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The Essence of Native American Storytelling
Kevin Smith
ENG/301
January 10, 2011
Professor April Rivers

The Essence of Native American Storytelling
Native American culture has existed as a unique entity for thousands of years. Amongst several other factors, native language, customs, and way of life distinguish the Native American race from all other civilizations in the world. Native American literature also expresses its own individuality. Vital to that individuality is storytelling. In the words of Tom Arviso Jr., “it is through the telling of stories that the history, legends, myths and customs of Indian people have been preserved and passed on through the centuries” (Arviso, 2002, para. 1). This culture of storytelling yields rituals, myths, chance and tricksters, themes of struggle and identity, effective uses of language, and reactions to the events occurring around it.
A tradition of ritual runs deep in Native American culture and is reflected in Native American literature. In Scott Momaday’s The Rise of the Song, the character of Abel enacts a death ceremony; “He drew the old man’s head erect and laid water to the hair. He fashioned the long white hair in a queue and wound it around with yarn. He dressed the body in bright ceremonial colors” (Momaday, 1995, p. 139). Here, Momaday’s attention to detail in his rendition of this ritual paints an effective picture, and offers instructions for this particular rite. The lengthy description of Abel’s actions, mirror the long and slow death of the grandfather. Written in the late 60s, the Viet Nam war may have influenced Momaday to focus on death and death ritual.
Myths form a large portion of the Native American canon. Myths often help to explain acts of nature or traumatic events. In Call That Story Back, Leslie Marmon Silko creates a myth to account for the coming of the white man to North America. In this myth a witch offers a story to a group of magicians and says, “as I tell the story/it will begin to happen” (Silko, 1995, p. 185). The story describes the arrival of Europeans to the continent, and the negative effects they have on nature and native people (Silko, 1995). Silko formats her story in a poetic style lending credence to its mythic makeup. The words the witch uses to tell this tale give the illusion that a spell is being cast. The modern age has seen destruction of environment. Silko’s story not only predicts what has happened to nature, but what is to come, if man refuses to call the story back.
Chance is a convention often utilized in Native American life and literature. In John Rogers’ biography Return to White Earth, a chance meeting with a porcupine is equivalent to a message from the Great Spirit (Rogers, 1995). In mother’s recounting of a hunting story she explains how she met a porcupine and “knew that meeting a porcupine at night was not a good omen” (Rogers, 1995, p. 56). Later when they narrowly escaped a charging moose father exclaimed, “No wonder we met the porcupine” because “surely the Great Spirit was watching over us” (Rogers, 1995, p. 57). Rogers’ characters speak using simple language, giving the reader the feeling this story was being told by the young boy who witnessed it. Rogers published his biography late in his life. During this time a new generation of Native Americans were slowly losing touch with their cultural past. By writing these stories from his life, Rogers attempted to instill a sense of wonder and pride for Native heritage into the minds of Native peoples.
Tales of tricksters inhabit many Native American works. Tricksters traditionally take on various roles in Native American stories. In Gerald Vizenor’s Measuring My Blood, Vizenor’s father is described as, “ a compassionate trickster who did not heed the sinister stories about stolen souls and the evil gambler” (Vizenor, 1995, p. 69). Vizenor’s life seems filled with “tricksterness”. He wrote that as a baby his grandmother “would hide my bottle to wean me in the trickster manner” (Vizenor, 1995, p. 74). Vizenor’s words create a lonely and lost world. This reflects the state of the Native American still struggling to survive culturally in a modern era.
Struggle exemplifies a common theme in much Native American literature. From the moment Europeans set foot on the North American continent, Native American culture has struggled to survive. William Apess faced obstacles and conflict throughout his early 19th century childhood. In his biography A Son in the Forest, he described his unfounded fear for his own race and posits, “the whites did not tell me that they were in a great majority of instances the aggressors – that they had imbrued their hands in the lifeblood of my brethren, driven them from their once peaceful and happy homes – that they introduced among them the fatal and exterminating diseases of civilized life (Apess, 1995, p.27). Apess wrote in a gentle voice. He knew he wrote for a largely white audience and had no desire to insult or threaten them. During his life, Native Americans were being persecuted and pushed further westward. His biography is an attempt to show that Native Americans can live within white culture. In a more modern poem Sherman Alexie retells the battle of Little Bighorn as a dream. In the dream the character of Crazy Horse says, “survive survive survive” (Alexie, 1995, p. 293). These three words not only reflect the turbulent history of Native America, but also to all people who exist today and consider themselves Native American.
Married to the theme of struggle is the search for self-identity. The Native American culture, once hated by the majority, then ignored by them, struggled to define itself. Children were being born with mixed-race parents. Sometimes these children fought to understand who they were. In Neon Scars, a biography, Wendy Rose wrote “How many almost comic photographs do I have of the sharp faced blond and delicate lady who sits before the long-faced mustached Englishman and, between them, holds the chubby little girl with the dark round face, that little Indian baby” (Rose, 1995, p. 98). Rose’s ability to make fun of herself and her situation opens reader’s hearts and allows them to listen more deeply to her words. The Native American search for identity also produced optimistic summations. When describing her own mixed blood Linda Hogan wrote, “I am a tree, grafted branches/bearing two kinds of fruit” (Hogan, L., 1995, p. 264). In more modern times the Native American has become a respected part of the history and community of the United States. The positive outlook of white America may have strengthened Hogan’s more positive expression of her own race.
The Native American culture has survived countless war, manifest destiny, genocide attempts, reservation life, ridicule, ignorance and an overwhelming drive to assimilate itself into white society. In a culture, which began writing its literature down so recently in its long existence it is overwhelming that so much of that culture survives today. Native Americans have been assimilated into American society and yet they retain much of what it is to be “Indian”. This nation of strong and resilient people resembles its literature, which has survived despite centuries of oppression. Native American storytelling will not only continue to survive but it will continue to flourish as well.





References

Alexie, S. (1995) Crazy horse speaks. In G. Vizenor, Native American literature a brief introduction and anthology (p. 293). New York, NY: Addison Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.
Apess, W. (1995) A son of the forest. In G. Vizenor, Native American literature a brief introduction and anthology (p. 27). New York, NY: Addison Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.
Arviso, T. (2002) Native journalism keeps with tradition. Quill 90(1). 34 (para. 1). Retrieved from the University of Phoenix eBook Collection database: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?hid=112&sid=1b874386-3d64-4251-aa83-a95c8eb683c7%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=6106084
Hogan, L. (1995) The truth is. In G. Vizenor, Native American literature a brief introduction and anthology (p. 264). New York, NY: Addison Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.
Momady, S. (1995) The rise of the song. In G. Vizenor, Native American literature a brief introduction and anthology (pp. 130-141). New York, NY: Addison Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.
Rogers, J. (1995) Return to white earth. In G. Vizenor, Native American literature a brief introduction and anthology (pp. 46-57). New York, NY: Addison Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.
Rose, W. (1995) Neon scars. In G. Vizenor, Native American literature a brief introduction and anthology (p. 98). New York, NY: Addison Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.
Silko, L. (1995) Call that story back. In G. Vizenor, Native American literature a brief introduction and anthology (p. 185). New York, NY: Addison Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.
Vizenor, G. (1995) Measuring my blood. In G. Vizenor, Native American literature a brief introduction and anthology (pp. 69-74). New York, NY: Addison Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.