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Momaday's Essay

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Momaday's Essay

Question One

The landscape is just as vital to the Kiowas culture and history as the people. It shows the

Kiowa veneration of the non-human world, thus suggesting that the Kiowas did not regard

nature, animals, and humans as entirely distinct. Human shapes nature and landscape, especially

when all buffalo are killed or when Momaday claw the side of Devil's Tower. However, the

landscape also shapes people's identities in return. The Kiowas people are hunters and

carnivores, unlike farmers since they came from a landscape filled with hunting species. The

landscape of Rainy mountain is a central character, as Momaday's story suggestion of the

landscape represent the Kiowas acclaimed nature and identify themselves through the place. For

instance, When Momaday points out that looking at the landscape would make you think that it

is where the Creation began, this represents that Momaday's origins are from Kiowa (Momaday,

1969, p.179). Momaday also recounts that the setting of the continental core lays the memory in

her blood, showing that it is all the landscape that has made him and Kiowas' identity.

Question Two

Momaday located himself in the scene when he returned to Rainy Mountain after his

grandmother's death. It gives an intriguing picture; the resemblance between children and elders.

Momaday's return upon his grandmother's death represents a good relationship he had with the

grandmother (Momaday, 1969, p.180). In addition, the relationship he had with the grandmother

that made him return home is essential as it connects Momaday to his Kiowa tribe heritage of

Native Americans. Momaday realized that Aho's death marks a significant loss that includes the

memory of his tribal family and also being part of the Aho's tribal reminiscences (p.182).
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Therefore, his grandmother act as the connection to the native American heritage and a chance

for a deeper and broader understanding of himself.

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Reference

Momaday, N.S. and Momaday, N.S., 1969. The way to rainy mountain. UNM Press.