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House Made of Dawn 95 through his empathy. Abel has been able to achieve this clarity because of Tosamah’s actions as a trickster/shaman, not an uncommon combination according to Karl W. Luckert, who indicates that the trickstershaman was characteristic of the archaic Navajo traditions, which were absorbed into Pueblo ceremonial practices (148). Later, we will see how Tosamah also facilitates Abel’s healing through his other trickster qualities as rogue or bully. Th e clearest example of Tosamah’s use of ceremony to heal Abel is the all-night peyote ritual over which he presides. He is identifi ed at the beginning of the ceremony as “orator, physician, Priest of the Sun, son of Hummingbird.” Th e “physician” designation is appropriate, for the peyote ceremony is a highly structured ritual designed to heal both mental and physical illness. It is intended to reunite its participants with the Great Mystery of Being. “To live according to its inspiration is to follow the peyote road of personal dignity and respect for nature and other people” (Kiyaani 48). It works to clear the mind ( Jones 411) and expand access to parts of consciousness ( Jones 412). Th e participants in Tosamah’s ceremony pray to the Great Spirit to “be with us. We gone crazy for you to be with us poor Indi’ns” and “Come to us now in bright colors and sweet smoke. Help us to make our way” (113). Th ey experience waves of both ecstasy and of sadness and grief. “Everyone thought of death, and the thought was overwhelming in itself ” (112). Tosamah performs a blast of an eagle-whistle in each of the four sacred directions at midnight to “serve notice that something holy was going on in the universe” and Abel’s friend, Benally, declares at one point, “Look! Look! Th ere are blue and purple horses . . . a house made of dawn” (114). Although the peyote ceremony is the most obvious example of Abel’s ceremonial healing by Tosamah, it is crucial that we recognize the larger ceremonial dimensions of the entire novel in order to appreciate fully Tosamah’s role. Momaday’s narrative incorporates the powerful centuries-old Navajo healing ceremony known as the Nightway or Night Chant. Th is ceremony contains 324 separate songs and typically takes nine days to complete, concluding near dawn when the fi nal song is sung. Its purpose is to restore the person for whom the Nightway is being conducted to “mental and physical health, to a sense of balance and harmony and completeness” (Overstreet 58). Th e fi rst paragraph of House Made of Dawn is actually a paraphrase of the fi rst song of the Night Chant, of which the fi rst stanza is as follows:
96 N. Scott Momaday House made of dawn, House made of evening light, House made of the dark cloud. House made of male rain. House made of dark mist. House made of female rain. House made of pollen. House made of grasshoppers. (Evers and Pavich 17) Th e rest of this song seeks restoration of the person’s body, mind and voice and asks, “May it be beautiful before me [and behind me, below me, above me, and all around me].” Of course, the novel both begins and ends at dawn with Abel’s running in the ceremonial winter dawn race. Momaday begins House Made of Dawn with the invocation Dypaloh and ends it with the benediction Qtsedaba in the tradition of oral storytelling as a means of establishing the novel’s ceremonial character. Navajo healing ceremonies contain two main parts: a retelling of the tribe’s origin or emergence story and a tracing of how the patient became ill (Selinger 65). Th us Lawrence J. Evers explains how the fi rst part puts the patient through this “ritual re-emergence journey paralleling that of the People” (116). Th e second part is necessary because of the Navajo belief that the impacts of any event can reverberate at any future moment, so that no matter how far away the past is, it still can aff ect the present. Tosamah plays a signifi cant role in both parts of Momaday’s refashioning of this ceremony. Evers emphasizes the importance of the singer’s role in the fi rst part—putting the individual through the ritual origin journey: “Th rough the power of the chanter’s words the patient’s life is brought under ritual control, and he is cured” (116). Tosamah’s sermon and the Peyote ceremony constitute this part of Abel’s ceremony. However, he also plays a critical role in the second part—walking the person back through the beginning of his illness. Th us Abel’s fl ashbacks to the war and other painful events in his life occur in the same chapter after he hears the sermon and participates in the peyote ceremony. However, the fact that Abel is near death as he experiences these fl ashbacks is also relevant. Why is he near death? Because he has been horribly injured from a terrible beating
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Bloom's Literary Th emes f Alienati
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Bloom’s Literary Th emes THE TRIC
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, Contents . Series Introduction by
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Contents Th e Tempest (William Shak
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xii Series Introduction by Harold B
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, Volume Introduction by Harold Blo
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THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
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Th e Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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the Works of sherman alexie ,. “F
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Th e Works of Sherman Alexie 11 Sup
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Th e Works of Sherman Alexie 13 reg
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Th e Works of Sherman Alexie 15 tea
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Th e Works of Sherman Alexie 17 A k
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The ConfidenCe-Man: his Masquerade
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Th e Confi dence-Man: His Masquerad
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DECAMERON (GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO) ,.
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Decameron 39 commonplace, eludes al
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Decameron 41 mercenary soldier, fal
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Decameron 43 pretends to confi de t
Page 60 and 61: Decameron 45 general laughter. Cala
Page 62 and 63: Decameron 47 For the storytellers j
Page 64 and 65: Decameron 49 alcuni, più gentili c
Page 66 and 67: Decameron 51 death and is, in this
Page 68 and 69: Decameron 53 city of Naples is iron
Page 70 and 71: Decameron 55 Th e Decameron constan
Page 72 and 73: Decameron 57 9. “Avvegna che, chi
Page 74 and 75: Decameron 59 20. It may be of inter
Page 76 and 77: Decameron 61 33. Lynn Th orndike, A
Page 78 and 79: THE NOVELS OF WILLIAM GOLDING Intro
Page 80 and 81: Th e Novels of William Golding 65 h
Page 82 and 83: Th e Novels of William Golding 67 u
Page 84 and 85: Th e Novels of William Golding 69 B
Page 86 and 87: Th e Novels of William Golding 71 t
Page 88 and 89: Th e Novels of William Golding 73 t
Page 90 and 91: Th e Novels of William Golding 75 I
Page 92 and 93: haMleT (William shakespeare) ,. “
Page 94 and 95: Hamlet 79 I picture the old fellow
Page 96 and 97: Hamlet 81 natural dignity of his tr
Page 98 and 99: Hamlet 83 the gruesome relics that
Page 100 and 101: Hamlet 85 Th e dialogue is terminat
Page 102: Hamlet 87 It appeared that our prop
Page 105 and 106: 90 N. Scott Momaday Th e in-between
Page 107 and 108: 92 N. Scott Momaday (Momaday, HMD,
Page 109: 94 N. Scott Momaday with grace and
Page 113 and 114: 98 N. Scott Momaday fearsome experi
Page 115 and 116: 100 N. Scott Momaday Jones, Peter N
Page 117 and 118: 102 Franz Kafka notes in his deft a
Page 119 and 120: 104 Franz Kafka hunger artist and t
Page 121 and 122: 106 Franz Kafka evoked by the narra
Page 123 and 124: 108 Franz Kafka Kafka, Franz. Th e
Page 125 and 126: 110 William Shakespeare Contours, C
Page 127 and 128: 112 William Shakespeare likeness of
Page 129 and 130: 114 William Shakespeare Th roughout
Page 131 and 132: 116 William Shakespeare the comic c
Page 133 and 134: 118 William Shakespeare he had, iro
Page 136 and 137: ODYSSEY (HOMER) ,. “A General Vie
Page 138 and 139: Odyssey 123 without offending again
Page 140 and 141: Odyssey 125 their own miscarriages.
Page 142 and 143: Odyssey 127 SECT. V Th e action 7 o
Page 144 and 145: Odyssey 129 he should have ended il
Page 146 and 147: Odyssey 131 a passion that begins a
Page 148 and 149: Odyssey 133 which we only read or h
Page 150 and 151: Odyssey 135 the rest of the work, w
Page 152 and 153: ON THE ROAD (JACK KEROUAC) ,. “Fa
Page 154 and 155: On Th e Road 139 person with extrao
Page 156 and 157: On Th e Road 141 for limitless spac
Page 158 and 159: On Th e Road 143 motion.” Whether
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On Th e Road 145 Buddha . . . sator
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On Th e Road 147 the middle of the
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On Th e Road 149 faith when Dean le
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ORLANDO (VIRGINIA WOOLF ) ,. “Wit
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Orlando 153 a rather masculine view
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Orlando 155 the biographer, the len
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Orlando 157 often it is only the cl
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ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DE
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are De
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Tar BaBy (toni morrison) Praisesong
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Tar Baby and Praisesong for the Wid
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THE TEMPEST (WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE) ,
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Th e Tempest 189 imitations of comm
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Th e Tempest 191 affi nity to the f
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Th e Tempest 193 under-current of h
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Th e Tempest 195 the latter allow a
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Th e Tempest 197 the fools for murd
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Th e Tempest 199 saved, but some, a
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Th e Tempest 201 rest, and we look
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Th e Tempest 203 stream of life hur
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Th e Tempest 205 meets the brutal.
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Th e Tempest 207 long known to the
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A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS ,. “Sev
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A Th ousand and One Nights 211 ways
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A Th ousand and One Nights 213 top
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A Th ousand and One Nights 215 Just
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A Th ousand and One Nights 217 him
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UNCLE REMUS (JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS)
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Uncle Remus 221 Mixon’s view foun
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Uncle Remus 223 Harris calls “the
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Uncle Remus 225 the plantations at
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Uncle Remus 227 accused of a crime,
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“THE WIFE OF BATH’S TALE” (GE
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“Th e Wife of Bath’s Tale” 23
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242 Acknowledgments Warde, Frederic
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244 “Battle of the Maldon, Th e,
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246 Free Fall (Golding), 65 Freud,
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248 Lewis, R.W.B., 20, 30, 33, 34 l
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250 narrative, 183, 184 Tatem, Sout
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252 Th ousand and One Nights, A, 20
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