↞A First American Views His Land↠

N. Scott Momaday as the Quintessential Native American Writer

by Haley Rains

 © 2017 Haley Rains Photography

Organization:

Date of Assignment: January 31st, 2017

Title: Momaday as the Quintessential Native American Writer

Book: The Man Made of Words: Essays, Stories, Passages

Chapters: "The Native American Voice in Literature"; A First American Views His Land.

Author’s Full Name: Navarro Scott Mammedaty

Background Research:

About Momaday:

Momaday is a Kiowa Indian from Lawton, Oklahoma. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of New Mexico and his MA / PhD in English from Stanford University. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author as well as an editor of anthologies. 

He's won numerous awards including an Academy of American Poets Prize as well as the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement. 

Momaday has taught at Standford, University of Arizona, UC Berkley, Columbia, and Princeton. Today, he is the Regents Professor of the Humanities at the University of Arizona. 

Summary Paragraph:

Three significant ideas:

1.  In "The Native Voice in Literature", Momaday suggests that man, in his earliest forms, set the precedence for what is now modern literature. 

2.    Momaday argues that "writing defines the very terms of our existence" (15). 

3.   "Oral tradition is the foundation of literature" (14)

Three Key Moments in Plot:

1.    Momaday argues that "Language and literature involve sacred matter" (13) and that to understand the significance of traditional tribal life, we must first understand what it means to exist within the context of oral tradition. 

2.   Momaday encourages people -- particularly Native scholars -- to redefine and rediscover Native "literary heritage."

3.  Momaday suggests that "Words are rare and therefore dear" (15) and stresses the importance of "taking words seriously."

The Significant Ideas (Poetry):

1.   In "A First American Views His Land," Momaday uses poetry in a way that resembles traditional tribal songs.

2.   He uses intense, vivid imagery (typical in traditional tribal storytelling) to place us, as readers, on the landscape of northern New Mexico along side a man in the midst of a hunt for bison. 

3.   When reading Momaday, you can see the way in which he combines traditional forms of storytelling with beautifully rich, detailed -- but still formal -- writing conventions to create a hybrid style of writing incomparable to any other Native American writers.

Oral Tradition:

N. Scott Momaday's command of the English language in combination with his rich, deep roots in Native American heritage is unparalleled in modern Native American literature. He blows us away with his ability to place us in the center of an ancient hunter's world; he allows us to feel what it's like to be "the lord of the universe" (31). 

"The earth is our mother. The sky is our father.' This concept of nature, which is at the center of the Native American world view, is familiar to us all. But it may well be that we do not understand entirely what the concept is in its ethical and philosophical implications" (33).

Literary devices:

Theme:

Oral tradition and culture are the most present themes in A Man Made of Words. 

Voice:

Momadays use of poetry, incorporation of tribal songs, perfect use of punctuation and syntax as well as his rich and diverse vocabulary create a purely authentic Native voice.

Additional literary devices:

Through Momaday's use of imagery, we can also smell earth and feel the wind that blows through the hunter's hair. What a stunning visual experience Momaday creates for us. 

Momaday employs -- to perfection -- the use of metaphors in order to describe the intense moment when the hunter springs towards the bison with his spear: "Then the scene explodes. In one and the same instant the man springs to his feet and bolts forward, his arm cocked and the spear held high, and the huge animal lunges in panic, bellowing its whole weight thrown violently into the bank..." (31).

Digital Media:

https://youtu.be/rbqzm6x7Noo

This video is a presentation by N. Scott Momaday which includes some of his writings from A Man Made of Words.

N. Scott Momaday's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/scott.day.921230

Work Cited:

Momaday, N. Scott. The man made of words: essays, stories, passages. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. Print.