Momaday's Journey Back To Rainy Mountain example essay topic

A Writers Style The Pulitzer Prize winning writer N. Scott Momaday has become known as a very distinctive writer who depicts the stories of the Native American life in almost poetic ways. He does an excellent job of transporting the reader from the black and white pages of a book, to a world where every detail is pointed out and every emotion felt when reading one of Momaday's books or other writings. This style of writing that Momaday uses is very evident in his work "The Way to Rainy Mountain", and made even more apparent by reading a review of the book House Made of Dawn found on a web site run by Harper Collins Publishers. Throughout the essay "The Way to Rainy Mountain", Momaday uses very descriptive words, which brings the places he is describing to life in the minds eye. The essay begins with his description of the homelands of his Kiowa people, which has been given the name of Rainy Mountain. The picture painted in the readers mind by these beautiful descriptions makes it easily understandable why the Kiowa people came to settle upon this land as their home.

For example, part of the description Momaday gives of the land within the first paragraph is, "There are green belts along the rivers and creeks, linear groves of hickory and pecan, willow and witch hazel. At a distance in July or August the streaming foliage seems almost to writhe in fire". (Momaday, 95) I can not help but imagine the trees wavering in a gentle early fall breeze as the yellows and reds seem as if the whole land is burning beneath the fading summer sun. Halfway through the essay he describes the Black Hills by saying "A dark mist lay over the Black Hills and the land was like iron". (97) He then describes Devil's Tower in the next sentence by writing.

".. I caught sight of Devil's Tower upthrust against the gray sky as if in the birth of time the core of the earth had broken through its crust and the motion of the world was begun". (97) The way that Momaday describes these breathtaking scenes allows the reader to both see and feel the emotion that these great views evoke. This style of writing is backed up through Harper Collins Publishers online review of Momaday's book, House Made of Dawn, when it states that "The world of his grandfather, Francisco-and of Francisco's fathers before him-is a world of seasonal rhythms, a harsh and beautiful place... ". This shows that inside the book House Made of Dawn, Momaday uses his trademark technique of description and emotion to describe the world around the characters as he also does in his essay "The Way to Rainy Mountain".

In my opinion however, Momaday's writing is not entirely without faults. One aspect of the essay "The Way to Rainy Mountain" that I found somewhat distracting was when Momaday would move off of the obvious aspect of his journey home. Even though I very much enjoyed the amazing descriptions that he used in telling of the lands from where his people came, I found it hard to grasp the purpose behind the side stories that were being told. I had latched onto the story of him returning home to his grandmother's grave since that was the first aspect presented to me as the reader. Once I had read the text over and studied it a little more deeply, I realized that the purpose of the story was not to tell of Momaday's journey back to rainy mountain, but to tell the story of the Kiowa's journey to Rainy Mountain. I thought it was a little distracting the first time I read because I was distracted by all of the information that Momaday was telling about the Kiowa people and their history.

I kept expecting to hear of his trip back to Rainy Mountain and what he was experiencing during this time. As I said before, it was not until I went back and reread the essay did I catch on about the true point to the story. This might have been avoided if Momaday had made it clearer that the focus of the story was on the Kiowa people and not his journey back to see his grandmother's grave. Once I understood this aspect though, I was able to completely appreciate the story and imagery for what it was. This was a slight downside of Momaday's writing, however he was able to pull it all together and make it less of a distraction in the end. Another characteristic of Momaday's writings is how they involve change.

For example, in his essay of "The Way to Rainy Mountain", the whole story is based around him returning home to see his grandmothers' grave. However, the point of the story is to tell the history of his people, the Kiowa people, and how they came to settle on the land known as Rainy Mountain. As he tells this story, Momaday also shows how the present times have changed from what he remembers of the past. How his grandmother's house would be alive when so many of his people would be gathered there and now it lies so empty and quiet as the times have changed. Momaday's book House Made of Dawn also talks about change in the world for the Native Americans. The main character of the story, Abel, faces the difficult challenge of deciding whether to leave his family and history behind.

So that he might find his place in the modernized post World War II country. He decides to face the new world and soon finds it to be a harsh place where he lingers in despair between returning to the ancient ways and the draw of the material world. This theme of how the world changes and the Native Americans view each step seems to play a main part in the storytelling for Momaday's writings. To show the past and the great meanings of the Native's beliefs along with the way times have changed, Momaday has found a very emotionally appealing method to draw the reader in.

In conclusion, upon looking further into N. Scott Momaday's style of writing, I have found it to be true that he has developed one of the most sound and beautifully descriptive styles of writing. The way he describes each scene with so much feeling brings the reader in through a very emotional avenue. Also, his style is very strong where he covers the changes of the world and how the Native American people adjust to the many new and different challenges they face. Even though there are a few times when Momaday's writing can seem sidetracking and misleading, he is still able to bring it all together in the end. This makes for very beautifully well written works with some of the most descriptive scenes I have ever read.

I would highly recommend any of Momaday's writings based off of the knowledge I have gained by examining a few short pieces by him. The stories are great, and the descriptions are powerful enough to leave you breathless.

Bibliography

Momaday, N. Scott. "The Way to Rainy Mountain". Fields of Reading. Ed. Nancy Cooley, et al. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.
577-580. Perennial Classics. Ed. Harper Collins Publisher. 26 February 2002.