1. American Indian Literature

2. Typical Themes in Literature
Deep reverence & respect for nature (Vocabulary: veneration)
Close relationship between humans and nature
Humans and animals are equals
Life is a cycle:
In nature: birth, death, rebirth
Ceremonies are repeated every year

3. Purpose of Mythology To teach moral lessons
To give practical information:
Respect for elders
Don’t be greedy
Take care of the earth’s resources
Survival tips

4. Purpose of Mythology (cont’d)
To explain things they do not understand:
Creation
Why people behave the way they do
To entertain

5. Literary Elements Oral Tradition Parallelism Pictographs
Passing of stories down through the generations by spoken word of mouth
Parallelism
Repeated phrases
Pictographs
Images representing ideas & parts of a story
Extended Metaphor
A series of metaphors (comparisons) that all relate to a larger, over-arching metaphor

6. Historical Connections
Approximately 300 distinct groups
Derived from migrations:
Dene (Southwest U.S.)
Eskimos (Northwest U.S.)
Aleuts (Northeast U.S.)
Came across the Bering Land Bridge (50,000 years ago) (Vocabulary: nomad)
Over 1 million alive at time of Columbus (1492)
By 1890, approximately 250,000

7. Language 200 language families Oral Tradition Creation myths
Tales of Heroes & Tricksters
Chants

9. Religion Varies from tribe to tribe Humans do not dominate nature
Humans maintain an equal relationship with nature and its forces