Reckonings: The Power of Story

Below, L.C. provides our first student commentary on this week's readings from Reckonings: Contemporary Short Fiction by Native American Women.

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"Stories create us."

In the modern-day, we often overlook the power of stories - stories can often times be seen as childish (such as the concept of bedtime stories) or something that you read during your free time, but the concept of stories creating us is one that is very unique to me. It's even more striking to me how each one of us are essentially living a story - our lives create a story. And to push that point even further, Native Americans, without the technology that we have today, were able to live out that thought that teach life was a story that is meant to be cherished, remembered, and passed on. The introduction of Reckonings the book reads, "Even if read in isolation, the stories create community", because that is often times how Native Americans were able to keep their traditions, heritage, and most importantly, their identities alive. In the
present day, Native Americans can often be stereotyped as old-fashioned or rebellious, when all they're trying to do is to grasp whatever is left of their native heritages. I personally don't think it's wrong at all to hold onto your personal heritage, especially since it is one that is unique from the fast-paced, modernized world of today. What are some of your thoughts on the way Native Americans have been doing this - through stories that have been written and rewritten?

Focusing in on the content of a story is yet another story of its own. Stories by Native American woman are ones that demonstrate the various cycles of life - "birth, power, family, and regeneration" - and ones that tell about how empowered each woman is to hold onto her identity as a Native American Woman, despite what society tries to do to force her to conform. Both Paula Gunn Allen and Joy Harjo reveal a rebellious side, through their writing of "Burned Alive in the Blues" and "The Reckonings". In the first, Allen turns her voice into a man's voice and writes a riveting piece that left me utterly breathless at the end (no joke, I honestly felt pretty worn down after I read it), because of its stream-of-consciousness, yet fast-paced approach of telling the story. To me, it was one of the stories that reflected the struggle with history trying to force them to stay put. Yet they fought hard against the history - even to the point of death. The story paints a picture of kids "walking home, even over the mountains with the possibility of getting lost, falling down a ravine, freezing to death, getting attached by bears - or worse - was better than staying put to die" (9). In Joy Harjo's story, she bravely tells a story of a woman trapped in an abusive relationship - exposing the lack of support Native American Woman often face. However, in this case, the story shows the consequences of not being able to escape the cycles of abuse she endures. "This was my wedding day. If I had another drink I wouldn't hear the voice telling me to get out, to get out now" (178). Both stories, however, reflect the power of the Native
Americans to struggle to grasp whatever is left of their identities. In the first, the struggle in the chaos and tumultuous times is portrayed, and in the second, the tumultuous times are shown by the repeated cycles of violence endured by an un-named woman, her lack of identity apparent in her internal struggle to break the cycle. Both stories remain unresolved - revealing the continuing struggle the Native Americans face...and the continued endurance and power they have in their stories.
I find this connection of the authors' stories to history very grabbing and eye-opening. If anyone else has another reaction or shares in this same reaction or has another connection to history through stories, feel free to say something.

Another identifier of stories as powerful is the presence and recurring imagery of fire. Fire, as a symbol, connotes anger, passion, intensity, and dominance. The extended metaphor in Allen's story is this all-consuming vortex that fuels the "fires of change and winds of revolution [that] took [their] breaths away" (15). In The Reckoning, Harjo speaks of containing fire, when Larry "[holds] fire in his hands" (77). In many senses, both woman speak of trying to deal with this raging issue of identity oppression. They, as Native American Woman, are discouraged from retaining their original tribal identities and are highly encouraged to conform to the standards of the universal (more of an American) standard of being a woman. The first story speaks both of fire as a sacrifice, "But sacred clowns in the scene are tragic figures. They gotta die so everyone else can boogie" (9), and as a destructive force that takes away Janis Jopin's life. (I'm actually not clear on whether or not the sacred clowns statement was actually meant to be read a sacrifice or not - I took it as, they resisted the assimilation that the government demanded of them and fought to their deaths so they could make a statement to their own people and the government that they are willing to do anything to keep their identities - if anyone else has another reading of this, let me know!) The second story speaks of trying prevent the power of alcohol, which is a symbol of the control the American government tries to place on the Native Americans, from shattering a new wife's life. She speaks of Larry holding this fire, this urge to drink, in his hands, trying to prevent it from going out of control. In the modern sense, fire can also be used to connote warmth and unity - as if a family is huddled around the fireplace or a group of campers are huddled around a campfire. In the Native American times, they harnessed fire to do work for them, and not against them. This recurring imagery of fire can also be a longing of the past - to be able to have the power to use fire effectively and not let it dominate them. The stories that contain these fiery images are powerful in themselves, because they show the struggle that the Native Americans have to once again gain control of a tool that was once part of their identity in the past. There are probably other usages of fire among the stories that I haven't figured out yet - does anyone else have something to add?

Lastly, the role of children in Native American stories are apparent in all three stories and greater emphasizes the power of stories. The narrator in "Burned Alive in the Blues" speaks of him watching a band of a younger generation of Native Americans. He says that they are too young and "couldn't remember what it'd been like in the years before, when the scene was young and shiny, full of rage and something that felt alive, like a wild horse, a herd of them, loping across the plains" (7). In many ways, this speaks to the concern of keeping the Native American traditions and movement alive through the generations, because as time moves on, there is always the risk of complacency and forgetting of ancestry and their struggles. Yet the narrator himself talks about the stories he heard from his uncles about times before being removed to the reservations - those stories of freedom and adventure can be a tool for keeping the younger generation of Native Americans involved and engaged in keeping the heritage alive. Joy Harjo paints a picture of a mother who seeks to do everything she can to pull her life together for her son, Joe Junior, and her coming daughter, revealing how much Native Americans have the same concern as any other Americans do - wanting to protect and love their children, but how much isolation she feels when the Women's Center turns a blind eye to her needs. This story that is painted shows the power of humanity and similarity - Native Americans were once turned away for being considered as savages, when they, in reality, share very much the same concern for family as does anyone today. And the final story, "the crow and the snake", is told in a way that's understandable to younger children. Yet the very last sentence, "But there were new creatures born: human, dog, and bird, and they were always told the story of the birds and the snake" (184), shows the continuing importance of the tradition to keep stories alive. This story not only teaches the children about sacrifice and the importance of community, but it also teaches children about the inherent value of nature and animals that the Native Americans treasured throughout history. The story isn't centered around humans, but around a crow, a bird that is often overlooked by humans, which, perhaps, symbolizes the longing for Native Americans to be seen as knowledgeable in the same manner. Children, then, is the channel of livelihood for the Native Americans, because through stories, children are able to learn the Native American ways, struggles, and endurance.

The passing down of traditions through generations is not a new idea to anyone, and if we are all writing our own life stories each moment we live, and hoping to share bits and pieces of our lives with others, why is it that the American government try to prevent the Native Americans from creating theirs?