A Journey Through Multi-Modal Writing
"On such a full sea are we now afloat; And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures" - William Shakespeare
Sherman Alexie Poem from Poetry Madness Unit (10th Grade)
I encountered this poem during our Poetry Madness competition this past March. In my contemporary poetry unit, I use the poem "Evolution" to help introduce the elements of Native American writing, but while that poem exemplifies poetic elements more clearly, part of me wants to teach this poem instead. It made me think of the difference between teaching the text as opposed to teaching the "writing."
The Powwow at the End of the World
I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall
after an Indian woman puts her shoulder to the Grand Coulee Dam
and topples it. I am told by many of you that I must forgive
and so I shall after the floodwaters burst each successive dam
downriver from the Grand Coulee. I am told by many of you
that I must forgive and so I shall after the floodwaters find
their way to the mouth of the Columbia River as it enters the Pacific
and causes all of it to rise. I am told by many of you that I must forgive
and so I shall after the first drop of floodwater is swallowed by that salmon
waiting in the Pacific. I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall
after that salmon swims upstream, through the mouth of the Columbia
and then past the flooded cities, broken dams and abandoned reactors
of Hanford. I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall
after that salmon swims through the mouth of the Spokane River
as it meets the Columbia, then upstream, until it arrives
in the shallows of a secret bay on the reservation where I wait alone.
I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall after
that salmon leaps into the night air above the water, throws
a lightning bolt at the brush near my feet, and starts the fire
which will lead all of the lost Indians home. I am told
by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall
after we Indians have gathered around the fire with that salmon
who has three stories it must tell before sunrise: one story will teach us
how to pray; another story will make us laugh for hours;
the third story will give us reason to dance. I am told by many
of you that I must forgive and so I shall when I am dancing
with my tribe during the powwow at the end of the world.
Haas Blog Post
Haas’ chapter examines the societal view of Native Americans as well as stresses the necessity for the conversation about this stigma to take place in classrooms across the country. The chapter begins by explaining how a stereotypical view of native American people became solidified during the time periods of the early and late 1900s as the consumption of post-modernism media reinforced ideas of native American people due to the financial benefits of such portrayals. In doing so, Haas believes that the view of native Americans by contemporary society finds its genesis, one that in Haas’ words reinforces the notion that Native American people were “the most wild part of the wild west.”
I agree that in many ways, the contemporary view of Native American people has and continues to be predominantly shaped by the European vision instilled during the colonization of the continent. When this is considered alongside the idea that this initial view of the Native American culture was one that was dramatized, hyperbolized, and made to be more savage in order to dehumanize a race of people, the importance of this conversation regarding a shift in stigma becomes abundantly clear. Similar to Haas, I believe that among the places where this conversation must take place, the classroom and the media must be considered of paramount importance.
In my 10th grade American Literature classroom, we end our third term with a contemporary literature unit that focuses on Native American culture. During this portion of our curriculum, we look closely at a number of works by Sherman Alexie, including his poem “Evolution” and his short story What You Pawn I Will Redeem. The importance of Alexie’s writing and the ideas of Identity, the symbolism of inheritance, and a break from the constraint of writing norms are addressed, as well as the way that the form of the writing reinforces a pessimism in regards to the role of the Native American in contemporary society. In many ways, it is our hope that by demonstrating that these issues are both prominent and unresolved, we can highlight the need for change in terms of the portrayals of Native Americans in modern culture. At the same time, our analysis of these texts remains deeply rooted in the textual analysis of the works, and I wonder if bringing in some other forms of media into this part of the class—commercials, tv shows, songs, etc.—might help to show that the conversation exists off the page as well.