Differences In Nerburn's Neither Wolf Nor Dog

While white people and Native American people may live in close quarters their cultures and ways of life are in conflict. Life inside the reservation is very different from life around them because many Native American people still hold true to the daily rituals and ways of their ancestors while also attempting to adapt to modern life. This creates strife between the Native Americans who hold dear their deeply-rooted history and the white people who laugh in it’s face by using the Native American people and their traditions as mascots for sports teams or the butt of a joke. This tension is seen in Nerburn’s Novel “Neither Wolf Nor Dog” with a gap in ideology between Kent and Elder Dan. Throughout Nerbun’s “Neither Wolf Nor Dog,” Elder Dan makes

Kent has spent lots of time around Native American people, and thinks that he understands them and their culture. While Dan seems very critical of Kent’s beliefs, he is usually trying to explain his own. An example of the differences of their different beliefs comes when they argue about parking garages and junk cars. When Dan explains the “Indian Way” of not letting anything go to waste, he says to Kent, “Just because you have everything scrubbed down and in-order doesn’t mean anything. What is bigger trash, a junk car or a parking ramp? We can tow the junk car away. The parking ramp has to be torn down with bulldozers and wrecking cranes” (Nerburn 76). Dan is frustrated with Kent’s comment about his messy yard, so he explains the Native American belief on the longevity of possession and how Native American people only see something as ‘junk’ when it does not pose a purpose to them. This is an attempt by Dan to clarify how Native American’s see things, and phrase it in a way Kent would understand. Dan could have easily ignored Kent in this situation, but because Dan wants to accept and work with Kent, Dan is patient and explains his beliefs. We also see this when Dan explains how Native American culture is often oversimplified when he says “[...] it makes me smile to see white people wearing Indian jewelry. Because to most of America, that’s all we are. Just jewelry on the American culture. It’s our job to be bright and colorful” (Nerburn 120). Dan is explaining to Kent how he is frustrated with Native American culture being reduced to the point where all they stand for to most people is a turquoise necklace around some white person’s neck. This is frustrating to Dan because his entire culture is being reduced to a material item or an icon. He explains this to Kent to show him how his culture is being