HUM LIT Blog Central

This novel charts the psychological and cultural journey of a young Laguna man returning home following WWII.  His conflicts include those of a returning soldier, those of Native Americans of the 20th century, and specifically the issues brought on by his bi-cultural heritage (his unknown father was Anglo, making him marginal within his own home and community).  In broader terms, Tayo must find a place for himself and a way to live, survive in a world of violence and conflict — that is, to understand his own place in the cosmic story.

Characters are named infrequently.  You may want to mark them with post-its.  A quick summary: Uncle Josiah and Auntie - T’s caretakers.  Rocky - their son, Tayo’s cousin; killed in the war. Robert, trustworthy uncle. Grandma.  Friends and acquaintances include returning veterans: Emo, Pinkie, and Harlie.  Helen Jean is a brief romantic interest and also recalls T’s mother. Night Swan, is a dancer, an uninhibited figure who also is bi-cultural. Ku’oosh, Betonie (Shush), and Descheeny are healers and elders who assist T. in some way.  T’seh is a love interest and spiritual force.

Plot.  The novel is not divided in to chapters, though careful attention will show you spaces where the action or location shifts.  Broadly, it will help to remember that the novel takes place over the course of a year or less following WWII.  But because it deals with Tayo’s efforts to make sense of his world, past and present, it includes many flashbacks. It seems too simple to speak of post-traumatic stress or hallucination …. but it will be helpful if you have these ideas in mind. Specifically, when Rocky speaks — this is a dream or memory, since the actual Rocky has died.

The structure of the novel may confuse you at first. Remember that it is comes from the perspective of Tayo, an young man who is experiencing torment and confusion.  His task is to chart a course, identify his place, decide whether he can pick up the story (cf. oral tradition) and find a place in it.  So one way of understanding the need for the weaving and shifting — is that it gives the reader an experience like Tayo’s.

Key Terms: We, I; community, sickness, stars, cosmic or collective problems; drought; tradition, story, vision; witchery; cattle. 

Next week we’ll begin with a discussion of two different kinds of folk or popular texts. Joel Chandler Harris published the Uncle Remus tales in a Georgia newspaper. We’ll ask questions about who read them, why, and how we might read (interpret) them today.
In past semesters, students have found it very helpful to try reading them aloud. This is because Harris has attempted to “spell-out” the sounds of African-American vernacular speech.

Please print out these tales, which are followed with some blues lyrics that we’ll discuss Wednesday. Finally, don’t forget that our first novel Cermony is coming up. You won’t be able to read it the night before! And I do think a quiz would be a good motivator.

This week I hope to kick off the class with some unpredictable readings, a kind of safari adventure in language. If we can “unlearn” or rethink some limiting habits or prejudices about how and why read, this will empower us as readers… of everything from poems to want ads.

Perhaps the motto for the week should be: take nothing for granted. Even very commonsense and obvious “truths” are worth taking the measure of again –like the idea that literature is written by talented and inspired individuals for the purpose of self expression.