Jamie McGuire

28 April 2004

Research Journal

Native American Narratives

Introduction:

            Today’s society has a warped concept of what Native Americans or American Indians are.  This is because of propaganda and stereotyping perpetuated by the Cleveland Indians, Tonto from the Lone Ranger, high school mascots, how Native Americans have been and continue to be portrayed on the silver screen.  As children, we grow up playing cowboys and Indians; the cowboy always plays the role of the hero, while the Indian is perceived as a savage villain. It is because of these images created by our society, that I entered into this project with a preconceived notion of who the Native American storytellers were, what they looked like, how they told their stories, and the types of stories they told. 

Through my research, I am hoping to rectify some of the damage society inflicted on my perceptions of the Native American narrative culture.  By researching this topic, I hope to discover if the Native Americans still carry on the old traditions of storytelling.  I consider the traditional form of storytelling to be an elder passing on life lessons and history to the younger generations.  Life lesson and history narratives would be similar to the origin stories we discussed in class.  I also have a book titled Spider Spins a Story: Fourteen Legends from Native America, and this book is a collection of origin stories revolving around the spider’s role in creating their culture. 

I want to discover if the Native Americans are carrying on with their traditional way of presenting the narratives.  I want to learn if the elders still pass on the stories to the children as they did when Zitkala-Ša was a small child.  If they no longer teach the children this way, then how have they had to adapt and modify their stories and techniques to compete with the changing times? 

The more I think about it the more I begin to wonder about other way that the Native American culture records their history.  This is rooted in my curiosity of Sherman Alexie and his success as a Native American author.  In class, we took time to read Crazy Horse Speaks and Vision (2) from his poetry collection, and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, while we briefly discussed how his work plays a role in Native American literature.  If his form of writing is considered a narrative, what other forms also fall into this category?   

With today’s technology and resources, my questions and growing curiosity have a greater chance of being answered.  The Internet provided direct access to Native American Nations, which are now located in Canada and the Untied States.  PBS (Public Broadcasting Station) is known for airing well researched documentaries, and they now post the information presented in theses documentaries on their website.  Along with these resources I have in my possession several print references that provide narratives and history of the Native Americans.  I have unique family resources because my aunt was raised at the Telanie Lake Navaho Indian Mission in Arizona. 

Zitkala-Ša:

In American Indian Stories by Zitkala-Ša, she takes two approaches to her narratives; one is that she writes about her life on the Indian Reservation and when she is sent away to school.  It was inconceivable to me, that they would allow their children to be taken away and essentially raised by strangers.  In her section titled School Days, she talks about how excited she was with anticipation to be traveling to “Red Apple Country” (47). 

It was after reading about Zitkala-Ša’s experiences as a young Indian girl that I called my aunt to ask about her experiences at the Indian school back in the sixties.  She told me how her four step siblings and her all had to attend the school, but her mother was the Reverend on the Reservation and insisted that they would not be left to live there.  They were lucky because her mother took them and picked them up from school every day, which was over an hours drive one way.  She told me what she could remember about the other students who lived there during the school year.  Her accounts had their treatment and conditions improved from when Zitkala-Ša was a child, but the quality of education was greatly diminished compared to the education that her cousins received living in Texas.

Sherman Alexie: 

Zitkala-Ša also wrote a collection of short stories that reflected the changing times during her life.  This is similar to Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.  Alexie’s ability to weaves his personal life experiences into his narratives helps provide a sense of authenticity to his work.  A reoccurring theme in his work is the Spokane Indian Reservation and its inhabitants.  Even though his narratives are fictional, with his experiences he is able to incorporate realism; that provides the outside world with a glimpse into reservation life. 

In class, we read This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona by Alexie.  This short story and the characters throughout The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven served as Alexie’s inspiration to write his screenplay, Smoke Signals.  The screenplay for Smoke Signals was picked up by Miramax Films, and it won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival.  In an interview with Alexie regarding the movie and book comparison he said, that “The Lone Ranger and Tonto is about the effects of alcoholism on its characters, and I think the adaptation, Smoke Signals, is more about the causes of that behavior” (West).  Later in his interview he talks about how the influences on his writing coming from his grandmother’s traditional form of storytelling and his fathers nontraditional form.

Dreamkeeper: 

On December 28 through 29, ABC aired a Hallmark Entertainment Presentation titled Dreamkeeper.  This made for TV movie combined the traditional form of storytelling with a refreshing look into current Native American culture.  The movie was centered around two characters, the grandfather who was the Pine Ridge Reservation storyteller, and his grandson.  They were traveling to the All Nations Powwow in New Mexico, which is the largest Powwow held each year in the United States.  While on their journey to the powwow the grandfather seizes opportunities to pass on his knowledge of the legends to his resistant grandson.  The grandfather would wait until a subject or event occurred that would match one of his legends about the unknown, love, escape, making peace, humility, patience, and courage.   

This movie intricately wove ten legends into the storyline.  One of these legends was called the Legend of Coyote and Iktome, and another was the Legend of Coyote and Iktome, and Iktome’s Wife.  The coyote was the infamous trickster, swindling others to get what he wants.  I bring reference to these legends because during a class discussion the narrative role of the coyote was introduced.  We review some websites that contained material on the Trickster from around the world, and how in Native American Legends the coyote is often a representation the trickster.  

In class, we briefly studied the traditional narrative form when we examined the handouts for North American Indian Origin Stories.  The origin stories exhibited elements that are common with traditional narratives.  For the Native Americans the origin stories represent their history by explaining why and how things have come to be.  In page one of our handouts it said that “earth-diver, world-parent, emergence, spider-creator, creation by conflict or theft, creation from a cosmic giant, and the creator pair” are the seven major themes found in Native American creation narratives. 

Spider Spins a Story:

The theme of creation can be seen in the legends of all Native American Nations, but each nation provides a different perspective.  The book Spider Spins a Story bases its legends of creation, history, moral, and life lessons on the crucial involvement of the spider teaching or doing something for man.   Several of the creation stories involve a character called Grandmother Spider or Spider Woman.  Grandmother Spider is responsible for creating all off the plants on earth and for creating a home for some Native Americans; it is also said that she cried a trail of tears that can be seen in the sky. While Spider Woman contributions are, bring fire, and teaching the Native American to weave nets, baskets, and blankets. 

There is a Zuni legend, Swift Runner and Trickster Tarantula, which portrays Spider Woman as the typical god like figure, but considers Tarantula as a trickster figure instead of the usual coyote figure.  The legends also incorporate a variety of other animal based figures that help and hinder the spiders mission such as the snake, coyote, rabbit, owl, and crow.  Along each legend, the book provides a brief history of the Native American Nation and the sacred role of the spider in that nation.  The author collected the legends in hopes of preserving the Native American history and culture for future generations.  

I know that the spider is important to the Navajo Nation, but I wanted to learn more about it so I interviewed my aunt.  My aunt remembered the Legend of the Loom, which is also in Spider Spins a Story.  According to Navajo belief when a baby girl is born, she will become excellent weavers if they rub a spider’s web over the baby’s hands.  In addition, she told me that Evil Sprits would come if you kill a spider in you home; so, it is important to carefully relocate the spider to a safe place outside the hogan.   

Circle of Stories:

I found a PBS documentary titled the Circle of Stories and it said, “[…] we find legends and history, maps and poems, the teachings of spirit mentors, instructions for ceremony and ritual, observations of worlds, and storehouses of ethno-ecological knowledge. […] with meanings that reach from the everyday to the divine. […] power to teach, heal and reflect. Stories […] have survived for generations despite attempts at repression and assimilation.”

Circle of Stories highlight the lives of four tribal storytellers, Rosella Archdale, Hoskie Benally, Corbin Harney, and Techin.  The documentary offers an opportunity to discover how the storytellers learned their tribal traditions, how they pass on their knowledge, a personal insight into their Native American Nation, and presents an opportunity to listen to the storytellers tell their legends.  Although the narratives have a common purpose, such as explaining an origin, teaching lessons and morals, the single element that connects every narrative together is that they all center around honoring life. 

Rosella Archdale belongs to the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Nations, descendent from Standing Buffalo and Sitting Bull’s tribes and among her people she is known as Medicine Lodge Woman.  Her grandmother taught her the old traditions including beading, tanning animal hides, and food preparation, while she received an education learning the white ways.  “My father said to learn the culture and keep it alive. Always be proud to be an Indian. It’s okay to learn the white ways and the English language, but keep the Indian ways, too.” 

To keep with her father’s wishes, after she received a B.S. she began teaching the younger generations about their cultural heritage and native traditions.  She also became involve in a drug and alcohol recovery program for Native Americans.  Archdale keeps an empty chair at her table incase somebody drops by; when discussing her childhood Zitkala-Ša mentioned that her mother did the same thing.  Archdale has an origin story called Sweet Grass.  Sweet Grass is a narrative that refers to the Great Sprit, and the Great Sprit came to a girl in her dreams.  The Great Sprit told the girl what she needed to do to save her people from sickness and hunger.  The girl did as the Great Sprit told her, and the sick became well and the hungry received food.  She ends the short story by telling how the herb, sweet grass, is used today for special Native American ceremonies. 

Hoskie Benally belongs to the Navajo Nation located in New Mexico; there he is a spiritual leader.  When he was in his twenties he quick went blind from a disease.  After he went blind, he took a job at a youth recovery center that caters to substance abuse and mental illness in Native Americans.  At the treatment facility, they try to teach the youth, that their heritage is important, to take pride in their culture, their self worth is invaluable, and to connect with their spiritual root.  “Spirituality to us is a way of life. Spirituality to us says that every day is a ceremony from the time you get up to the time you go to bed. And as we look at the rising of the sun, you know it’s a new day. As we move throughout the day it’s a ceremony.” 

            Benally reads the story The Five Sacred Medicines, which is a Navajo creation story still used today when they perform a Blessingway ceremony.  In the creation story Mother Earth and Father Sky become very selfish, and separate control over the land and sky.  This separation has tremendously negative impact on the plants and animals.  Everything vanished except four plants and one animal: tobacco, cedar, yucca, sage, and the eagle.  They went to Mother Earth and Father Sky to educate them on the repercussions of their selfishness.  After Mother Earth and Father Sky made peace, they said that these five survivors would be used in Indian ceremonies from this day forward, because of their courage, strength, and their stamina.  They use this story of creation to imprint a connection to Earth, and make they youth think about the lessons imbedded in the creation story during ceremonies. 

This next storyteller had a difficult childhood; his recollection of his time at Indian school greatly resembles Zitkala-Ša experiences.  Corbin Harney was sent away to a school that would punish the children for talking in their native tongue, and they would have to sit and listen for hours to a language they could not understand.  On more than one occasion, he decided to run away from the school; it was the last time that his uncle presented him with two options.  Harney’s uncle offered to give him two horses to take as he learns how to survive on his own in the mountains or he could go back to school; he choose the horses. 

Harney is a Western Shoshone and he lives his life the Nature Way, “The nature put all the living things here for us to take care of, not destroy them, but work with them so that we may live with them for many more years.”  He uses a song, The Water Song, to convey the message that Mother Earth can provide everything needed for survival.  You should develop an understanding of how important water is for the survival of all life on Earth.  The song is a way to pay homage to the sprit of the water making the Water Sprit happy, so that the water will continue to flow nourishing the land and inhabitants.

Tchin is a Native American from the Narragansett Nation located in the Rhode Island area.  “Many times people ask me, how did I get started as a storyteller. Native American people, we grow up basically as that. We grow up hearing stories all the time. But we don’t call them stories, legends or myths. To us, they are lessons, because they explain the universe.”  Tchin wanted to develop a better understanding of his culture, so he began studying many European cultures such as Middle Eastern, Roman, Greek, and Egyptian; he believes that understand these cultures beliefs on the universe will allow him to have a richer understanding for his own culture. 

Tchin’s people believe that you should live in harmony with the Earth, respecting everything from the rock by your feet to the fish in the river.  He tell what he calls a lesson about how the rabbit came to be as we know it today, in a story called Rabbit’s Wish for Snow.  In this story, Rabbit wished to play in snow just like his grandmother told him about, so he danced, prayed, and sang for snow to come.  All of his hard work paid off and snow come; since he prayed, danced and sang for snow, a lot of snow came.  There was so much now that it lifted him up into a willow tree.  He ate the tiny sprigs from the willow tree before he fell asleep, but when he woke up all of the snow was gone.  When trying to get out of the tree his tail broke off, when he hit the ground his lip split and his leg got shorter.  This is why the rabbit and the willow tree look the way they do.

Observation:

There has been a reoccurring theme appearing throughout out assigned readings and topic research; is it alcohol abuse.  This first caught my attention in Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven; the story begins with a group of Native American drunk at a party.  This theme is continually played out by having the main character give up alcohol, while he sits back and watches the younger generation begin their addiction.  When reading a bio for Sherman Alexie, I discovered that one reason this book and many of his works involve alcohol is because he was an alcoholic, but he finally made the decision to stop drinking when he was in his twenties.  In addition, Hoskie Benally also went through a period when he became an alcoholic.    

Conclusion:

            Throughout my research, I constantly encountered two names, Zitkala-Ša and Sherman Alexie.  Was it just a coincidence that we covered them in class?  If it was not, I will speculate that it is because both of these authors are contributed with making extraordinary contributions to Native American Literature. 

            Zitkala-Ša achieved extraordinary   accomplishments for being a woman and Native American during her time.  She was one of the first Native Americans to preserve her personal history, cultural heritage and history through the written language.  Before Zitkala-Ša came along and wrote about her personal experiences, the world had never been exposed to Native American life through a woman’s perspective.  Zitkala-Ša was crucial to the development of Native American literature because she was one of the first Native Americans to tell her story in her own words. 

            Sherman Alexie has also made incomparable contributions to Native American Literature.  During the research, the vast majority of sites had one thing in common, Sherman Alexie’s name.  The sites credit Alexie for bring a fresh perspective and increased awareness to Native American literature.  Alexie has overturned societies stereotyping of the Native Americans, by turning them into human beings.  He has accomplished this through his poetry collections, novels, and screenplays. 

            Thank to grants and donations, PBS is able to provide amazing documentaries.  It is through these educational projects that the once voiceless voices can now be heard.  The documentary Circle of Stories provided many avenues of exploration into the history, culture, and people of Native American narratives.  This program is a revelation into the dangers of losing a cultural treasure and the measures that need to be taken in order to preserve it for future generations.  The Circle of Stories demonstrate how Native American narratives are more than just the written or oral history; that prayer, song, and dance are all forms of Native American narratives.

            It is reassuring that the traditional form of storytelling has remained intact.  The elders are still responsible for passing the legends on to the next generation just as they were passed to them.  Thankfully, the elders now have the written word, and technology that will allow them to record their narratives; this will help prevent future generation from being denied their culture heritage and history.  

My concept of Native American storytellers has been updated along with the changing times.  Now I have a better understanding of who the people are who carry on the tradition of storytelling, and the various forms a Native American narrative can take.  I will always have the image of Tonto riding sidekick to the Lone Ranger and speaking in broken English, but now I will have Sherman Alexie’s and Zitkala-Ša’s true to life and fictionalized Native American narratives as well.    

Works Cited

Zitkala-Ša.  American Indian Stories.  Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1979. 

Alexie, Sherman.  The Loan Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.  New York: Harper Perennial, 1993. 

Max, Jill.  Spider Spins a Story: Fourteen Legends from Native America.  Flagstaff: Rising Moon, 1997. 

West, Dennis, and Joan M. West.  “Sending Cinematic Smoke Signals an Interview with Sherman Alexie.”  Media Resource Center.  Fall 1998.  University of California Berkeley.  21 April 2004. 

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/alexie.html

Circle of Stories.  Public Broadcasting Station.  2002.  Public Broadcasting Station.  21 April 2004.

http://pbs.org/circleofstories

Dreamkeeper.  Director Steven Barron, Perf. Eddie Spears, and August Schellenberg.  Hallmark Entertainment, 2003. 

http://www.abc.go/movies/dreamkeeper