House Made Of Dawn And The Construction Of Amerindian Cultural Identity

The Amerindian oral tradition is full of cultural meaning and has a long history, but it is on the verge of extinction because its verbal transmission is vulnerable. Cultural clashes between Native American culture and the white American culture pose a threat to the development of Native American culture. How to preserve and construct Native American culture is an urgent problem to be solved by scholars. In1969, House Made of Dawn, written by Native American writer Momaday, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, which attracted public attention to Amerindian literature. Based on studies of N. Scott Momaday’s novel House Made of Dawn, my research aims to find out the reasons for the loss of Indian cultural identity, the content of Indian cultural identity and the feasible way of constructing Amer-Indian cultural identity. The core problem solving in my study is:what should be included in Amerindian cultural identity which is needed by modern Native Americans?Trauma theory, cultural theory by Stuart Hall and cultural trauma studied by Jeffrey Alexander are used in the text analysis of House Made of Dawn. Trauma deprives the main character Abel’s sense of belonging, and he was in dilemma in terms of his identity. Finally, Abel constructs his Amer-Indian identity and work through his personal trauma. Based on Alexander’s definition of cultural trauma, it is discovered that cultural trauma leads to the crisis of Amerindian cultural identity. Therefore, young Amer-Indian generation like Abel lose their hope to pursue the future because their historical trauma and racism in the current situation. The only way to work through Amer-Indian cultural trauma is to reconstruct national identity. According to this thesis, in House Made of Dawn, Momaday takes attachments to the homeland and a sense of connection to Amerindian tradition as important factors constituting Native American cultural identity, and constructing Amerindian cultural identity is an essential and feasible way for Native Americans to work through their cultural trauma.