First Impressions of To the American Indian

The first chapter of To the American Indian by Lucy Thompson was quite bland initially. The beginning of the chapter is full of blunt statements about people and events involving Bill McGarvey's store. Once the narration shifted to focus on cultural practices, such as those involving marriage, I became much more engaged. One practice that I thought was really interesting was the "half-married system" in which the woman is in complete control of the man and the children. This practice seems very radical, considering the fact that many cultures often yield power to the male primarily.

Also, it was interesting to hear about the doctors and how many of them were actually women. The process that one must go through in order to become a doctor sounds so intense! Those that are chosen to be doctors must partake in rituals that go on until they are at the point of physical exhaustion. Though these rituals seem questionable from an outside perspective, I also think that these are acts of purification and self-renewal. Maybe the future doctors deprive themselves of rest, food, etc. so that they can learn to appreciate the power of these things afterwards.

Another aspect of the book that I found fascinating was the arrangement of the chapters. It jumps from general history to cultural stories and traditions, then onto the language. The book is painting a picture of her whole culture and weaving all aspects of it together. I am interested to see where this book takes us next...

The Title of My Blog

The title I chose for my blog is "Back to the Beginning" because I wanted to acknowledge the generations of Native Americans that inhabited the Americas long before colonization. After seeing the map of the first nations of North America, I was shocked at the magnitude of people inhabiting the continent. Before, I had thought that various tribes were scattered about certain regions and sort of sprinkled throughout the continent. I did not realize that there were so many different nations, and it is so hard to imagine what North America must have looked like back then. So, in this class, I want to gain a better picture of Native American history and understand how events have shaped their literature. I feel that we must journey back into the past and reflect on it in order to better understand the present and shape the future.


While discussing the Popul Vuh Part II in class, one of the thoughts that really struck me was the idea of how time in the story is not linear. For example, the story uses a lot of repetition, such as when Hunahpu and Xbalanque must face the same challenges that the lords of Xibalba used against Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub-Hunahpu. Though Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub-Hunahpu were defeated, Hunahpu and Xbalanque did not fall into the same traps that those before them fell into. They managed to overcome the lords at their own game, even though the two brothers seemed virtually powerless in comparison to the lords. This just goes to show that similar events will take place and history seems to repeat itself, but individuals still hold the power to shape the outcome of events.