonstrates the Oceti Sakowin way of life in a way that illuminates many of the beautiful pieces of the Oceti Sakowin culture. Waterlily displays two particularly significant aspects of the Oceti Sakowin culture: kinship and generosity.

“We live the Old Way” are the words that author, Catherine Knutsson, uses to introduce readers to the fascinating culture of the Métis Indians in her intriguing book, Shadows Cast by Stars (1). Set in an unspecified future, sixteen year old protagonist, Cassandra Mercredi, finds herself and her family fleeing from the mainland of UA and going to find refuge on “The Island” (Knutsson 21). They have been targeted because they are “marked by the precious Plague antibodies in [their Native American] blood” (Knutsson 1). According to Essentials of Young Adult Literature, Knutsson’s book is categorized as American Indian and Indigenous Literature (Short, Tomlinson, Lynch-Brown, and Johnson 177). After analyzing the text, the categorization is correct because the story is told from the perspective of the protagonist, Cassandra, who provides readers are given insight into the cultural beliefs and values of the Métis tribe. Additionally, her character communicates the traditional roles of men and women within the tribe, while integrating cultural details that provide authenticity to the story.

Development of society has forced the Native culture to vanish due to the break their tradition has undergone in the past. The Natives were forced to adapt the white tradition thinking it would benefit them in the long-run. Both “The Loons” by Margaret Laurence and “Compatriots” by Emma Lee Warrior portray similar messages about the Natives. The main characters Hilda and Vanessa represent ignorance because of their stereotypical nature towards the culture. However, as Vanessa matures she goes through a realization and understands the sorrow and pain of Piquette and her tradition other than herself. Vanessa’s final understanding of Piquette’s life and culture

Margaret Laurence’s “The Loons”, is a story about an Indian girl who tries to overcome obstacles in her life and discover a place of belonging, but in the end, dies at an early age. She grows up in an environment where she is not happy, and despite her efforts to leave, ends up back in her hometown, which leads to her death. The theme of this story is that everyone is a product of their environment, which is illustrated by Vanessa and Piquette’s lives and the loons on the lake.

In the short story, Compatriots, one would read about Lucy and Hilda - two women who vastly differ from each other. Lucy has grown up on the reserve her whole life, where Hilda had just arrived from Germany and is seeking to observe “real Indian culture”. In comparison, David Goes to the Reserve also features two fairly diverse people of opposite cultures: the Aboriginal narrator of the story, and her Caucasian friend David.Within the story, David travels to a reserve to observe the culture of the First Nations people. Both stories contain wonder and excitement, but also presents a sense of culture that the First Nations have; it is this culture that the main characters struggle to grasp.

In contrast to D’Ortega, Lina, a captured Native American, values courage and commitment to the community. To Lina, Vaark’s sumptuous plantation represents everything negative the European

Storytelling is a large component of Native American’s culture. Storytelling has the ability to connect people, events, and things to each other which transcends racial and temporal boundaries. Van Camp transcends the binary’s boundaries through storytelling, bringing Native traditions and events into the modern world. For example, Larry is a Dogrib, yet he is not living on a reservation and more or less seems to know little about his Indigenous identity, “Due to the novel's multiethnic small-town setting and his parents' residential schooling, Larry seldom receives cultural knowledge that might explicate... a traditional Dogrib social structure” (McKegney). However, through storytelling, specifically oral storytelling, Van Camp sets up a connection between Larry and his tribal knowledge. Larry is told his tribe’s creation story which serves as a vessel to deliver tribal knowledge into Larry’s modern world. The creation story can also be seen to transcend boundaries between the different Indigenous tribes of Jed, Larry, and Johnny. Larry is also seen to share stories with the readers as well as the characters of Juliet, and Johnny. Juliet is white and learns of an Indigenous story through Larry, “I closed my eyes and decided to let the story lead. I was just the voice, and I knew the story would tell itself.” (Van Camp 113). The story connected Juliet with

Waterlily by Ella Cara Deloria tells the story of a young woman, Waterlily, and her family as they experience the every-day life on the prairie as Oceti Sakowin. Through the clever storytelling of Waterlily’s childhood, Deloria’s novel covers the Oceti Sakowin family life, camp circle, ceremonies, hunts, war parties, and the introduction of white presence in the Midwest. Themes of reverence for tradition and honoring of beings and nature span the book; however, the story also exceptionally demonstrates the Oceti Sakowin way of life in a way that illuminates many of the beautiful pieces of the Oceti Sakowin culture. Waterlily displays two particularly significant aspects of the Oceti Sakowin culture: kinship and generosity.

Salt: A World History written by Mark Kurlansky in 2002 is his fifth work of nonfiction. This novel explains the importance of salt, a mineral our bodies need, but cannot create; more than just an ordinary condiment, a substance of life. The book jacket identifies the book with the tagline:

And it’s only in that time that we can see one another, because we see out of ourselves through our cracks and into others through theirs” (302). This explanation shows us that only when people are capable of exposing themselves, can others truly understand them, and they can understand others. This perception shows how we can only gain true understanding through hardships and false

Everyone who was ever born, will receive two things in their life; a birth and a death. In between those two significant events falls time. During that time, most of us will live long enough to experience growing pains. Such as: love, heartbreak, joy and sorrow. However, the things that can make a man, a man, could make a man a misfit. We will explore two short stories “The Man That Was Almost a Man” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. We will discover the similarities and differences of each and explain that even though they are separate stories that they can be linked together to create an epic tale. “The Man That Was Almost a Man” written by Richard Wright and published in 1940. Is about a young man who want to be a man. He believes that owning a gun will make him a man with hope that people will start to respect him and view him as such. He succeeds in purchasing a gun but, things get hectic when he fires it in the woods. Instead he accidently kills a mule. When he finally confessed about his misdeeds the crowd which gathered around his confession starts laughing at him and makes him feel even more childish. He then recovers the gun he hid fires off the rest of the rounds and hop a train going anywhere.

The irritation and despair of Esther Belin’s Night Travel flows with the fearless attitude of Laura Da’s Vantage. Both of these women are Native American, but are from different tribes and regions of the country.Yet they both express their Native American spirit separately through their poems. Laura’s style in poetry includes elements of time, travel, history and place. As for Esther Belin, her work portrays the experience of a Native American living in urban Los Angeles. She attempts to bring Native Americans into mainstream American culture and receive recognition, as well as discussing issues regarding racism and isolation (Poetry FDN).

They are also susceptible to weakness. Each of them, at pivotal times in their stories, are reduced to debilitating grief. They are brought low. At least for a moment, they are given the clarity to see some of the errors in their ways. They stand alone. But it is now different from the typical