Narrator's Internal Conflicts example essay topic

Revealing Struggles of The Human Heart William Faulkner claimed that the only thing that makes the pain and agony or writing worthwhile is that literature is "the study of the human heart in conflict with itself". The only thing that makes literature worth writing is the understanding of human hearts in conflict with themselves. Through writing, the author helps readers to understand internal conflict of what he or the narrator is going through, or even other characters. This is often established through point of view, usually first person or omniscient. In Tom Whitecloud's "Blue Winds Dancing", conflict between the narrator and himself is effectively revealed through first person point of view.

The native in this short story experiences internal conflict of self-identity. He worries that he is too modern to be native and too native to be modern. The narrator also contemplates whether the whole modern society is right, or his own native society. First person point of view is told through the eyes of a character so that we can read their inner thoughts and feelings. The writing of "Blue Winds Dancing" in this point of view is significant in that the description of modern society from a native varies greatly from that of a white man. This effective method of writing shows the reader how modernization is seen through a native's perspective and expresses the narrator's internal conflicts.

Although a white man may see it differently, the narrator describes society as Joy 2 being... where all the trees grow in rows; the palms stand stiffly by the roadsides, and in the groves the orange trees line in military rows, and endlessly bear fruit. Beautiful, yes; there is always beauty in order, in rows of growing things! But it is the beauty of captivity. (Whitecloud, 199) This depicts society in a negative view. The native then describes his home as Beautiful, calm-where there is no hurry to get anywhere, no driving to keep up in a race that knows no ending and no goal.

No classes where men talk and talk and then stop now and then to hear their own words come back to them from the students. No constant peering into the maelstrom of one's mind; no worries about grades and honors; no hysterical preparing for life until that life is half over; no anxiety about one's place in the thing they call Society. (199-200) Describing his home this way shows the reader how is home is peaceful and society is in a constant hurry. Through this well-suited point of view, the reader can understand the narrator's feelings towards modern living.

Whitecloud expresses the native's dilemma of self-identity through the character's point of view. The narrator feels as if he is too native to be modern and too modern to be native. He says he is. ".. weary of trying to keep up this bluff of being civilized" (200). He is too native to be civilized and is tired of pretending he is. The native believes that [b] being civilized means trying to do everything you don't want to, never doing anything you want to. It means dancing to the strings of custom and tradition; it Joy 3 means living in houses and never knowing or caring who is next door.

These civilized white men want us to be like them-always dissatisfied-getting a hill and wanting a mountain. (200) He believes that he does not want to be part of this society, but then doubts himself, thinking", [t] hen again, maybe I am not tired. Maybe I'm licked. Maybe I am not smart enough to grasp these things that go to make up civilization. Maybe I am just too lazy to think hard enough to keep up" (200). The fact that he is too modern to be native also questions his self-identity.

As the narrator nears his home, he says: [s] uddenly I am afraid, now that I am but twenty miles from home. Afraid of being looked on as a stranger by my own people. I sit by a fire and think about myself and all other young Indians. We just don't seem to fit in anywhere- certainly not among the whites, and not among the older. (202) He feels as if his generation of Indians do not fit in anywhere, and are stuck somewhere between modernization and their peoples' traditional ways. This causes an identity crisis within the narrator.

He wonders " ' [a] m I Indian, or an I white?' " (204). Upon first arriving among his people, the young native watches his elders dance during their Christmas celebration. He asks "I wonder if I am at all like them" (204), contemplating once again will he ever fit in with his people. Another struggle that the young Indian is contemplating is whether the whole modern society is right, or his own native society. In modern society, the narrator is constantly told that his race is "inferior" (200). He claims that [i] t is terrible to have to feel inferior; to have to read reports of intelligence tests, Joy 4 and learn that one's race is behind.

It is terrible to sit in classes and hear en tell you that your people worship sticks of wood-that you gods are all false, that the Manitou forgot your people and did not write them a book. (200) With white men telling him he is inferior, he almost believes it until he remembers the superior qualities of his culture. The young native recalls that [t] hey know how to give; how to tear one's piece of meat in two and share it with one's brother. They know how to sing-how to make each man his on songs and sing them; for their music they do not have to listen to other men singing over a radio. They know how to make things with their hands, how to shape beads into design and make a thing of beauty from a piece of birch bark. (200) These two perspectives confuse the young Indian, causing him to consider which is the false view.

The understanding of the human heart in conflict with itself makes writing literature worthwhile. In "Blue Winds Dancing", Tom Whitecloud helps the reader understand the internal conflicts of a young native. Reading through the first person point of view enables the audience to better appreciate how the narrator feels about his own culture, as well as modern society.