This section contains 546 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
This story is written as if it were a legend that is being passed on through the oral tradition. Highwater uses the rhythm, sound patterns, and repetition of words to create the feeling of the traditional storyteller. Just as in Native American mythology, he uses dreams and visions as a metaphor for reality and stresses the importance of identification with the natural world.
Within the novel are layers of symbolism and myth. On a physical level, there is a factual portrayal of the life of a Northern Plains tribe in the late 1800s. The yearly cycle of festivals, and tribal movements; traditional social customs; and the daily life of traveling, setting up tipis, hunting, and cooking are detailed. There are the vivid descriptions of the buffalo hunt, the winter of starvation, the Sun Dance camp, and the visits to a trading post. In the incident of Yellow Bird...
This section contains 546 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |