Tai-Me, Christ, and the Machine: Affirmation Through Mythic Pluralism in House Made of Dawn

Abstract

TAI-ME, CHRIST, AND THE MACHINE: AFFIRMATION THROUGH MYTHIC PLURALISM IN HOUSE MADE OF DAWN Michael W. Raymond* Many critics interpret N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn as depicting disharmony, alienation, and the need for spiritual redemption in a squalid, hellish, temporal world.1 Martha Scott Trimble , for example, sees it as a story of how differences in "language and culture tend through their own territorial imperatives to encompass one, sometimes to a point of isolation."2 Even those critics not advocating themes of alienation see House Made of Dawn as an insider's novel. To them, it portrays "the orderly continuum of interrelated events that constitute the Indian universe"3 and "warns native Americans that they may lose more than they gain if they assimilate into the American mix."4 With its alternative to Christianity and to a modern civilization based on secular, technological structures,5 House Made of Dawn's optimism has to be inappropriate for an outsider. Neither of these approaches accounts for the full richness of Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Rather than denying the possibility of affirmation or suggesting that affirmation can come only through a monolithic cultural identity, House Made of Dawn focuses on the pluralism of ordinary contemporary life and the possibility of finding meaning in it. Depicting a pervasive cultural diversity in even remote, seemingly culturally isolated areas, the novel suggests that meaning in contemporary life comes when one finds his sense of place by recognizing and living within that large and diverse context. At the end of House Made of Dawn, Abel is "running on the rise of the song."9 By seeing and going among the runners, Abel unmistakably associates himself with the dawn runners of eternity: They were whole and indispensable in what they did; everything in creation referred to them. Because of them, perspective, proportion, design in the universe. Meaning because of them. They ran with great dignity and calm, not in the hope of anything, but hopelessly; neither in fear nor hatred nor despair of evil, but simply in recognition and with respect. Evil was. Evil was abroad in the night; they must venture out to the confrontation; they must reckon dues and divide the world (p. 96). "Michael W. Raymond is Nell Carlton Professor of English at Stetson University. He has published widely in the scholarly journals and is currently working on a book on the landscapes of the contemporary American novel. 62Michael W. Raymond Abel saves himself when he identifies with the dawn runners, sees them as a part of the whole, becomes a part of them, and feels significant. But Abel's path to the beginnings of salvation is not easy. Abel's story is one of a journey through and from placelessness.7 It is a sordid and seemingly chaotic journey through a self-conscious and reflective uninvolvement , an alienation from people and places, homelessness, a sense of the unreality of the world and of not belonging. Abel's choices and their outcome are neither simple nor clear-cut. It is more than just the matter of returning to the fulfilling pueblo from the nasty white man's world. Abel's tribulations involve all the complexities inherent in contemporary life. He is forced to face the army, the legal system, and the social service agencies of a society almost totally alien to him. He must deal with such personal tragedies as the deaths of his mother and brother and his own alcoholism. He is torn between personal pride and the necessity for survival in a hostile environment. Swirling around him are the complicated and often obscure promises of value systems inherent in at least three Native American cultures, in Christianity, and in modern technology. Clearly this journey through placelessness is not restricted to the white man's army, city, or values. He experiences the twentiethcentury sense of alienation before ever leaving the pueblo. At WaIatowa , Abel's father was an outsider of an undetermined tribe. His family is considered foreign and strange (p. 15). As an adolescent, Abel unexplainably strangles an eagle he captures during a ceremonial Eagle Watchers Society hunt. On his return to Walatowa in 1945, Abel is...