Native American Literature: Changes and Transformations

Native American Literature: Changes and Transformations

            Just as the existence of Native Americans has transformed over time so has the literature by Native American authors. With its beginnings in oral tradition, Native American literature moved toward the autobiography, then the “Native American Renaissance” , and finally modern Native American Literature of today.

            With no written language, Native American traditions in literature sprang from oral tradition. In this course, we first examined and explored, The Iroquois Creation Story (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 17). Similar to the Book of Genesis from the bible, the creations story provides a “history” of creation for the tribal people (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 17). The story which explains good versus evil sheds light on the Iroquois tradition as well as a “general cultural outlook” (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 17). Like the Christian bible, the creation story tells “what life is and how to understand it” (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 17). In the mid-19^th century European Americans began to translate and transcribe Native American creation stories. Additionally, Native Americans began recording the legends of their people. It wouldn’t be long before removal would force their literature to change.

            As America transitioned further into the 19^th century, westward expansion heavily impacted Native literature. Rather than showcase the culture and traditions of the tribes, Native American literature of the century became “increasingly text based” and written not in the Native tongue but in English, the language of the dominant culture (Janet Gabler-Hover). Native American literature began to rest on the “struggle of Indian authors to find a voice within American culture” (Janet Gabler-Hover). Predominantly, this struggle was conveyed by way of the autobiography. However, it is important to note that some autobiographies were both translated and written by European Americans. These circumstances have resulted in discussion and debate regarding the authenticity of some of the autobiographies.

            Samson Occom’s narrative was one text not translated and transcribed by Euro-Americans. Occom’s autobiography documents his testimony of conversion to Christianity (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 206). Through Occom’s brief narrative and despite his education and conversion, he illustrates a sense of prejudice both in referring to himself as a “poor Indian” as well as in how he was treated by members of the Christian community.  In contrast, Blackhawk’s autobiography displays his “strong sense of himself, his ties to his people and his broad critique of the Americans” (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 571).

            One article on Native American Literature draws parallels with Native American literature and expansion: “The history of literature written in English by American Indians parallels the history of white migration across the continent” (Janet Gabler-Hover). As the century moved forward it became defined by the Indian Removal Act of 1830. With two separate and distinct cultures colliding it became obvious that Native “cultural beliefs” are “essentially incompatible with the white man’s” (Janet Gabler-Hover). The Removal Act was met with some resistance, in particular the Cherokee, the tribe that Blackhawk belonged too (Janet Gabler-Hover). In 1838, forced to leave by federal troops, an estimated four-thousand Native Americans die on the “Trail of Tears”. The federal government continued to implement and enforce policies with the goal of isolating and containing Native Americans on reservations. Some author’s began to write in response to the fact that the “dominant literary tradition sentimentalized and condoned the death of Indians” (Janet Gabler-Hover).

            The turn of the century for the Native Americans meant disposition of land, “nadir of population” (the worst ever), and confinement to a reservation. Writings began to reflect efforts to preserve history and culture “in the face of cultural disintegration” (Mackay). The next generations of Native American writers are considered to have been inspired by Momaday and his story House of Dawn. The story centers on themes involving tribal identity and focusing on a protagonist who is poor, “shiftless”, drinks heavily, is unemployed and sometimes incarcerated (Native American Literature). The main character, Abel, is on a “quest to find himself in the tribal community” (Native American Literature). Welch’s Winter in the Blood and Leslie Marmon Silko’s The Ceremony, share in common with the House of Dawn, an ending where the protagonist has increased self-respect through discovery of their identity and how they “belong to their tribal communities” (Native American Literature).

            Second generation Modern Native American writers turned away from life within the tribe. Often, writers explore the Native American who leaves the tribe or reservation, lives among whites yet his success makes it so he cannot return to the tribe. Having experienced loss of land, loss of culture as well as discrimination and prejudice, the solution of returning to nature made sense.

            Modern Native American literature focuses on the need for survival and the need to return to “tribal life” in some capacity. In Ceremony, Silko deals with the “dark aspects” of modern American Indian life (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 2785). The main character is in “physical and emotional straits” yet survives by “re-establishing contact with his native roots” (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 2785). The story is also an attempt to “search for a ceremony to deal with despair” (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 2785). In the case of reservation Indians today, despair is equivalent to “suicide, the alcoholism, and the violence” that happen in Native American communities (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 2785). Erdrich’s poem Dear John Wayne reflects the mixing of European American and Native American cultures set in a modern drive-in move (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 2829). In addition, the poem reflects the author’s awareness of the “historical” and continuing devastations of Native American life.

            The last author covered in our text that is Native American is Sherman Alexie. Similar to Erdrich, Alexie blends and mixes popular culture or American culture with the culture of reservation Indians. Alexie’s works balance between his portrayal of the reservation community and how it fits into popular culture (or vice versa). In short, Alexie’s writing covers the “contemporary Native American experience” (The Norton Anthology of American Literature 2851).

            Beginning with oral traditions, Native American literature has certainly been transformed. Native authors quickly learned the power of language and the written word to record, and convey the transformations of a culture and to express their human condition. Native American literature has been my favorite genre this term.

Janet Gabler-Hover, Robert S. Helmeyer. "Native American Literature." American History Through Literature. n.d.

Mackay, K.L. Native American Literature. n.d. 18 November 2012 <www.faculty.weber.edu/kmackay/native-american-literature.htm>.

Native American Literature. n.d. 18 November 2012 <www.nativeamericanlit.com>.

The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York, 2008.