Part 4 Section 1 Summary and Analysis

This section of the book is entitled "The World We Go To", and contains stories relating to death and the afterlife. The first two stories recount how death became an unavoidable part of human experience.

"How Death Came Into the World" (Kiowa) The introduction to this story comments that every Indian tribe has an explanation of death, often told as "a caution against questioning life and its problems." It also comments that this first story, with variations, can be found in every tribe across the country.

Saynday encounters a busy red ant, and makes himself small so they can talk. Their conversation reveals that Saynday has been wondering about death-why it's necessary, and whether it would be a good idea for him to fix things so that people can come back to life after four days of being dead...