Post #5

As a creative writing major I have found that I have a huge interest in fables and legends, and I think that is why I loved Two Old Women so much. There were so many morals to this story that I don’t even know where to begin. First of all, I think that one of the most prevalent themes revolved around respecting your elders. The tribe leaves the two old women behind because they are constantly complaining, even though they know that they probably won’t survive on their own. However, the two old women prove them wrong when they overcome the harsh winter, using nothing but their intellect, patience, and willpower to get them through it. To me, this sends two different messages. 1.) Don’t leave your elders behind; respect them for their wisdom and don’t underestimate them. 2.) It is an elderly person’s prerogative to complain, so let them.

Another theme that was common throughout the story is the obvious one of perseverance through tough times. It would have been easy for Sa’ and Ch’idzigyaak to give up, given their age and relative long life, but they continued on anyway. I don’t believe that they did it to prove a point; rather, it was simply in their nature to not give up easily. This sends a strong message to the tribe when they find the old women thriving the following year, especially since the younger people are starving. Tales like these remind of ones that were read to me when I was a child, and it just goes to show that people all over the world are connected by oral tradition.

Post #4

Though we’ve finished reading it, I have yet to give my two cents on A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, so this is as good a time as any I figure. Overall, the story was one of my favorites that we’ve read so far. It was much less tangled than Almanac and a little more complicated than Smoke Dancing. It’s no surprise to me that this book was a national bestseller; it was a quick and enjoyable read. That being said, there were some key themes that jumped out at me from the very beginning, and we touched on them only briefly in class. The largest of these, in my opinion, is identity.

I have really enjoyed all that we have learned this year in regards to identity, and what it really means to be Native American. I couldn’t help but look at these characters in that context. Of all of them, I believe that Ida had the most sense of self. She definitely had her faults (plenty of them at times), but when it came down to it she still had the ability to fall back into being the traditional storyteller that she was. I feel that the others were far too distracted to have a sound understanding of their culture and how to relate to it completely. Some might argue that Christine came close to finding herself, but I really don’t think she ever got there. Just because her search for an identity was the most obvious, doesn’t mean that she was the most successful in finding it. Rayona would also prove a good candidate, simply because she was viewed as being something different. However, I think that she embraced her separation from the other characters and ran with it, rather than really trying to discover who she was. Ida may not have been my favorite character, but I think that she was most successful and knowing who she really was.