Chasing Evil
Per Dan Rosewall:
In House Made of Dawn there is a lot of focus on chasing evil. Abel killing the white man was regarded as nothing more than getting rid of an evil spirit and accepted in their community. Also with the men running after evil when Abel was laying on the shore. What do you think this evil they're chasing after? Is it possible to define it?
8 comments:
This might be way off track but this is what I thought of in regards to the question:
Evil is what is foreign to the Native American people and what makes them suspicious, that is why Abel feels so afraid of his current situation. He kills the evil white spirit but will that solidify his own place in the community? And will he ever be killed because even a little blood is foreign? That is the question he askes himself everyday.
It seems to me they mention things like white encroachment and invaders multiple times. I don't know if this is exactly the evil they're after, but I think it's one of the concerns that play on their minds. The story definitely has different evils though; there is the traditional, Christian-defined evil (the pagan rituals of the tribe) and then the Indian view of evil.
I think one of the evils they may be after is the invasion of White culture. It is everywhere in the story, from the missionaries bringing them christianity, to modern bars and drinking causing alcoholism among the community.
I think there was a little more to Abel's killing the white man than a simple lack of understanding between cultures and I think that it was to a large extent the product of Abel's inner torment. I do think, however, that Abel not understanding the way they talked of it afterward was because of a difference in cultures and that Abel's culture would have been more likely to see it in a far more simple and reactive light, whether realistic or not, instead of sitting around and talking about it.
The evil that they are after are those that are trying to invade their culture. They don't want outsiders and won't except them into their community. So to them they are also the evil they must fight against.
I think that evil is not foreign to the Native Americans, but that they have been haunted by it ever since the English came to America. I think that the killing is symbolic partly from this, and also that Abel's identity is being challenged, whether he stays or leaves.
I don't believe is is possible to define what they view as evil or not, as it seems that Abel becomes confused after what is actually out to get him. Through his drunken state, many events in the book seem to be biased in one way or another making it difficult to specifically say what they are chasing. It may simply be they are chasing away what the Native American culture does not understand, or there may be a much deeper understanding that we can not experience being from a western culture.
The evil they're speaking of is definetely the white man and white culture. I also think that evil can be seen as things that are unfamiliar to them. Uncharted territory holds white culture, and to them holds the potential evil that whites bring with them.
Post a Comment