Simon J. Ortiz was raised on the Acoma Pueblo reservation, near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ortiz was surrounded by Puebloan community; his father was an elder in the tribe, responsible for preserving religious customs and traditions, and Ortiz only spoke his people’s native language until he learned English at school. During his time, most Native children were enrolled in Indian Boarding Schools, whose goal was to assimilate the Native children into American culture. Native languages were forbidden in these schools, and young Ortiz struggled with that and other rules. His childhood will later have a very strong influence on his writing, even though Ortiz did not see himself as a writer in the future. In fact, during his time, Native American authors and poets were not popular. Ortiz started with labor jobs, and later pursued an education in writing, which he did not initially take seriously. He also served in the army, where he face discrimination, further influencing his future writing. His “official” writings began in the 1960s, and …show more content…
he was one the first writers to express the “unheard Native American Voice.” Since then, Ortiz has published many of poems and short stories consisting of both fiction and nonfiction. Three of Ortiz’s poems are “Blind Curse” (1994), “Busted Boy” (2002), and “Culture and the Universe” (2002). These are three unrelated poems that are good to read from Ortiz. Ortiz is known as a second wave author/poet or an author/poet of the Native American Renaissance. Second wave writers through their works share social, political, and cultural, issues about Native Americans. “Busted Boy” is a great example of a social issue literary piece- in this case not exclusively about Native Americans. “Blind Curse” and “Culture and the Universe” focus on one’s relationship with the universe and mother Earth. In these poems, Ortiz implements several literary devices including imagery, symbolism, and figures of speech. These, along with other factors, like poetic structure and rhythm, separate his poetry from his prose, and makes his work enjoyable. “Busted Boy” is written in the first person point of view. This poem reads like prose but with line breaks. The Native narrator notices a “skinny black teenager” on the bus. When they both get off the bus, the narrator describes “two burly men… cool yet stern” grabbing the black teenager and handcuffing him to a pole in a “practiced manner.” The narrator and another Native watches, but no one else around notices and “everything is quiet and normal.” Both just watch and then move on. Essentially, the black teenager is being arrested just for being black, and bystanders do nothing about it; they don’t care. This poem shows the struggle of a black teenager, but symbolizes what can happen to any individual that is a minority or of color - not exactly being arrested for no reason, but any type of injustice. Ortiz is writing that people need to speak up even if these injustices do not affect them directly. Action is required. These injustices affect everyone. Looking at the present day, one can see that many are speaking up. “Blind Curse” is more poetic compared to “Busted Boy,” and features several literary devices.
Also written in first person, it is about the narrator witnessing a diesel truck heading through a storm, and driving off a hill. The truck symbolizes a person, the road is life, and the storm represents the struggles of life. The truck “Churning through the storm…” is like someone going through a difficult time in life. The general meaning of the poem is how one fits in or belongs in the universe. This poem has a profound meaning of life. Anybody’s life can be cut short just like the truck drive, but to the narrator, what he witnessed, most likely will not significantly affect his life. The narrator thinks about life: “You just might be significant/ but you might not be anything.” An individual - any individual - can be small, but also important. Ortiz is telling the reader that their life can be like the truck driver’s or like the
narrator’s. Another first person poem, “Culture and the Universe” is about men traveling into a canyon and feeling a spiritual uplifting. They think about their connection to the canyon, nature, and the universe. At the end the men realize that everyone is unique and what limits them. This poem is the most unique out of the three in terms of structure and format. The reader’s eyes flow across the page as they read the poem. Ortiz wrote this poem for reader to think and wonder about their place in the universe because “...the act/ of being human/ is not easy knowledge.” These three poems are unrelated, however, they do share a common motive: to make the reader think about themself. “Busted Boy” make the reader think about their actions, “Blind Curse” - their life, and “Culture and the Universe” - connections with the universe. Poetry is a good way to get a message across, especially for a voice that is not commonly heard - the voice of the Native American people. Ortiz was one of the first writers to make his Native voice be heard by the outside community. Many other Native Americans have also turned to literature to express their voice for the “outside world” to heard about their issues. Writing is a very powerful tool.
The Essay, I have chosen to read from is ReReading America was An Indian Story by Roger Jack. The topic of this narrative explores the life of an Indian boy who grows up away from his father in the Pacific Northwest. Roger Jack describes the growing up of a young Indian boy to a man, who lives away from his father. Roger demonstrates values of the Indian culture and their morals through exploration of family ties and change in these specific ties. He also demonstrates that growing up away from one’s father doesn’t mean one can’t be successful in life, it only takes a proper role model, such as the author provides for the young boy.
Connell, Barry O'., Dictionary of Literary Biography, Native American Writers of the United States. Ed. Kenneth M. Roemer. Vol. 175. Detroit. Gale Research Co., 1997.
of the native tongue is lost , certain holidays may not be celebrated the same , and American born generations feel that they might have lost their identity , making it hard to fit in either cultures . Was is significant about this book is the fact it’s like telling a story to someone about something that happened when they were kid . Anyone can relate because we all have stories from when we were kids . Alvarez presents this method of writing by making it so that it doesn’t feel like it’s a story about Latin Americans , when
Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his essay, it is evident that he faces many issues and is very frustrated growing up as an American Indian. Growing up, Alexie faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and sorrow.
Culture has the power and ability to give someone spiritual and emotional distinction which shapes one's identity. Without culture, society would be less and less diverse. Culture is what gives this earth warmth and color that expands across miles and miles. The author of “The School Days of an Indian Girl”, Zitkala Sa, incorporates the ideals of Native American culture into her writing. Similarly, Sherman Alexie sheds light onto the hardships he struggled through growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven in a chapter titled “Indian Education”.
Dionisio “Dennis” Chavez was born on April 8, 1888. Dennis worked driving a grocery wagon when he
Growing up on a reservation where failing was welcomed and even somewhat encouraged, Alexie was pressured to conform to the stereotype and be just another average Indian. Instead, he refused to listen to anyone telling him how to act, and pursued his own interests in reading and writing at a young age. He looks back on his childhood, explaining about himself, “If he'd been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity” (17). Alexie compares the life and treatment of an Indian to life as a more privileged child. This side-by-side comparison furthers his point that
Tiburcio Vasquez was Born in Monterey in 1835. He was descended from one of earliest settlers of California. His great-grandfather arrived in California as a young man with the DeAnza expedition of 1776. His criminal career began in 1852, at 17 when he attended a local fandango with his older cousin, Anastacio Garcia. When a fight broke out, Constable William Hardmount was killed. Even though they weren’t directly involved in the killing they still fled the scene. Jose Higuera, one of Vasquez’s friends who was at the fight didn’t flee and was hanged by vigilantes the next day. While hiding in the hills with his cousin he picked up the “outlaw business”. He joined a gang of other desperados, and eventually became the leader of his own group.
It is important for more people to become aware of how inaccurate the common perception of Native American Indians is. It leads to racism and negative connotations in individuals, when every culture should be celebrated. Native American Indian authors are able to write about their experiences and allow more people to become conscious of their culture. They first handedly share their personal stories giving more individuals insight on what it’s truly like to be a Native American Indian. The more people who are aware of how false the stereotypical image is, the less issues exist of
Julia Alvarez was an example of how a Latina writer identified herself in a new culture outside of her comfort zone. She, as a Dominican Diaspora, had to reinvent herself as she migrated into a new scenario. Her assimilation into the United States culture allowed her to understand and relate to the reader’s needs and points of interests. After all the effort, Alvarez kept in mind that she could not comfort to all the reality that she lived in, so she re-reinvented herself all over again to process her thoughts and beliefs into her life. She put her perspective on her writing so that the new wave of readers, even if they did not understand, could relate in some way and appreciate the differences. The sole purpose of her writings was for everyone to change their perspective from “walk to the other side of the street in order to avoid sharing the same sidewalk” to “I do not know them, but I do not avoid them because I do not know them”. She instilled in her reader’s mind how ordinary events were viewed differently through other cultures’ eyes. Her story Snow was a great example of how she portrayed her technique.
In Contested Visions, Competing Memories of the Conquest of Mexico, Kevin Terraciano explores the recording through art and writing by both the native Indians of the Mexica and the Spaniards on their meetings. Terraciano examines the parallels of the two cultures recording as well as the inconsistencies between the two. When the Spaniards arrived to the Island of Hispaniola a trigger was set off for writers and artists to tell about the meeting and development of the coming together of the two cultures. It’s actually an amazing thing because it allows us a point of view from both sides. As it is often said, there’s one person’s side of the story, there’s another person’s side of the story, and then the truth lies in between the two. That is exactly what one must do here. It is up to one’s self to take what information is available for both sides of the Spanish and the Natives using logic and evidence you can find and decide what you believe the truth to be from all the gathered information.
Native American literature from the Southeastern United States is deeply rooted in the oral traditions of the various tribes that have historically called that region home. While the tribes most integrally associated with the Southeastern U.S. in the American popular mind--the FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole)--were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) from their ancestral territories in the American South, descendents of those tribes have created compelling literary works that have kept alive their tribal identities and histories by incorporating traditional themes and narrative elements. While reflecting profound awareness of the value of the Native American past, these literary works have also revealed knowing perspectives on the meaning of the modern world in the lives of contemporary Native Americans.
Native American children were physically and sexually abused at a school they were forced to attend after being stripped from their homes in America’s attempt to eliminate Native peoples culture. Many children were caught running away, and many children never understood what home really meant. Poet Louise Erdich is part Native American and wrote the poem “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways” to uncover the issues of self-identity and home by letting a student who suffered in these schools speak. The poem follows Native American kids that were forced to attend Indian boarding schools in the 19th and 20th centuries. By using imagery, allusion, and symbolism in “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways”, Louise Erdrich displays how repulsive Indian
Although Diego Rivera was a Mexican painter, influenced much by his historical roots in Mexico, his contributions to American society throughout the first half of the twentieth century were great. Rivera wanted his art to influence the world enough to change it (Howlett 20). During an era of revolutions in both politics and technology, Rivera was one of the many inspired to create work that was socially radical at the time (Stevens 72). His views of support for Communism, his outlook on Capitalism, and his portrayals of the industrial revolution around the world caught the attention and eyes of entire nations. “Rivera’s work seemed like it was leading directly to today’s cultural wars” (Aguilar 36). Throughout the early 1900’s, Rivera had become
Scott Momaday was born on February 27, 1934, in Oklahoma. His mother was a literature teacher and his father was an art teacher. Momaday’s parents both where authors and taught on Indian reserves. Momaday was forced to adjust between two cultures from an early age; although, he views this situation as an advantage, both in his life and in his work. After receiving a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of New Mexico, he submitted a few poems to a creative writing contest sponsored by Stanford University. There Ivor Winters, professor and established poet, secured a scholarship for the young man and became his mentor. Momaday remained at Stanford to earn a master's and Ph.D. in English and continued to write fiction and poetry. He came out as a highly successful writer of many books, and his literary career full of outstanding achievements. House Made of Dawn, his “classic first novel”, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In his writings, Momaday ha...