NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE & FUNCTIONS OF MYTH

1. NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE & FUNCTIONS OF MYTH This is an oral literature that is thousands of years old and was only written down in the past 150 years. No one knows how old the stories really are.

2. Four Functions of Myth • 1) Instills awe: evokes in the individual a sense of grateful, affirmative awe before the vast mystery of existence. So characters, landscapes and magical actions in story make the listener feel amazement and reverence toward forces greater than themselves. • 2) Presents animage of the cosmos(of the universe round about you, presented in an orderly way):that will maintain and enhance this experience of awe and explain everything that you come into contact with in the world around you. Actions and characters in the story explain the way specific creatures, features or characteristics (of people, animals, land) are and how they got that way. Can also explain symbolic dimensions.

3. Four Functions Myth • 3) Validates and maintains a certain social system:a shared set of rights and wrongs – basically rules – on which your particular social unit (family, tribe, race, nation) depends for its existence. Actions and characters in the story that explain why specific customs, rituals, rules, values or ways of doing things are (or should be) important to the listener. • 4) Guides people through the stages of life: from birth into maturity and through old age and into death. The mythology must do so in accord with the social order of his/her group, the cosmos as understood by that group – including its values, and the great mystery. Actions in the story help explain a stage (or stages) of life, how to recognize them, the nature of the transitions they represent and how to navigate them successfully including confrontation with the final stage – death.

4. Characteristics of N.A. Myths • Right living is living in harmony w/ nature • Major roles in the stories often played by animals • Ordinary people, animals places are divinities – gods and sacred places • Stars and planets are often ancestors • All of the above are seen as a sacred whole – the Hoop of Life • Humans must maintain a right relationship with the world around them

5. Features of Native Literature • Stories teach lessons, often spiritual, and are part of the histories of individual tribes • The stories reflect an inclusive view of the natural world – everyone and thing counts • Generally use powerful metaphors • Use archetypes– an original pattern of a type of character that is used often in different stories over the ages

6. Features (cont.) • The stories and legends often have ritual beginnings and endings • Progress and change are shown as cyclical, not linear as much western thinking is • Many of the stories have a Trickster character (often a raven or spider) • Often use repetition of elements for emphasis

7. Common themes • Movement from a sky world to a water world • Fortunate fall –creation story • Earth-diver myth usually involving an earth made from mud or a flood after the universe is created • Theft of fire • Emergence myth– movement of beings from under the surface to the surface of the earth