Anpao An American Indian Odyssey

Sun Gods, wolf people, and moons who snatch people up from the sky and dispose of their body in a nearby tree. These are just a few images that are present in the novel Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey by Jamake Highwater. This novel presents a traditional perspective on a unique American Indian Culture. It is filled with themes that are common to the American Indian Culture such as magic, personification of nonhuman subjects, loyalty, coming of age and the hero’s journey, and cultural identity. Highwater uses many of these themes to give the reader insight into his unique cultural background.
Jamake Highwater was born in 1942 and died in June of 2001. He was a talented American writer. He also served as a journalist for many years, writing

more than 30 fiction and non-fiction books for both adult and juvenile audiences. He wrote on a plethora of subject matters other than American Indian Culture which ranged from music and art to history. However, much of his work was centered on his American Indian roots. Some of the literature he produced includes novels such as: The sun, he dies: a novel about the end of the Aztec world and the primal mind: vision and reality in Indian America (Jamake, 2015a). Along with being a writer, Highwater also was the director and choreographer for the San Francisco Contemporary Dancers from 1954-67 as well as a rock music journalist in the 1960s. He spent most of his career in New York, moving there due to personal feelings of inadequacy and not being accepted at the dance company in San Francisco (O’Keefe, 2010). He later moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s where he passed away. As one can see, he was a very talented and eclectic writer who gained a lot of inspiration from his own life.
Highwater was born as Jay Marks, an American.

He was adopted by a Greek family and found out later in life that he had American Indian ancestry (Jamake, 2015a). He changed his name to Jamake Highwater when he received an affidavit from his adoptive mother indicating that he had an American Indian heritage. This highly influenced him and his future writings (O’Keefe, 2010). Even though Highwater writes highly of his roots, he is often criticized about the authenticity of his culture. Many critics have disputed his heritage by claiming his works are “inauthentic and stereotypical” and that he “received federal grand money illegally” (Jamake, 2015a). Whether this is true or not, many critics still praise Highwater for his realness and accuracy in portraying his American Indian Culture through his literature. He shares his beliefs his American Indian Culture, one of which is that there are many differences between values of Americans and American Indians. However, “he stressed that there is more than one reality and that one is not necessarily more valid than another, but each reality has his own truths.” (Jamake, 2015). He believes in coexisting with other cultures and thus bringing forth peace among peoples.
Highwater exemplifies his ideas about his culture in his novel Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey. This novel combines both American Indian myth and history (Anpao, 2015). While fictional, it still incorporates many of the same themes and ideals that are present in the American Indian culture. The language of the book is fairly simple as it is at a juvenile reading level; however the plot is complicated and interweaves relationships and themes across the

novel.
The main character Anpao falls in love with Kokomikeis, a beautiful girl who is unattainable by any other man living in her village. In the story she falls in love with Anpao but reveals to him that she has been claimed by the sun who has told that she belongs to the sun alone and must not marry. However, this does not discourage Anpao from wanting to marry her. To marry Kokomikeis, Anpao must travel to the home of the sun and gain his permission. He sets out on the journey with his brother Oapna, who is quickly killed by the tempermental moon who becomes very angry at Oapna’s contradictory personality. Along his journey, Anpao encounters many interesting, mythical, and magical creatures. The first creature he encounters is a swan who narrates for Anpao the story of his existence. He tells of the old man who created the earth. When a woman questioned why there was no death, the old man reacts by killing off her only son. Stricken with grief, the woman goes to a lake to cry. Here she is met by the sun who falls in love with her and takes her up above the Earth to live with him. The moon, who is the sun’s wife, is enraged and plots against this woman. The woman and the sun quickly have a son named Anpao. When the woman wishes to take Anpao back to her village and family her plans are interrupted by the sun. When the sun catches the woman climbing down a rope into the village, he kills her and Anpao falls down back onto the Earth. He is raised by an old woman for a while, and then eventually travels off into new villages. Thus ends the swan’s story of Anpao’s being. Anpao continues his journey to the sun’s house where he is met by the moon. Anpao introduces himself as Scarface (due to the large scar across his face), careful to not let the angry moon know his true identity for this may ruin his chances of marrying Kokomeis. He also meets his stepbrother Morning Star. Anpao and Morning star decide to go to the other side of the lake one morning, where they are warned never to go for there are birds there who will kill any son of the Sun. When they encounter the birds, Anpao goes into battle with them and quickly defeats them, defending his stepbrother. The sun relays this information to the moon who is pleased and ends up adopting Anpao into his family. Anpao then gains permission to marry Kokomikeis and returns to the village. One his way back he encounters a man with smallpox who has infected and destroyed many villages. Distraught, he hurries back to Kokomikeis to discover the village unharmed. He marries Kokomikeis and warns the village of their soon destruction. The village mocks Anpao, not believing his story. They call him crazy and continue with their lives. Thus Anpao and Kokomikeis escape the village and essentially escape death.
Highwater incorporates American Indian Culture into his book in many different ways. Oral tradition is one way in which he accomplishes this. There are several ways one can look at the oral tradition in this novel. One is the more obvious way of the characters in the novel, such as the swan who tells Anpao of his heritage and of his story of being, and Anpao who tells others about his journey. The other aspect is Highwater himself writing this novel to keep the American Indian tradition alive. Oral tradition in the American Indian Culture is a way in which history, beliefs, and culture can be passed down from generation to generation. In the novel Anpao now knows who he is and where he came from after speaking with the swan. By telling this story and incorporating ideals and truths found in American Indian culture, the swan keeps Anpao’s culture thriving. As Anpao travels along his journey, he stops at several villages to eat and rest. When there, he tells his story to the people, telling of all the magical encounters he has had and the difficulties he has faced. Again, Anpao is keeping his story alive by telling it to others. This has similar parallels to Highwater’s own life. Highwater found out his own heritage from his stepmother who told him about his true mother’s identity. He gained insight and knowledge about who he was and where he came from through someone orally telling him of his story, much like the character is his novel. This is most likely what encouraged Highwater to write this book as his own way of continuing his culture and traditions.
Oral tradition also has a unique feature of experience. (Scholer, 1985) That is, when the story is being told, there is a sense that the reader, or the one who is experiencing the retelling (in the novel this is Anpao), is actually experiencing the events being told. This holds true in this novel. When the Swan person tells Anpao of his heritage, the book goes into the story in great depth, abandoning the reality of the current situation.
Another way Highwater incorporates the American Indian tradition into the book is through is use of nature. American Indians have strong ties to their land. They have relationships with their land and the nature around them. This can be seen in many different parts throughout the novel. One instance is when Anpao encounters men in the forest after being healed by the small man who lives in the ravine. These men whom he encounters are called “thunder”. They are large and have garments that are similar to the look of the clouds. Later in the book they are referred to as “cloud people”. They kill an old man in a way that is similar to a lightning storm. It is describes as the cloud people spitting “into their palms and throwing sizzling bolts at the fleeing old man” with the air “exploding with blue sparks and lightning striking him.” (Highwater, 1992, p. 98) Here, nature is represented and personified in a way that the character can directly interact with the elements of nature. Another example of nature directly interacting with the characters in the novel is in the beginning when Anpao grows a berry branch in his hair. Though this is magical because the berries regenerate every time he places the branch back into his hair, the nature elements are still there and are connected to Anpao. In a sense, he is one with the land and nature. After he eats the berries he feels strengthened, thus he is strengthened from the land in their harmonious relationship together. Along this journey, Anpao is often harmonious with the land and the animals on the land. He even tries to protect the animals with which he encounters. (Highwater, 1992, p. 139) When Anpao come across the woman and the deer he is appalled by how the woman treats the kind deer so cruelly. He tells the woman that “If the animals are not welcome here, than he (I) will not stay”. He is one with the animals and the woman wronging one of the land’s creatures is offensive to Anpao and is almost the same as wronging Anpao himself.
Another way Highwater incorporates his Culture into this book is by writing in “magic realism”, a style that is very common in the American Indian culture. This is defined as “the outcome of the writing of Indians who are fully trained in both language of dominant civilization and the ‘otherness’ of Indian Culture” (Literary, 2015). It is not uncommon in literature that uses magic realism to be questionable as to the reality of the plot. Often in this book the reader is caught up in the reality of the plot, thus understanding what is happening and seeing it as reality rather than magic or fiction. Then Highwater interrupts the reader’s idea of what they believe is the truth, or reality, and incorporates magic or mythical creatures. This may lead the reader to question the story’s essential truth and validity. The intertwining of reality and myth is common in the American Indian Culture and in many parts of the novel this intermingling of two worlds sometimes becomes muddy and hard to separate for the reader. One way he accomplishes this is through his use of language. When Anpao encountered the swan person for the first time, he was unsure of himself. He “could not decide if this creature was a girl, person, or a swan person” (Highwater, 1992, p. 33). The ambiguous nature of this leaves the reader wondering. However, often when he is using this magic realism he writes in terms that are easy for readers, such as Americans, to understand while keeping his culture ever present in the plot and themes. In this way, Highwater incorporates both the language of the American culture and the “otherness” of his own culture. This is also present in his use of various American Indian themes.
Highwater uses themes such as magic, personification of nonhuman subjects, loyalty, coming of age and the hero’s journey, and cultural identity. All of these themes can be found in this novel and often are intertwined (Tsai, 2004).
His use of magic is extremely prevalent in almost the entirety of the book. While are events that happen in the book where magic is not used, this is seldom when compared to the overwhelming presence of magic that is in the book itself. The elements of magic are most commonly seen through mystical characters in the book. Some of the magical characters Anpao encounters include: the swan woman, the thunder people, the ugly bat-person, the sorcerers, the deer-woman, the sun and moon, the evil birds, the large turtle with the magic shell, and many others. These characters have magical features about them and often perform magical tasks. Magic can also be seen in healing. In the beginning of the novel, the stripped woman heals Anpao’s hands when they are wounded. She does not do this by using bandages or cleansing the wound with medicine, but rather heals the wounds by touch, a very magical encounter.
Very similar to magic is the personification of nonhuman subjects. This is mainly seen in the characters of this novel. Many of the characters are in fact animals; however they speak and act just like humans. Examples of these include the characters listed above. Highwater seldom distinguishes between humans and nonhumans in this novel. Rather, almost all of the elements of nature have characteristics of humans (feelings, talking, emotions, etc.). The sun and the moon in this story are examples of this. The sun and the moon play integral parts in this novel. First introduced in the first couple of pages, the reader finds out that Anpao must ask the sun for permission to marry Kokomeis. One would wonder why someone would ask the sun, essentially a star. But as the reader finds out, the sun is the father to Kokomeis and the husband of the moon. They are still in fact the sun and moon, but have features of humans such as being able to talk, see, and have children.
The human character Anpao encompasses the theme of loyalty. He hardly knew Kokomeis before he decided to be completely loyal to her. He stayed true to his journey even though he faced many obstacles along the way and considered giving up entirely at a point in the novel. However, he stayed loyal to what he had told Kokomeis and continued to push on through his journey to marry Kokomeis. At several points in his journey he stops at villages to rest. When he is at these villages he meets the hunters and men of the town who see how brave and courageous Anpao is. When they see this they offer Anpao their daughters and almost beg him to take their beautiful daughter’s hands in marriage. Anpao doesn’t give this a thought. He remains loyal to Kokomeis and declines their offers. He also shows his loyalty with his brother morning star. Shortly after meeting Morning Star, the boys find themselves face to face with large birds that are ready to kill the Sun’s sons. Anpao fights off the birds and protects Morning Star. He could have easily run away from the situation but instead stayed to save his brother, whom he just met. These instances alone encapsulate the loyalty that is present in Anpao in this novel.
The theme that is most associated with Anpao, however, is that of the hero and the coming of age story. By the end of the novel Anpao is not the same boy that he was in the beginning of the novel. In the beginning of the novel when he is standing before Kokomeis, he is shy and doesn’t seem like your typical hero as the men tease him and mock him. As the story proceeds, however, and as he faces and conquers many dangers and creatures, he becomes more confident on his journey to become a man. In the same process, he becomes a hero. He is not only brave in his goals to set out to find the Sun, but he also accomplishes his goal while even saving his brother Morning Star in the process. Along his journey he is somewhat of an unconventional hero. This is seen at the end of the story when he returns back to his village to warn the people of the disease smallpox and to marry Kokomeis. When he returns, he is praised at first for the hero that he is. The chief even says to him (Highwater, 1992, p. 230) “It is the poor young man called Anpao! Look, he is poor no longer! And the scar has vanished from his face” as the people of the village run to him and admire him in all of his new clothing. They ask him about his story and beg him to tell them what he has seen and done. However the unconventional and honest part of Anpao emerges as he tells the men and women that it is not a time to praise him but rather a time for concern as a disease is approaching. The people quickly turn on Anpao and tell him that he is “as crazy as he was when he was poor and had a scar on his face”. Now the men and women do not see him as a hero, even though he is. Anpao shows his true growth here when he says to the people “I have seen what becomes of perfect worlds and I cannot be fooled by what I see, for I have learned to see more than what is before me.” Anpao is able to make his own decisions and fight for himself by the end of the novel. This is due to the fact that he has now found his cultural identity. He is more confident with who he is as a person because he now knows where he has come from and who he is.
The holy man Wasicong encapsulates this story perfectly at the end of the novel (Highwater, 1992, p.235). He describes the story of Anpao as “the story of how the world began and how the boy Anpao was born and of his adventures among the people and among the spirits.” Through this wonderful story, Highwater incorporates the American Indian culture and it’s themes of magic, personification of nonhuman subjects, loyalty, coming of age and the hero’s journey, and cultural identity all while keeping true to his American Indian beliefs. The American Indian Culture is one of beauty, nature, and magic. This novel combines these things into one grand story of a boy and his journey for the truth.

Work Cited
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Highwater, J. (1992). Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey. Phillidelphia, Pennsylvania: HarperCollins.
Jamake Highwater Essay. (2015). Retrieved March, 2015, from http://www.enotes.com/topics/ja make-highwater/critical-essays
Jamake Highwater. (2015). Retrieved March, 2015, from http://www.hawaiilibrary.net/articles/ja ma ke_highwater
Literary Precedents for Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey. (2015). Retrieved March 1, 2015, from http://www.bookrags.com/shortguide-anpao-an-american-indian-odyssey/literarypre cedents. html#gsc.tab=0
O'Keefe, L. (2010, July). Jamake Highwater Papers (S. Malsbury, Ed.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/archivalcollections/pdf/1395.pdf
Scholer, B. (1985). Mythic Realism in Native American Studies. Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 17, 65-73.
Tsai, G., & Alanis, L. (2004). The Native American culture: A historical and reflective perspective. NASP Communique, 32(8). Retrieved from http://www.nasponline.org/publi cations/cq/cq328native.aspx