Nez Perce's Red Willow Themes

Oral tradition in Native American culture illustrates the physical history of each tribe, creates origin stories, and reinforces generations of societal values. In particular, the Nez Perce tale, “Red Willow,” encapsulates and preserves many elements of tradition within its narrative as the story is passed down over centuries. Spirituality, death rituals, gender roles, and analysis of their people’s surrounding environment are all essential themes compacted into the brief narrative. The story’s pacing is rapid and simple in order to capture and entrance and educate a young audience while reinforcing the tribe’s traditions and introducing creation tales. Origin stories structured like “Red Willow” have been used throughout Native American cultures

Through condensing both themes of cultural significance and the origin of the red willow’s color, “Red Willow” remains a successful creation tale after centuries of reiteration.
Nez Perce spiritual beliefs are centered around the idea that each living creature possesses a soul. This belief connects their people deeply to the earth in every aspect of their lives and is evident in the coming-of-age tradition of completing a vision quest. Before she is slain by her fiancé, the young woman in “Red Willow” tells her betrothed she is going in “quest of vision” and if she does not return in ten days, he will know that “something has killed [her]” (Nez Perce, 2). Once a young man or woman in the community reached adolescence, they would embark on a vision quest for

In Nez Perce society, both older men and women are allowed to become shamans, a gender equality not existing in many other Native American cultures. Shamans are in most cases older members of the community who have been granted healing powers, strong abilities concerning premonition, and help to orchestrate major events in the village such as hunting parties. Their powers are rooted in nature and the earth, likewise to all Nez Perce beliefs; they are able to sing “healing songs” and prescribe herbal remedies to heal ailments (Charles River Editors, 18). When a fly enters the wailing mothers mouth, she bites down upon it to discover it is “fetid,” and concludes her daughter has already died (Nez Perce, 2). Through this cryptic event, the audience can readily infer that the mother has shamanic abilities. The strong belief of the interconnectedness of nature is apparent in the event of the fly entering the mother’s mouth. Its putrid taste and the resulting conclusion of the mother that her daughter is dead entails that the decay of the corpse is linked to the fly that she has bitten down upon. With the inclusion of this detail, Nez Perce beliefs are reinforced as an essential to “Red Willow” and therefore both the history and future of Nez Perce