786 Momaday, N. scott
community, he is numb, disconnected even from his
own people, traditions, and way of life. Abel finds
he “could not say the things he wanted; he tried to
pray, to sing, to enter into the old rhythm of the
tongue, but he was no longer attuned to it” (58), and
he turns to alcohol as an escape. Later, his estrange-
ment results in murder. Viewing an albino Pueblo
man as an evil being capable of transforming into
a snake, an intoxicated Abel kills the man, viciously
disemboweling him. Abel’s alienation is heightened
further by the fact that other Native Americans
deride his reasoning for the murder, while the white
jury simply views him as insane.
After his release from prison, Abel’s disconnec-
tion only worsens. As part of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs relocation program, a program intent on
moving and assimilating Native Americans into
urban areas, he is sent to live in Los Angeles. It is
soon apparent that this move further distances Abel.
Once again an outsider, Abel has no understanding
of modern urban life. He does befriend Ben Benally
and acquires a job, but he cannot find his place in
this society. Despite Milly’s help and optimism that
he can make it in Los Angeles, Abel quickly spirals
into depression and alcoholism. He cannot resolve
the new ways of this world with the traditions and
ideas with which he was raised. Many of the Native
Americans who have assimilated also ridicule Abel
to his face for his ignorance, believing he is stuck
in a past that offers nothing and is unable to take
advantage of the opportunities, such as education,
that he is offered. As Benally says of Abel, he “was
unlucky. . . . He was a longhair. . . . You know, you
have to change. That’s the only way you can live in
a place like this. You have to forget about the way
it was, how you grew up and all. . . . Well, he didn’t
want to change, I guess, or he didn’t know how.”
(148). As his anger over the ridicule heaped on him
and his powerlessness grows, so does his use of alco-
hol. In a drunken rage, Abel confronts the corrupt
police officer who had beaten him over the hands
with his nightstick. He is severely beaten, his face
a bloody pulp, hands broken and skin yellow from
the loss of blood. Left vulnerable on the beach, Abel
becomes one of the silversided fish whose depiction
opens the section, a fish that helplessly hurls itself
ashore during spawning season.
This sense of alienation also is echoed through-
out the Los Angeles Native American population.
Many, such as Benally and Tosamah, see themselves
as outsiders. This stems from the realization that
Native American culture and traditions do not
belong to the modern world in which they live.
Tosamah knows that to assimilate fully means aban-
doning these things, something he is not willing to
do. For Benally, who unlike Tosamah comes from
a reservation, this is compounded with the loss of
place. While Benally longs to return, he knows that
there is nothing left, “just empty land and a lot of old
people, going nowhere and dying off.” Their place
is literally and figuratively eroded away, but what
remains is history and heritage.
Momaday illustrates that alienation is a part of
the Native American dilemma. Assimilation into
the modern white world comes at a heavy price, the
loss of culture, tradition, and even place. Estrange-
ment also indicates the importance of place, as is
seen through both Abel and Benally. Both men are
displaced from their community and homeland.
This displacement intensifies each character’s sense
of disconnection and loss, something for which Los
Angeles offers no help. It is only by returning to his
Pueblo home and embracing the people and culture
that Abel finally finds himself again.
Lisa Wengeridentity in House Made of Dawn
Native Americans are caught between the white
world and their own in House Made of Dawn.
The white world has no understanding of Native
American beliefs, traditions, history, of that which
constitutes Native American identity. It also has no
place for these things, viewing them as antiquated.
As the modern world tries to strip away everything
of importance to Native Americans, the search for
and maintenance of identity become imperative.
Abel’s search for identity begins at an early
age. Not knowing his father’s heritage, Abel feels
“somehow foreign and strange” when his fam-
ily returns to the Pueblo community. Given this,
most of his youth is spent searching for identity
and place, a search that culminates in his killing
of the eagle and departure from the village. At
first excited about leaving, Abel soon realizes his