Navajo Long Walk Sparknotes

As people mature, they are affected by their family history, stories, and memories that have been formed or given by that family. They are then taught the ways of their family, lessons that were passed on through generations. In the stories Navajo Long Walk: The Tragic Story of a Proud People’s Forced March from Their Homeland by Joseph Bruchac, the people are forced away from their homeland and traditions in the beginning, but when the Americans started listening to them, they formed a lasting alliance that has seen Navajos contribute significantly to Americas war effort in both world wars. And Orca Chief by Lucky Budd and Roy Vickers, telling the story of fishermen who were too lazy and dropped their anchor with no thought for what it

They did not listen to the Navajo side of the story and immediately attacked them. The American-Navajo war could have been averted had the Americans stopped to listen. Secondly, the Americans and Navajos had signed multiple treaties which the Americans inevitably broke when they felt like it. The Navajos learned from this history of breaking treaties and stopped trusting the US. Also, after President Andrew Johnson signed the first “fair treaty” with the Navajo, the Navajo’s warrior ways led them to joining the US in their war in Europe and the Pacific during both World Wars in both combat and intelligence duties. Moreover, in Orca Chief, the Orcas taught the 4 fishermen how to sustainably harvest water resources and the fishermen passed this story down, teaching future generations how to fish sustainably and respectfully. The Orca chief also was a warning about regret, as he spared the fishermen after their laziness got their anchor dropped on the chief’s house, teaching them that although this time they were forgiven, next time he may not show mercy, leading the fishermen this memory, so that the boon of learning about the ocean’s vast resources also came with a warning. These things are important because they support the principle of learning as 1, the Americans did not bother to learn about the history of the Navajo, leading to war, 2, the Orca chief gave the fishermen knowledge of the ocean, which was then passed on till the present, keeping oceanside villages sustained by it. The fishing would have had an origin story someway or somehow because it had to be passed on for survival, meaning the learning was embedded in history, the Americans could have avoided war if they listened to the