NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE

Ms. Kucinski English II

Notes for Native American Literature

Native American literature, also

called Indian literature or American Indian literature, is the

traditional oral and written literatures of the Natives of

America. These include ancient hieroglyphic and pictographic writings of

Middle America as well as an extensive set of folktales,

myths, and oral histories that were transmitted for

centuries by storytellers and that live on in the language

works of many contemporary American Indian writers.

The Five Themes of Native American Literature

1. Substance Experience:*Stories that relate to the cycle of life-Planting-Hunting-Fishing-Life-Death

2. Origin and Emergence

*Stories that typically dramatize the tribal explanation of the origin of the earth and its people.

Explains how different tribes believe the earth and man were created.

3. Historical Narratives

*Tribe records that explain the movements of the tribe, and the colonization of the Europeans.

4. Trickster Tales

* A tale in which the main character, which takes on animal form such as– a coyote, raven, or rabbit, constantly tries to outsmart or outwit other characters.

5. Oral Traditions

* A story that is passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth