LITR 4332: American Minority
Literature
Sample Student Poetry Presentation 2000
Reader: Vickie Bookout
Respondent: Brooke Connealy
October 19, 2000
"The Last Wolf"
By
Mary TallMountain
Unsettling America, pp. 33-34
I. Biographical Information
Mary TallMountain was born in 1918 in Nulato, a village along the Yukon River in Alaska to a Koyukon/Athabaskan mother and a Scots/Irish father. Mary was adopted by a non-Native couple and taken away from her village when her mother became terminally ill. Mary was traumatized first by losing her family and homeland, then by the harshness of mainstream American culture. She used her writing as a way of reclaiming her ancestry. Her stories and poems, which have been published in dozens of anthologies and periodicals nationwide, portray life along the Yukon River and her removal from that land. For the past twenty years, Mary had been active in the Native American literature renaissance. She was also an activist and spoke out for native rights, for animals, women, the homeless, and others who are dispossessed in American society. During the compilation of the anthology, Reinventing The Enemy’s Language, (c1997), Mary Tallmountain passed away (http://www.jps.net/voices/mary.htm).
II. Course Objectives
1a. Forced Participation
3b. Loss and Survival
III. Angles of Interpretation
The symbol of the wolf
1 Wolf as teacher/spirit guide
2. Wolf as brother
IV. Question of Style
Imagery - Vivid imagery conveys overall theme
Language - Conveys loss/survival
V. Discussion Questions
1. What commonalities do the wolf and the Native American have with loss and survival.
2. Did the narrator of the poem request the presence of the wolf?
3. Could the wolf represent The Mohegan Indian , whose name means wolf?
VI. Additional Sources
1. Wolf-Teacher. http://wwwgeocities.com/Athens/Olympus/8845/wolf.html
2. Donna’s Wolf Den. Donna Marie Fuller, 1998. http://www.aristotle.net/- dfuller/wolfden.html.
3. Mohegan History. http://www.dickshovel.com/moh.html
Summary- Class Discussion
Brooke - Wolf/ Indian being forced into cities and losing their land. Wolf having to take shelter with man, best home, need to survive with man in order to live.
Jody - Loss and Survival. In order to stay together with tradition, that’s where they live. Stuck and have to live there.
Phyllis - narrow bed - coffin, or way of life.
David - last line is key line. Wolf represents freedom and restlessness of people. Ruined city isn’t ruined, it just ruined the forest and land of wolf and Indians. Disappointment and desire to go back to natural state.
Jody - natural state, untamed land, fear of unknown.
Jupiter - wolf only chooses weak animal
Dr. White - no record of any human being killed by a wolf.
August - City as ruined, not desolate city, but it to Indian and wolf. We can’t handle this anymore. Stay on reservations, or go into society?
Additional discussion summary by Brooke Conneally:
Silvia spoke first and said that we have low paying jobs and you are telling us we can't even dream of anything better because it's like stealing from you. Then Dr. White added that age is significant and that the white culture is referred to as an aging culture vs. the children who come with the Mexicans. Stephen added that a picture of a white guy being replaced, taking the jobs they don't want. They feel like they are being phased out and are taking it out on minority. Next, August said he feels really unwanted, the dominant culture doesn't even care about them feeding their family. Dr. White then said that the "clean-suited" farmers and the wages have been held down as a result of immigrants. People in the country will work for less. Then Phyllis added that it is ironic because the people can't move up even after taking low-paying jobs. Who is taking advantage of whom?