Post on 23-Dec-2015
NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE
Ms. Kucinski English II
Notes for Native American Literature
Native American literature, also
called Indian literature or American Indian literature, is the
traditional oral and written literatures of the Natives of
America. These include ancient hieroglyphic and pictographic writings of
Middle America as well as an extensive set of folktales,
myths, and oral histories that were transmitted for
centuries by storytellers and that live on in the language
works of many contemporary American Indian writers.
The Five Themes of Native American Literature
1. Substance Experience:*Stories that relate to the cycle of life-Planting-Hunting-Fishing-Life-Death
2. Origin and Emergence
*Stories that typically dramatize the tribal explanation of the origin of the earth and its people.
Explains how different tribes believe the earth and man were created.
3. Historical Narratives
*Tribe records that explain the movements of the tribe, and the colonization of the Europeans.
4. Trickster Tales
* A tale in which the main character, which takes on animal form such as– a coyote, raven, or rabbit, constantly tries to outsmart or outwit other characters.
5. Oral Traditions
* A story that is passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth