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.
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This is a great first post. It is pretty intense to look at the pre-invasion maps and think about how many different people and nations inhabited the Americas. The diversity of tribal peoples here in California is especially large. I also think you are right about the importance of understanding the past as a means to understand the present, and I like that you tie this thought into your observation about the Popol Vuh.
ReplyDeleteThe construction of time in the book would make for a great paper topic. There are numerous loops, and we know that Mayan time is like a spiral or complex system of cyclical structures. I think you could really do something with this as a topic.