792 Morrison, Toni
to starve to death as a sacrifice to Tai-me. When
an epidemic of smallpox broke out within the tribe
later that year, an old man sacrificed one of his
best horses in order to save the lives of his fam-
ily. Only seven when the last Sun Dance was held
by the Kiowa in 1887 on the Washita River above
Rainy Mountain Creek, Aho clearly remembers the
absent buffalo. Trying to keep tradition alive, the
Kiowa skewered the head of a buffalo bull upon
the medicine tree and journeyed to Texas to beg
for an animal from the Goodnight herd. Aho was
only 10 years old when the Kiowa joined for the
very last time as the Sun Dance culture. Buffalo
was nowhere to be found, and an old hide from
the sacred tree was forced to suffice as an offering.
Appearance too was crucial to the continuation of
Kiowa tradition. Rubbing fat in one’s hair, wearing
fringed and flowered shawls, bright beads, winding
braids with strips of colored cloth, and carrying
the scars of old and respected enmities helped the
late Kiowa members keep their ancestors close at
heart. Mammedaty, Momaday’s grandfather, visibly
characterized himself as a peyote man by wearing
a necklace of beans and a beaded staff of feathers
from a water bird.
At one time taking the name Gaigwu, which
indicates how one-half will differ from the other in
appearance, the Kiowa warriors used the custom of
cutting their hair only on the right side of the head;
on a line level with the lobe of the ear, their hair was
kept long on the left side and braided in otter skin.
Based solely on ancient custom, after antelope medi-
cine was made, the men, women, and children of the
Kiowa tribe would set out on foot and horseback
after meat. Forming a large circle around the game
and moving in on the center, antelope and other
animals were trapped and killed with clubs and
often times bare hands. This is yet another expres-
sion of how the Kiowa were reminded of the helpful
ways of their ancestors. The pomme blanche, a plant
eaten by most Indians and in some cases tried as a
substitute for the potato, was never consumed by the
Kiowa. Going against the tradition of agriculture,
the Kiowa strictly stuck to hunting game.
The Kiowa owned the largest number of horses
per person, far more than any other tribe, and
Mammedaty kept this tradition alive by owning
several. For Mammedaty, it was hard to be without
horses; he felt it was essentially good to own them.
One personal and traditional opinion of this
tribe regarding death was not speaking the name of
any dead man. To speak the name of the deceased
was downright disrespectful and dishonest. The
Kiowa believed that when someone died, their name
was to leave the world with their body.
Although the Kiowa thrived as an independent
tribe only from 1740 to 1875, and there is very little
material evidence to prove their customs, the spirit
and traditions of the Kiowa people will be embed-
ded in their memories forever.
Lauren WasilewskimorriSon, Toni Beloved (1987)
Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel is
now regarded as one of the most important works
of fiction of the late 20th century. The novel’s plot
is based loosely on the life of Margaret Garner, a
woman who escaped from slavery with her chil-
dren across the Ohio River and, when recaptured,
killed her own daughter rather than allow her to be
returned to slavery. Written in an experimental nar-
rative style, Beloved explores the deep historical scars
of slavery on American identity, motherhood, and
the family; it also offers a promise of healing and a
future beyond these traumas.
The main characters of Beloved are Sethe and her
daughter Denver, who are living in Ohio after escap-
ing Sweet Home, the plantation owned by School-
master where they were slaves. Their new home,
set apart and unvisited by neighbors, is haunted by
the memory and physical presence of the unnamed
two-year-old child—called only “Beloved” on her
grave marker—whom Sethe killed under threat of
recapture. Paul D., who has also escaped from Sweet
Home, joins the pair, but when a strange young
woman who calls herself Beloved appears at the
home he is soon driven out by supernatural events.
The character of Beloved may be interpreted as
the embodiment of Sethe’s guilt and pain over the
loss of her murdered child. Though she is physi-
cally mature, Beloved’s emotional state is that of an
insatiable two-year-old whose desires are coupled
with uncontrollable anger and tantrums. Beloved’s