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The relationship between good and evil
The relationship between good and evil
Investigation essay on cherokee traditions
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Mythology is more than just a set of stories; it is a look into a culture’s beliefs, ideas, and identity. Myths tell one the inherent, core traditions and beliefs within a society, and therefore allow one to begin to understand cultures that are unlike one’s own – a term coined ‘cultural relativism.’ These myths allow one to look at both conflicts and complements with a culture such as ‘good vs. evil’, ‘youth vs. adult’, and ‘knowledge vs. power’. The duel relationship between good and evil within Cherokee mythology displays both a conflicting nature when dealing with the basic forms of these two ideas along with a complementary nature due to the fact that one idea cannot exist without the other. One sees this conflicting yet complementary …show more content…
The Little People are good in the sense that they are “helpful and kind-hearted” and when they find Cherokee who are lost in the woods, they “[bring] them back to their homes. (Mooney 333)” However, they also contradict their helpful nature by embodying a more evil persona such as “[they] do not like to be disturbed at home, and they throw a spell over the stranger so that he is bewildered” and “sometimes, they come near a house at night … if anyone should go out to watch, he would die (Mooney 333).” Therefore, the Little People embody the contradiction of good and evil within Cherokee …show more content…
Within the myth, one is introduced to two characters – the Wild Boy, and the Son. The Wild Boy is characterized as “always being wild and artful in his disposition, and was the leader of his brother in every mischief (Mooney 242).” Meanwhile, the Son is more subservient and trustful, even though he can be mischievous. This characterization is symbolism for the idea of good and evil, and ultimately shows how those two entities are complimentary. Although the two boys are contradictory in their characterization, they ultimately show the complimentary nature of good and evil because together, the two boys brought about the world as the Cherokee know it. Without the ‘evil’ Wild Boy and the ‘good’ Son, the origin of wild game and corn would be completely different. The Cherokee Indians value the idea of community, for it is this that allows them to carry on their traditions and beliefs – especially the idea of balance. One can see the importance of this idea through looking at the contrasting yet complimentary nature of good and evil in Cherokee mythology such as Little People and Kanati and Selu. Within these two myths, one can see the conflict of good and evil (the Little People can be both helpful and harmful) and the complementing nature of these two ideas (the Wild Boy and the Son embody good and evil, but bring about the world as one knows
In the book Bad Indians, Miranda talks about the many issues Indigenous People go through. Miranda talks about the struggles Indigenous people go through; however, she talks about them in the perspective of Native Americans. Many people learn about Indigenous People through classrooms and textbooks, in the perspective of White people. In Bad Indians, Miranda uses different literary devices to show her perspective of the way Indigenous People were treated, the issues that arose from missionization, as well as the violence that followed through such issues. Bad Indians is an excellent example that shows how different history is told in different perspectives.
The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an ancestor or relative. The Native American’s strongly belie...
This provides powerful insight into the role Bigfoot like creatures played in Native American cultures. Some tribes were not afraid of the creatures, considering them kind and helpful, while peacefully coexisting with them. Other tribes found them to be more violent and dangerous creatures. The fact that these tribes called the animals Stick Indians or Brush Indians seems to suggest that the creatures were simply other tribes they did not get along with opposed to a village of mythical creatures. Some examples of Bigfoot like creatures in Native American tribes include the Chiye – Tanka, the Lofa, the Maxemista, and the popular Sasquatch. The Chiye – Tanka was the Bigfoot like creature of the Sioux Indians (“Native American,” n.d.). This animal
At some point in their lifetime, a person obtains possession over a power they have not had once before. This single source could range anywhere from being able to choose a morning outfit to having three magical wishes. The power could come from within or an outside source, and how they use it determines what they perceive to world to be. From here, their morals become tested on whether to use this authority for selfish reasons or to do what is right. Good vs. evil dates back to the biblical literary figures, Adam and Eve, along with the “tree of bad and good” (Schachter 73). With many different versions of this encounter, the theme remains the same. In W.W. Jacobs’ short story “The Monkey’s Paw,” the narrator uses symbolism through parts of the setting, reiterating numbers, and objects that relate to biblical aspects as well as known morals.
evil side to man, which accounts for the savage nature of the children in the
Like most Americans, I have spent many moments since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 trying to grasp both the acts themselves and the seemingly endless chain of depressing events following in their wake. Although many have rediscovered faith communities or a renewed social activism in their search for understanding, I have immersed myself in the lessons of Cherokee culture and history. This history teaches me to situate September 11th in the context of other tragedies that have occurred on American soil. For example, as many as 10,000 Cherokee people perished as a result of the forced march to Oklahoma known as the Trail of Tears B or, more accurately, the nuna dat suny, which literally translates as "they were crying in that place." Cherokee oral tradition is replete with stories acknowledging the trauma of what historians euphemistically call "removal", and its physical, spiritual and social wounds may never be completely healed. Other stories, and particularly those in the genre known as origin narratives, illuminate both 9/11 and Removal by enabling the emergence of a distinctly Cherokee critical theory of violence.
The American version of history blames the Native people for their ‘savage ' nature, for their failure to adhere to the ‘civilized norms ' of property ownership and individual rights that Christian people hold, and for their ‘brutality ' in defending themselves against the onslaught of non-Indian settlers. The message to Native people is simple: "If only you had been more like us, things might have been different for you.”
Pages one to sixty- nine in Indian From The Inside: Native American Philosophy and Cultural Renewal by Dennis McPherson and J. Douglas Rabb, provides the beginning of an in-depth analysis of Native American cultural philosophy. It also states the ways in which western perspective has played a role in our understanding of Native American culture and similarities between Western culture and Native American culture. The section of reading can be divided into three lenses. The first section focus is on the theoretical understanding of self in respect to the space around us. The second section provides a historical background into the relationship between Native Americans and British colonial power. The last section focus is on the affiliation of otherworldliness that exist between
For the Native Americans to explain their existence, they created stories that described how things came to be. These stories are much like the ones that you would find in the Bible, and are very insightful in getting a better understanding of the Native Americans religious viewings. The Native Americans strongly believed in spirits and beings of another world. In the Iroquois Creation Story, these believes are strongly represented by telling the story of two brothers. This story is a representation of how the world was created. There is a good minded brother and a bad minded brother, which are not just brothers but twins. These unborn brothers and their mother were sent to the back of a turtle that in order to secure them from the dangers of the dark world she fell to. In a hurry to be born, the bad minded brother murders
7. Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folk Lore. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub., 2003. Print.
The Cherokee Nation was the largest of Five Civilized Tribes of the southeast. They are a people of Iroquois descent. The Cherokee who were known as "Ani'-Yun'wiya" or "principal people" migrated to the southeast from the Great Lakes region. They held more than 40,000 square miles of land in the south by 1650 with a population estimated at well over 30,000. Similar to other Native Americans of the southeast, their nation was a confederacy of towns each under the rule of a supreme chief. In short, the Cherokee culture and society thrived and prospered in the Americas prior to contact with the Europeans. No society has ever made a more dramatic cultural shift then that of the Cherokee. This, a culture that had suffered pronounced side effects of Europe even prior to the introduction to European man. With the introduction of man onto the Americas also came something unknown to them, disease. Unable to counter these viruses many of the Cherokee were wiped out. Reports state that between 40 and 50% of their culture died from diseases such as: smallpox, typhus, and measles. With the sudden lose of population, there is no doubt that this population also lost leadership and knowledge through these deaths. Once the obstacle of disease had been passed came the addition of a new opponent: the European man.
The Navajo creation Myth story deals with the topics of story telling that are quite familiar to
The writer acquaints the reader with the idea of myth. While recognizing that researchers contrast enormously on the exact definition, Oswalt demands that this should not discourage the single person from looking for a decent meaning of the saying. While trying to help characterize the saying, he records four essential qualities of a myth. These qualities conclude that people have practically zero natural worth, they are relatively absence of enthusiasm toward history, they are fascinated with magic and the occult, and they refuse to acknowledge obligation regarding individual
Nowadays, children books are full field with morals and lesson to teach children how to behave and react in real life situations. A classic subject that teaches children is the rivalry between good and bad, where good defeats bad after a battle. An example of a children novel that explores in different ways the good versus the bad is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, written by C.S Lewis. The author of this novel uses literary elements to demonstrate the idea of good and evil, an example of which would be characterisation. Aslan and the White Witch embody the characteristics of the good and the evil, two of which are their physical and psychological descriptions and their actions in the novel.
Within the Native American community, the people view children as a blessing. Children hold a special position in the family and within the tribe. Specifically, the Lakota tribe emphasizes that children are spirits who come to the family and if the family does not treat them as scared, they will be lost (Herzberg, 2013). Many other tribes hold the same value on children. The Pueblos believe that a child has a right to grow up and belong to a world of meaning. Within the tribe, the ...