I love the
way that Leslie Silko describes her hometown of Laguna Pueblo and the customs
of the village. I also enjoy how she
describes other nearby towns and villages is able to relate them all to the
reader. She is very precise with the
words that she uses, not only to make sure they are the correct ones to
describe the situation, but also so the reader can picture what she is writing
about without ever having traveled there.
I enjoyed her piece in “Listening to Earth” and what I believe she was
trying to accomplish by writing it. I
think that she was writing this for the younger generations, to make sure that
they know their history and traditions.
Native Americans had been some of the best at preserving their culture
until Europeans came to this country and forced them from their lands. I think that it is a shame that so much
history has been lost over the last few hundred years so unnecessarily. I was happy when I finished this reading and
I hope that she is successful in trying to preserve her heritage and customs. It will be no small task, but converting
these oral traditions and stories into written stories may be the only way to
keep them alive for future generations in this day and age. I always love when I get to visit with my
grandparents and listen to them tell stories about when they were growing up
and even about when I was growing up.
After reading this article, I wish that I had paid more attention to the
details of these stories. I would love
to be able to pass tales from generation to generation, but unfortunately that’s
not the way of the world anymore.
No comments:
Post a Comment