Part I: Literature as Mirror

  Basically, the origin story constructs our identity—with this story, we know who we are. . . . This is where we come from.
          Leslie Marmon Silko, “Language & Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective”

  This course is unusual compared to other introduction to literature courses in that we will be reading not just to gain an appreciation of the elements of literature—what makes a good story, poem, or play—but also to hear the stories of our own country. The writers represent some the voices that tell us who we are as Americans. Now, I don’t claim that our texts represent the entire range of voices, cultures, and periods in American literature, but I have selected the texts with the goal of introducing you to some of the diverse voices of 20^th century American literature. These are voices “from the margins” one might say, which despite being outside the center, nevertheless have essential things to say to us about our condition. What can these writers tell us about our struggles? We will hear the struggle of an immigrant grappling with conflicts between the old and new cultures, the trials of an indigenous woman facing the loss of her son, the journey of a black woman trying to define what love and marriage mean. We’ll observe the temptation facing minority children to become “whitewashed” in order to be successful in school, and we can empathize with the inner struggle of a Mormon man to accept his homosexuality. Whether or not we see our specific stories represented in these struggles, they provide mirrors for us to reflect on our own lives, our values, the ways we make sense of our lives, and the choices we make. In short, I hope you will read the selected literature with an eye both to the ways a writer has crafted a work as well as an ear to what it has to say about American society and perhaps your own life.

Part II: Introduction to Themes in Spider Woman’s Granddaughters

            Reading Native American literature can be more fruitful when a reader has some background on the aesthetics and historical context of the stories. In her introduction to Spider Woman’s Granddaughters, Paula Gunn Allen provides such an overview. I would like to highlight some of her comments here and add some thoughts to help you prepare for the specific stories we will be reading this week. If you have taken U.S. history recently, particularly if you have read Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States, recall what you have been taught about the struggles and resistance of native peoples on this continent: you may remember the battles, treaties, formation of reservations, Indian schools, assimilation, and movement for sovereignty. Drawing on such background information will provide a rich context for understanding the stories we’ll be reading.

            Aesthetically, according to Allen, literature by Native people falls into two categories: “those that are simply recordings of an orally told story, and those that are told-on-the-page” (7). The latter are familiar to us as “short stories,” and to understand them, it’s helpful to look back at their roots in the oral tradition. We will look closely at the connection between the older (oral) stories and their contemporary counterparts when we read the traditional Yellow Woman Stories and then Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Yellow Woman.”

            Both types of stories are intended to help listeners make “communal, transcendent meaning out of human experience” (Allen 8). Because of the centrality of community life among Native peoples, it is critical “that new experiences be woven into existing traditions . . .  so we can understand how today’s events harmonize with communal consciousness” (Allen 8).

            The stories told explore the themes and issues central to Native life. According to Allen, four fundamental facts provide the basis for understanding these stories:

First, for Native Americans, humans exist in community with all living things (all of whom are known to be intelligent, aware, and self-aware), and honoring propriety in those relationships forms one of our basic aesthetic positions. Second, in the eyes of America, we (like other wildlife) are extinct or soon will be. Native women must contend with yet a third fact, one more difficult to notice or tell about: if in the public and private mind of American Indians as a group are invisible in America, then Indian women are non-existent. Finally, we are ever aware that we are occupied peoples who have no military power on earth ready to liberate us (as the Allies liberated France, say, or Greece or Lebanon earlier in this century). Against that backdrop, ever aware of our situation, we tell the tales of love, death, separation, and continuance. (9)

One must read the stories with these facts in mind if one is to grasp the significance of an individual character’s experience. For example, the stories of two orphans traumatized by the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse they suffered in an orphanage takes on larger significance when one considers the loss of cultural and tribal continuity that their experience represents (see the story “Grace,” by Vicki Sears).

            The first set of stories we’ll be considering include both the celebratory “warrior” stories (by Pretty Shield and Zitkala-Sa) but also the sad story of loss in Sears’ “Grace.” Understanding Louise Ehrdrich’s character Albertine, in “American Horse,” can be a complex and challenging process. Is she a warrior or victim, an abuser or fiercely protective mother? Your ultimate assessment of the story depends in part, I think, on your grasp of the story’s context, the tragedy of life on our reservations, the lack of resources, and the profound misunderstanding of white Americans when faced with the plight of Native peoples and their struggle to maintain their community and culture in the face of genocide.

            Before reading the stories, I suggest that you reflect on what being a warrior means to you. On the reading/writing schedule, you’ll see that I’ve asked you to write about someone in your life who has been a warrior. While writing or reflecting, you may consider that many of us become warriors when faced with a challenge to our family, community, way of life, or values. As you read, consider how the characters face similar challenges.

            In “Grace” and “American Horse,” pay special attention also to how the authors use symbols to evoke meaning. For example, Erdrich interweaves the image of a butterfly throughout her story. Notice the places where the symbol is used and after reading, reflect on the image—what qualities do you associate with a butterfly?—and explore what significance it might have in the story. Later, I’ll be asking you to reflect on some of the symbols, and you can use our class bulletin board as a place to explore your ideas and responses to the stories.

            Note: In the story “A Warrior’s Daughter,” don’t be confused by a shift in time which isn’t clearly signaled by the author. This takes place on page thirty-six as the story jumps from the afternoon of Tusee’s first dancing lesson, when she is eight, to a day several years later as Tusee, now an adolescent, makes beaded dearskins for her father.

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