Momaday (Indian History) essays

Momaday (Indian History) essays It is as hard to classify N. Scott Momadays The Way To The Rainy Mountain as history, as it is hard to classify Momaday as a historian. According to Marius there are four main assertions to consider before making a decision. The first assertion is that historians study sources that tell them about the past, and they write because they see something in these sources that needs to be explained. Momaday does not necessarily study the sources written down by scholars that tell him of the past. He is merely remembering oral stories told to him as a child. He is letting the outside world into the Kiowa history for our benefit not for him to study it. Also, Momaday writes these stories to preserve them so they may not be lost forever, they do not need to be explained. The second assertion is that all historical writing begins as an effort to answer questions. We find a puzzle and try to solve it. Momaday in no way is trying to answer any questions. There is no puzzle he is looking to solve. The stories explain themselves and leave no questions unanswered. The stories are just that, stories. The purpose of these stories is to have a written account of his culture and history, because oral history can be lost forever. The next assertion is that our knowledge of history is always in flux; historians are always in dialogue not only with the primary sources of events (written accounts) they write about but also with other historians who have studied these events. To write history is to be engaged in an eternal argument. The Kiowa people have certain traditions. One of them is the telling of their history and where they came from. These stories get told a million times over and to many generations. To all Kiowa people there is argument as to their beginning. Momaday knows that these are the stories of his people and that historians will say that the stories are just to explain the u ...