The Way To Rainy Mountain Summary

Words: 1924
Pages: 8
Open Document
N. Scott Momaday first published The Way to Rainy Mountain in 1976. The Kiowa culture had completely disappeared by 1875. At the time, little evidence was left of the culture’s existence. It is interesting, then, how nobody wrote down anything about the heritage of the Kiowa people until Momaday wrote The Way to Rainy Mountain approximately 100 years later, considering how much the Kiowa people valued passing down traditions, stories and their heritage. The book contains many old Kiowa legends told to the author in his father’s voice. The Kiowa people attempted to ensure their heritage lived on by telling these legends. Momaday’s writing of the legends gives the culture a more permanent remembrance. They considered preservation of their cultural …show more content…
Scott Momaday. Papovich describes The Way to Rainy Mountain as “an account of his re-creation of the Kiowa migration and an attempt to find his place within the geographical and cultural landscape of migration” (13). Momaday is goes on a journey to find himself, particularly his cultural heritage, including values of his ancestors, as explained here. He considers “the role of landscape in The Way to Rainy Mountain” as “inextricably connected to the interplay of the three narrative voices” (14). The relationship of the three voices shows the extent of Momaday’s success on his journey of finding out his ancestry. The use of these three voices also gives the reader an idea of the cultural values and heritage of the Kiowa people. Papovich further points out “Momaday’s journey to Rainy Mountain reenacts tribal history in a determined effort to explore a symbolic landscape through the perspective of the legend and history of the tribe and through the perspective of individual imagination. It is a search for individual identity and ancestral tradition in the natural world” (13). Momaday explains how the journey to find out about one’s cultural heritage may be long and arduous. The search needs to occur for one to truly find out about their heritage. He says “The journey began one day long ago on the edge of the Northern Plains. It was carried on over a course of many generations …show more content…
Allen uses the term “blood memory”, defining its purpose as “[achieving] tropic power by blurring distinctions between racial identity and narrative” (93-94). Momaday does exactly the same throughout the book, but especially in the introduction to The Way to Rainy Mountain when he says “A single knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark and they gave it the name Rainy Mountain” (5). The entire book consists of Momaday’s journey to find his racial identity. At this point, the racial identity becomes one with the narrative. He believes that “The whole of The Way to Rainy Mountain, for instance, can be read as an exercise in blood memory”(101). Throughout the book, Momaday continues to consider himself as one of the Kiowa people, even though their popularity took a nosedive before his
Show More

Related Documents: The Way To Rainy Mountain Summary

Summary: The Way To Rainy Mountains

To the early 1800 from the late 1800’s In the following texts “The Way to Rainy Mountains.” “Chief Joseph Speaks…” and also “Thomas Jefferson’s America, 1801.” Clearly agree Morgan’s claims are reasonable. On the other hand, one could argue that Robert Morgan claims are not reasonable. Along the westward expansion there were young men and settlers the set out west holding their ground of land from the indians so they kept their distance away from the indians. Decided to take indians territory. The…

Words 372 - Pages 2

Essay on My Story =)

pollution, as the industrial discharge of large amounts of polluted or heated water can generate density currents that affect neighboring human or animal communities. 3. Describe 2 ways in which mountains affect the climate. - The temperature on mountains becomes colder the higher the altitude gets. Overall, mountains tend to have much wetter climates than the surrounding flat land.Mountain weather conditions can change dramatically from one hour to the next. For example, in just a few minutes a…

Words 1231 - Pages 5

Vegetable and Mountain States Potato Essay

[6] STATISTICS FOR BUSINESS LIST OF READING MATERIALS Title 1. Job Applications 2. Managing Risk 3. Cutcraft Cutlery Corporation 4. Compensation for Faculty Members 5. Airline Satisfaction Survey 6. The Avocado 7. The Mountain States Potato Company 8. Edgartown Fisheries 9. Monitor Systems [7] JOB APPLICATIONS A business graduate very much wants to get a job in any one of the top 10 accounting firms. Applying to any of these companies requires a lot of effort and paperwork and is…

Words 7654 - Pages 31

Frank: Novel Frankenstein Essay

" Contents [hide] 1 Summary 1.1 Captain Walton's introductory frame narrative 1.2 Victor Frankenstein's narrative 1.3 Captain Walton's concluding frame narrative 2 Composition 3 Publication 4 Name origins 4.1 The monster 4.2 Victor Frankenstein's surname 4.3 Victor Frankenstein's given name 4.4 Modern Prometheus 5 Shelley's sources 6 Reception 7 Derivative works 8 Films, plays and television 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 External links Summary[edit] A variety of…

Words 7465 - Pages 30

“Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: a Merger Proposal” Essay

“Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: a Merger Proposal” Financial Strengths and Weaknesses of the Utah Symphony Before the Merger The financial state of the Utah Symphony before the merger was grim. It was understood by the symphony’s chairman of the board, Scott Parker, that the situation was getting worse. This was aggravated by the downturn of the economy and the event of 9/11. However, even before the economic downturn and 9/11, the symphony was very close to a deficit situation (Delong & Ager,…

Words 14813 - Pages 60