Don's Lesson From The Guardian Spirit Analysis

Don’s Lesson from the Guardian Spirit The Hopi, an Amerindian tribe, have a rich history. As one of the oldest living cultures in history, the Hopi people live in the Grand Canyon area, setting up villages along their mesas. For 2000 years, the Hopi have continued to persist teach their children their traditions against the forced assimilation of the white man. Sun Chief, an autobiography of Don Talayesva, captures the life of Don, recounting stories from his childhood and his experiences at school and beyond. During his time at school, Don catches a severe case of pneumonia which leads to his temporary death. While he is in between life and death, his Guardian Spirit comes to take him on a journey and teach him a lesson. Through this journey,

During the pregnancy, both mother and father “took care,” to ensure the babies protection, either by making sure to not “injure an animal,” or “not look at the water serpents,” (1). This rituals that his parents followed were to ensure that Don would not have any birth defects. After his birth, Don was kept nearby his mother for twenty days to protect his life, and from then on, Don would witness several religious events(28-29). For example, Don witnesses Katcina dances and is taught that the “Katcinas are gods,” and that “gifts come from them,” (75). This is reinforced by his family through tales of Katcinas eating naughty children to Katcinas giving the good children gifts. He grows up watching their dances and even participating in one of them. Don is taught about the Spider Mother, and Massau’u and the Skeleton House. All of these gods/demons represent a part of Hopi culture and teaches them how to live their life. Don is a quick learner and soon knows many traditions and rules about Hopi life. Unfortunately, while at school, Don soon forgets his origins and starts to forget his Hopi

He is stuck in between life and death when his Spirit Guardian comes and takes him on a journey. The point of the journey is to remind Don what his roots are, and to teach him what being a Hopi is. Don goes home to “eat some good Hopi food,” but his mother and father seem to have forgotten him, and Don notices that “they don’t care,” (122). This symbolizes that Don has forgotten about his family. He rarely spends time with them and was always at school. Even during the summer, he spends time working there. Although Don had learned that family is close in Hopi tribes, he seemed to have left his family in the past, so that he could have an educated future. Later on the journey, Don meets a group of people who tell him that “lots of people love him,” and that he was “being punished,” so that he “would understand,” that he had forgotten what it meant to be a Hopi (127). The second lesson Don learns is about tradition. The same group mentioned above tells him that he has “been careless,” and does not “believe in the Skeleton House anymore,” which was one the major religious symbols in his childhood (125). They want “to teach him a lesson on life,” because he had forgotten the ways of the Hopi (125). They show him the life cycle of the Two Hearts results in a beetle, and the give him the chance to run away from Massau’u to live again (126). They wanted him to “return to them (his family),” because throughout his