Native American Storytelling

Native American Storytelling

Kimberley Sooley

ENG 301

March 16, 2015

        Native American literature is the root of cultural storytelling which is the oral translation of stories as well as cultural songs, this type of storytelling meant quite a bit to them and it was almost like a religion to them. Native American literature was shaped by the world around and the authors and their stories were influenced by the historical, political, social and cultural events that took place and the ways in which those events shaped the Native American culture.  Our text, “Native American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology” offers a look into the Native American ways of life and how storytelling is a large part of that culture. Native American culture uses stories and songs to entertain one another as well as provide a means of teaching as to create a sense of inspiration among their youth. The Native Americans relied heavily upon storytelling as a means of passing along historical facts and dates, traditions as well as their heritage from generation to generation. Native American children could easily learn about their ancestors by listening to the stories that their parents told. These stories are brought to life by the ways in which they are told as well as the emotion that is given to each story.

        Literary conventions in Native American literature have evolved out of a tradition of oral storytelling and a communally attached culture. This fiction is complex and interesting because it has withstood the test of assimilation. The literary conventions that Native Americans use are death, creation myths, spiritual relationships to the land as well as the use of creating a literary trickster. The use of trickster is an important literary and critical presence in contemporary Native American studies. The use of creating a trickster can come in many forms, for example, animals and insects are given human like characteristics in order to demonstrate the underside of human nature. A trickster is considered something or someone that exhibits a great deal of intellect and shows a general disregard for rules and conventional behavior. This use of literary convention primarily happens in Native American mythology. Tricksters are thought to use illusions in order to manipulate the mind into believing something that wouldn’t necessarily make sense in the conventional world.

        In the poem, “My Father’s Song” written by Simon Ortiz, the importance of creation is a theme throughout the poem. The story is about a boy who is learning the importance and the process of planting corn on his family’s farm. The poem depicts the manner and the importance in which the corn is planted as well as what to do when rodents are encountered while planting corn, more importantly, the overall care of all things. The use of literary conventions in this instance is used to help education future generations with stories that will teach them how to care for their land and crops. This poem places a great deal of value and importance of all living things as well as the responsibility of growing up. The father is telling his son things throughout the poem that he will need to know as he grows into adulthood and how he is expected to behave and conduct himself and what other Native Americans will expect of him when he is an older man.