Characteristics Of Native American Literature

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American literature starts with the orally transmitted stories of the native Indian Americans tribes. At that time, more than 500 Indian American tribes coexisted with each other, despite having a different set of values and religious beliefs. As a result, the different lifestyles that the native Indian Americans have at time led to the creation of a lush diverse literature that is inspiring today .Nevertheless, if one looks closely into the literature, one can draw few generalizations. For instance, native Indians have a tremendous reverence for nature and simple living. Nature occupies many a role in the life of native Indians. It is considered as both a physical mother as well as a spiritual one. Indeed, native Indians held a deep belief that nature and humans are parts of the same being. Based on this belief, Indians Americans used a different set of characters that range from humans to animals, sometimes, even rocks and trees. As Indians believed all creatures, whether animate or inanimate, are endowed with divine spirits. What sets American Indian literature apart is that it captures the essence of the Indians way of living and how they lived. Indians channeled their everyday life events into numerous forms of orally expressions that include love poem, songs, lullabies, war chants, gambling chants and short narratives. The first colonizers to ever set a foot on the shore of America were the European puritans. Perhaps throughout the extended history of colonization,