More handpicked essays just for you.
Life on a native reservation essay
Native american culture and traditions
Native american culture and traditions
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Throughout history, there have been many literary studies that focused on the culture and traditions of Native Americans. Native writers have worked painstakingly on tribal histories, and their works have made us realize that we have not learned the full story of the Native American tribes. Deborah Miranda has written a collective tribal memoir, “Bad Indians”, drawing on ancestral memory that revealed aspects of an indigenous worldview and contributed to update our understanding of the mission system, settler colonialism and histories of American Indians about how they underwent cruel violence and exploitation. Her memoir successfully addressed past grievances of colonialism and also recognized and honored indigenous knowledge and identity.
Don’t let people talk about your region, when they are not from that region and criticize your country and offend you in someway. The author John Smelcer has been criticizing or stereotyping native americans, and i think he has no right to be writing about a Native American because he has not been born in and description of characters might irritate the native americans which would give a bad reputation for him and his book. I understand that people might say it’s fine because he is adopted by Native American parents , but that does not mean that he himself can write about Native American. In a way that would bother them. But there is no reason to put the Natives in the book ,“The Great Death” as if they are new to the world and never new anything because he is basically stereotyping.
Out of the Flames follows a Spaniard named Michael Servetus who was imprisoned in 1553, Geneva Switzerland for crimes against the Catholic Church. He simply wanted to share his thoughts with the world by publishing a book on the nature of Catholicism. He escaped execution in France but was later caught in Geneva due to his darker skin revealing his identity. John Calvin, his arch rival, ordered him to be burned alive for heresy. Heresy was considered one of the worst crimes because it could affect the minds of the faithful Catholic people.
Sherman Alexie is a Native American who grew up poor but smart. At a young age he taught himself how to read simple comic books. As he grew older, so did his intelligence and love for books. He was aware of the stereotypes against his race which pushed him to work harder to be knowledgeable and literate. He eventually became a writer and reaches out to young Indian children who are at risk because of their race.
The first time one is able to comprehend the meaning of a word is a momentous childhood moment that is forever engraved in one’s memory. Books and reading are significantly impactful to people’s lives; Mark Twain said that, “books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.” This statement is apropo for Sherman Alexie, who was a Native American living on a reservation during the time he learned to read. Sherman Alexie convinces his audience that an education is crucial to being successful by using personal anecdotes to captivate and create a connection with his audience and repetition to reiterate the importance of having an education. Alexie's use of personal anecdotes fortifies the impact he has on his audience.
The novel Reservation Blues, written by Sherman Alexie reveals different struggles encountered by the Native Americans on the Spokane Indian Reservation through the use of history, traditions, and values. Thomas Builds-the-Fire, a pureblood Indian, forms a band with his childhood acquaintances Victor Joseph and Junior Polatkin called Coyote Springs. Alexie uses a variety of scenes and personal encounters between characters and their dialogue to portray the meaning of tribal identity throughout the novel. A cultures goal is to prove their identity and be superior to one another; The American culture has achieved dominance through white hegemony while the Spokane American Indian tribe is in a battle of oppression struggling to preserve their tribal identity. Spokane Native Americans are very passionate about their tribal identities yet are envious of the power that the white hegemony holds against them, leading them to their depression.
My favorite villain is Richard Sherman on the Seattle Seahawks. Three reasons is because he loves to talk trash and that makes me hate him! Another reason is that he is way too good. The last reason is that whenever he guards my favorite receiver Dez Bryant It gets my adrenaline rushing.
Sherman Alexie uses a combination of reality and fiction in order to show the reader what he thinks the lives of people on the Spokane Indian Reservation was like. In regards to what differentiates the fiction from the non-fiction of the stories you could look at present day Native American Reservations. Some reservations are still plagued with alcoholism, and poverty of the past. While the characters and stories are just vessels to deliver the message and show what Sherman Alexie portrayed the reservation live to be. The reaction and impact that this has on the reader is the same as the age-old use of story telling.
“Class” by Sherman Alexie is a story about a man, Edgar Joseph, on a journey to self-identification. While on this journey he experiences many different tribulations and encounters a multitude of women. The encounters with these women will reveal to the reader his selfless, barbaric, and lost personality. However, the experiences he had with women of his own descent provided a transformative experience that shows what he is looking for and what he truly values. Edgar’s selflessness can be seen through his mother.
Through the employment of anecdote, Alexie gives the audience personal insight into a critical point of his childhood. Because the examples shown in his essay are genuine, he allows the reader to more emotionally connect to his argument about the effects of reading. Alexie opens his essay with “I learned to read from a Superman comic book” (Alexie 215), in an attempt to engage the reader by mentioning the famed superhero and to have audience reminisce about childhood. He also introduces his child-self as a little boy who “refused to fail, was smart, arrogant, and lucky”, hoping that the reader will see themselves in him (Alexie 218). Through descriptions of his challenging life on the reservation, the author appeals to the emotions of his audience,
Being a writer of many different styles, Sherman Alexie started off as a poet before writing novels and short stories. His poetic manner continues in the story “Indian Education”. He has a wide array of dry statements mixed with metaphors and statements that are not meant to be taken literally. The trend for each years is that he starts off dry and literal and ends poetic and metaphorical. His description of his interactions with the “white girl” in seventh grade is a great example.
/ Whence these lengends and traditons, “..I should answer, I should tell you, ?” from the forests and ther pariies. The Indians are American, but the poem reflects the European legend of the noble savage and the classical conventions of the heroic poem. Longfellow’s Indians are fierce, even savage, but they are also brave, stoic, and patriotic.
Despite the negative stereotype of American Indians, the objections and disapproval of fellow Natives, and the criticism of others, Sherman Alexie went on to become a successful writer that has inspired many. Alexie overcame many obstacles that would have deterred him from his goal, but he was able to remain steadfast and continue on in his pursuit of writing. As a result, he has published many literary works that include several short stories, poems, and a variety of novels. He allows his culture to seep into his writing, and continues to inspire young American Indians who also desire the path of knowledge.
He goes on to show how different white men and Native Americans are; by how they collect food by hunting, where they choose to live is not in the same place for long periods, and although white men have everything they did not have the right to take away liberty.
Although they are associated with different tribes, they both grew up in and around the Native American culture. They both recognize the troubles and everyday hardships their people go through and choose to write about it through poems and short stories. Both authors write about their Native American culture as personal narratives as well as to bring awareness about the topic. Louise Erdrich’s “Dear John Wayne” and Sherman Alexie’s “Crow Testament” present similar standpoints in the history of Native
