Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective

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1. Why is it significant that the Pueblo tradition of story telling makes no distinction between types of stories, such as historical, sacred, or just plain gossip? 2. Discuss the distinctive qualities that define the way stories are told in Native American cultures. How do these differ from what you might have thought of as a traditional story? As Silko says, "Where I come from, the words most highly valued are those spoken from the heart, unpremeditated and unrehearsed. Among Pueblo people, written speech or statement is highly suspect because the true feelings of speaker remain hidden as she read the words that are detached from the occasion and audience. " (pg 1 ) Now days, whenever you turn on TV or Radio, and there is somebody giving speech, it is read off the paper that has been written by a professional and proof read by a lawyer or two. Silko is absolutely and right, and I agree with her that the speaker does not express what she or he had in the heart and wanted others to hear. For pueblo people, storytelling is very important. "Pueblo expression resembles something like a spider web - with many little threads radiating from the center, crisscrossing each other. As with the web, the structure emerges as it is made and you must simply listen and trust, as Pueblo people do, that meaning will be made." (pg 1 ) From reading this essay, I noticed that one of the distinctive ways stories are told at Laguna Pueblo, many individual words have their own stories, and there are few dimensions of story telling, which always includes the listeners, and story identity. No matter what kind of story is being told, it always has the origins. And since everything and everybody have different origins an... ... middle of paper ... ...son does not want to study hard to earn a degree and then get a better job that pays a lot more than the minimum wage job, then I feel sorry for those people. Some people are afraid of studying because it is a very hard work, and they come up with different excuses such as no opportunity to go to school, or it costs too much, but the harvest of it is very sweet. And if people were more goal-oriented, then they could definitely achieve all of their goals! After reading all of the essays and poems that we were required to read about Native Americans, I came up with the conclusion that the main point of all of the essays is how bad their lives are. But they do not do anything to change it! They just complain and complain and complain! But what have they done about their lives?! Nothing! And that is their problem and they do not have goals that they can achieve!

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