In Gary Smith’s The
Shadow of a Nation, the author chronicles the life of Jonathan Take
Enemy. Smith describes the environment Take
Enemy grew up in and around, a world full of singing and weeping. There is celebration to a life on the
reservation, a comfort in old traditions, dances and services unique to the
Native American culture. But life in a
community with generations of oppression and daily reminders of the abuses the
community’s members have endured only continues the cycle of abuse and
self-abuse, “handcuffed to a wheel, fated…up…and over…and down…” Take Enemy explains that to truly overcome
his community’s limitations, he had to leave it. He holds a place in his heart for the
traditions, for his culture, but knows to avoid the fate of the “dead of
cirrhosis and suicide and knife-stabbing and liquor-fogged car wreck” he must leave
a town plagued by painful memories for a life less rotted by pain.
I think this was one of my favorite readings in the class. I think it appealed to me because it presented a culture that I'm not familiar with. I think that ending up at college was a nice surprise for me. It is weird that this piece was featured in Sport Illustrated, when it deals with so much more that basketball.
ReplyDeleteMan, I am far behind.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the most powerful readings we were assigned in this class (behind Tan's essay, of course). I like that you highlight that the protagonist values his heritage and the area in which he grew up, but in order to overcome the limitations he is presented with, he has to leave. I think this speaks to those in our position as college students. In my case, I love my hometown. It is a small, quaint, everybody-knows-everybody's business town. Despite its coziness, there really isn't any hope for advancement or "getting out." That is why I left, or why I plan to leave it behind at some point or another. It is a comfort, but it also carries painful memories that I would like to move past.
Great reading.