House Made of Dawn
by N. Scott Momaday, Momaday
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Book Summary Information
Author: Momaday, N. Scott MomadayEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-11
ISBN: 0072434201
Number of pages: 198
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Europe
Book Reviews of House Made of Dawn
Book Review: Awesome-ness
Summary: 4 Stars
House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday is a fictional book that tells the story of a young American Indian man named Abel. He hails from an Indian reservation where he has deep family roots and was brought up around their traditional culture. Though the story is fictional it maintains perfect historical accuracy throughout. This novel goes into the issue of Indians participating in WWII and how that affected their culture and the demographic shift that occurred after the war. The fact is that "More than 90 percent of Indians resided on reservations in 1940 and six decades later more than half lived in cities, with a large concentration in southern California." (American Pageant p.830). During the war there were more than 25,000 American Indian men serving in the armed forces and many were famous for being "code talkers" and used their native languages to fool the Japanese. When they returned home after the war these Indians experienced the repercussions of new policies relating to Indians. Abel is thrust into the city as he is basically forced to assimilate into white culture. This story illuminates the plight of these Indians when the US ultimately forced them west and our of their rich reservation land. We can see how these citizens were disregarded directly from the implanting of HCR 108 in 1953 which removed all special status for Native Americans.
This new bill made them responsible for taxes which they had previously been exempt from and was intended to force them off the lands which our government perceived as economically valuable. This novel has a big effect on the readers understanding of the real issues that went on between our government and American Indians. Abel experiences a downfall and a total confusion about his cultural identity. This is stripped from him as he was involved with the war. His turmoil can be seen in the assimilation of many others which hurt the Indian culture greatly. Abel finally realizes that he must battle the "white man's" influence not by violence but by embracing his Indian heritage and immerse himself in the culture that he was brought up in regardless of what social changes were occurring. This book is a must read, and would definitely be a 4 out of 5 as it accurately reflects the strife of the American Indians during the Post WWII era and how they had to deal with a sort of forced assimilation. The novel is slightly dark as it traces Abel's downfall, but this helps to support the overall theme of identity and cultural ties that are prevalent throughout the book and concludes with him understanding and running free of all burdens.
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