International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies

IJ-ELTS
e-ISSN: 2308-5460

Volume: 2, Issue: 1
[January-March, 2014]
Editor-in-Chief
Mustafa Mubarak Pathan
Department of English Language & Translation Studies
The Faculty of Arts, the University of Sebha
Sebha, Libya
[email protected]

Senior Associate Editors

Dr Nicos C. Sifakis, Hellenic Open University, Greece
Dr. Anastasia Novoselova, Birmingham Metropolitan College, UK
Dr. Muhammad Abdel-Wahed Ali Darwish, Assiut University, Egypt
Dr. Abdurahman Ahmad Hamza, The University of Sebha, Libya
Dr. Firdevs KARAHAN, Sakarya University, Turkey
Dr. Sabria Salama Jawhar, King Saud bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Science, KSA
Dr. Claudia Porter, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Oregon, USA
Dr. Kuniyoshi Kataoka, Aichi University, Japan
Dr. Choudhary Zahid Javid, Taif University, KSA
Sayed Khaja Ahmad Moinuddin, MANUU, Hyderabad, India
Dr. M. Maniruzzaman, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh
Dr. Nagamurali Eragamreddi, Faculty of Education, Traghen, Libya
Dr. Zaheer Khan, University of Benghazi, Libya
Dr. Mzenga A. Wanyama, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, USA
Mirza Sultan Beig, S. R. T. M. University, India
B. Somnath, VNGIASS, Nagpur, India
Dr. Hassen ZRIBA, University of Gafsa, Tunisia
Dr. Sana Akram Saqqa, Al-Jouf University, KSA
Mariam Mansoor, The University of Sebha, Libya
Safia Ahmed Mujtaba, The University of Sebha, Libya

Assistant Editors
Omran Ali Abdalla Akasha, The University of Sebha, Libya
Dr. Prashant Subhashrao Mothe, Adarsh College, Omerga, India
Elena Bolel, Maltepe University, Istanbul, Turkey
Noura Winis Ibrahim Saleh, The University of Sebha, Libya

Technical Assistant
Samir Musa Patel, India

Indexed in: DOAJ, Index Copernicus International, Islamic World Science Citation Center,
Linguistics Abstracts Online, Open J-gate

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International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies

ISSN: 2308-5460

Abels Identity Crisis and his Journey to his Native Self in House
Made of Dawn: A Critical Analysis Perspective
[PP: 20-30]
Irem Seklem
North American Studies Department
Philipps-Marburg Universit y
Germany
Abstract
The present paper invest igates how Abel, the protagonist of House Made of Dawn, strives to
establish a bond between his Nat ive American heritage and himself. His troubles throughout
his journey to belong to his culture have been depicted in the paper. The paper also discusses
his failure to accommodate himself wit h his own culture as well as wit h modern life. His
alcoho l problem and communication problems, both with his grandfather and also with white
men around him, have been shown as part of his entanglements. Attempt has also been made
to invest igate the transformat ions through which Abel is go ing in his journey to his nat ive
self and to his nat ive cultural ident ity. Exploring the major crossroads in his lifes struggle,
and the sufferings through which Abel goes, the paper depicts how Abel rests and
accommodates with his nat ive cuture after the death o f his grandfather. As the novel portrays,
very skillfully, the identit y crisis o f a Nat ive American, the paper aims at exploring this
search for ident it y and the struggles through which the protagonist of the novel passes in this
crisis.
Keywords: Nat ive American heritage, Momadays novels, Identit y crisis, Abels journey,
Native self

The paper received on:

16/01/2014

Accepted after peer-review on:

19/02/2014

Published on:

01/03/2014

Suggested Citation:
Seklem, I. (2014). Abels Identity Crisis and his Journey to his Native Self in House Made of Dawn:
A Critical Analysis P erspective. International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
Vol-2, Issue-1, 20-30. Retrived fr om http://www. eltsjournal.org

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Abels Identity Crisis and his Journey to his Native Self in House Made of Dawn

Seklem, I.

1. Introduction
The studies on ident it y search and ident ity crisis have always been the focus of research
for many scho lars. The problem of identit y crisis has been very part icular wit h Nat ive
Americans and various studies (Wanya ma, 2013) have attempted investigation into this. In
line with this, the present study aims at invest igat ing and crit ically discussing the problem o f
ident it y search o f Nat ive American protagonist of the novel- Abel focusing on the reasons o f
the detachment fro m culture and alienation fro m the heritage faced by him. As a part of the
study, attempt has been made to introduce Momaday and his major works at the beginning o f
the study to give so me background to the topic. The paper, then, focuses on the problem o f
alcoho lism faced by the protagonist and his relationships and dealings wit h others around
him. As a part of this, the relat ionship between Abel and his grandfather, and their first meet
after Abel has done his service in World War II, is also discussed. His relat ion wit h a white
woman, Angela, is also touched upon; and the white wo mans perspect ive has also been
depicted. Abel, in relat ion to tradit ional ceremo ny and a game, an albino man, who m he
murders, his six years in prison, his struggle in adjusting his new life in Los Angeles, Ben, his
Native American friend, Abels worsening situatio n in this modern way o f life, his going
back to his grandfathers place, his grandfathers death and the change in Abels life for
better also form the important topics of discussio n in this paper.
Offering such background, the paper explores how Abel feels stranger amo ng his own
people and how he cannot integrate himself into their rituals. His struggles and sufferings
while attempt ing to incorporate in nat ive culture and modern life, his search for his roots and
, in the end, his successful journey, after various upheavalments, to his native cultural self
have also been discussed in the paper.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Introducing Momaday
Navarre Scott Momaday was born on February 27, 1934, in Oklaho ma to a writer/
teacher mother and a painter/teacher father. As a novelist, a poet, a painter, and a professor
having a Kio wa descent, N. Scott Momaday has shuffled between two cultures fro m an early
age. Yet, he has managed to deal wit h this situat ion as an upside both in his life and in his
works. This might be the reason why he is a unique writer. He has been familiar with the
Kiowa oral tradit ion thanks to the tales which his father told him throughout his childhood.
He came out as a highly successful writer o f many books, and his literary career is full o f
prizes and achievements. His House Made of Dawn, his classic first novel (Mo maday,
2010, p. 5), was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. His so me other major books, which
fo llo wed it, include- The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969), Angle of Geese and Other Poems
(1974), The Gourd Dancer (1976), The Ancient Child (1989) and In the Presence of the Sun:
Stories and Poems (1992). In his writ ings, Mo maday has aimed at restoring the awareness o f
spiritual life of the earth (Momaday, 2010, p. 7).
2.2 Brief summary of House Made of Dawn
The novel consists of four sect ions and a prologue. It is not a straight narrat ive and
requires a non-linear reading. Throughout the book, the narrative switches between present
and past, modern life and tradit ional ways, and such techniques also show the ident it y
confusio n the protagonist- Abel experiences. Abel, a Nat ive American, returns from his
service in World War-II to his grandfather Franciscos place. Abel is introduced in the
Prologue when he is running. His return to the reservat ion only strengthens his sense o f
alienat ion fro m his heritage. Soon after his co ming back, he has an affair wit h a pregnant
white wo man and he kills an albino man, and whereupon he is jailed. After he is paro led, his
life cont inues in Los Angeles where his situat ion worsens both because of his alcoho l
problems and due to some evil co mpany around him. Besides his ident it y crisis, Abel suffers
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physical pains too. He is beaten terribly. Soon after his recovering, he returns to his
grandfathers place where he finds him dying. He performs the who le burial rituals. The
novel ends wit h Abels running again like in the Prologue.
2.3 Critical Analysis of House Made of Dawn
A Nat ive Americans dealing wit h alcoho l is the major theme in the novel. A drunken
Native American has been the stereotypical image of Native Americans for the white man.
Moreover, as Warner (1984) remarks, its use has developed into an emblem o f the Indians
own destruction in the face o f white civilizat ion (P. 15). As author further indicates, liquor
was seen to be the most effective agent in dissolving savage character because whites
thought that such a character could not and would not be civilized ( Warner, 1984, P. 15).
In House Made of Dawn, Abel, the protagonist, has serious problems wit h alcoho l. Mo mada y
(2010) depicts alcoho l in many negat ive ways alt hough he does not judge those taking refuge
in alcohol. As Warner (1984) remarks, alcoho ls main funct ion is a deeply alienat ing one,
for it separates Abel fro m his heritage, and so from his own ident it y. Alco hol leads to
physical and emot ional weakness, disease and even death (p. 21). The reader meets alcoho l
almost at the beginning of the book. When Abel returns from the war to the reservation, his
grandfather Francisco sees a bus coming close:
He heard the sharp wheeze of the brakes as the big bus rolled to a stop in front
of the gas pump, and only then did he give attention to it, as if it had taken him
by surprise. The door swung open and he fell against his grandfather and did
not know him. His wet lips hung loose and his eyes were half closed and
rolling. Franciscos crippled leg nearly gave way. His good straw hat fell off
and he braced himself against the weight of his grandson. Tears came to his
eyes, and he knew only that he must laugh and turn away fro m the faces in the
windows of the bus. (Momaday, 2010, p. 8)
Abels drunkenness is of importance because he cannot recognize his
grandfather. So, as Warner (1984) asserts, it separates him fro m the grandfather who
had raised him, and who is closely associated wit h Indian rituals (p. 21). Alcoho l
also separates him fro m his friends and leads him to be exposed to humiliat ions many
times. Most of Abels troubles such as his inability to integrate with his own culture
and his failure to be attuned to life neit her in the reservat ion nor in Los Angeles are
closely linked to his alcoho l problem. Moreover, Abels attempt to solve his ident it y
crisis occurs firstly when he abandons alcoho l.
3. Identity Crisis in House Made of Dawn
Ident it y crisis is described as a period of uncertaint y and confusio n in which a persons
sense of identit y beco mes insecure, typically due to a change in their expected aims or role in
societ y. Momadays so me other works also deal wit h ident it y confusio n and a quest for
Native ident ity. In his The Way to Rainy Mountain, Momaday takes a journey to his own
Kiowa heritage and ident it y. The book is narrated in three vo ices. As Mo maday (2010) states;
The first voice is the vo ice of my father, the ancestral vo ice, and the vo ice of
the Kiowa oral tradit ion. The second is the vo ice of historical co mmentary.
And the third is that of personal reminiscence, my own vo ice. There is a
turning and returning of myt h, history, and memo ir throughout, a narrative
wheel that is as sacred as language itself. (p. 14).
In The Ancient Child, Momaday (2010) portrays a bo y, Set, who is raised away fro m
the reservat ion and starts to be crushed between his two selves after returning to tribal lands
for the funeral of his grandmother (p. 15). He turns into a bear in the end. This book is a
magical saga o f one mans tormented search for his ident it y (Mo maday, 2010, p. 15).

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Abels Identity Crisis and his Journey to his Native Self in House Made of Dawn

Seklem, I.

Likewise in House Made of Dawn, Abel, experiences such an ident it y crisis and throughout
this study his search of an ident it y related to his origins is dealt.
3.1 Introducing Abel- The Protagonist of the House Made of Dawn
Abel is the main character of the book. The novel starts in 1945 with Abels return fro m
the army to Walatowa where he was raised by his grandfather Francisco. Abel has grown up
without any parents except Francisco. He has lost mother and his brother Vidal at an early
age. It is also learnt that he did not know who his father was. His father was a Navajo, the y
said, or a Sia, or an Isleta, an outsider anyway, which made him and his mother and Vidal
somehow foreign and strange ( p. 11). This uncertainty of his fathers roots haunts Abel all
along. Abel is a man o f few words. Moreover, he seems to be unco mmunicat ive before the
war. He is relocated in Los Angeles after he is released fro m prison, and his life there is
narrated from his Nat ive American friend Benallys perspective. Abel works there at a
factory, and his life beco mes more shattered. He cannot adapt to modern life and its
expectations. Eventually he gives up. He quits jo b, and he cannot stay sober most of the t ime
because o f alcoho l. He also cannot sustain his romantic relationship wit h a white social
worker, Milly. He is beaten severely, whereupon he decides he does not belong to Los
Angeles. He returns to the reservat ion when Francisco dies. Abel fulfills the buria l
procedures properly and this death brings a transforming change to in his journey to his
heritage.
3.2 Abels identity crisis/search and his journey to his native self
The fo llowing day, after his arrival to Walatowa, Abel thinks of his o ld memories wit h
his brother Vidal and his mother, who have been dead for a long time. It is learned that he has
not got to know his father, not even once. He also remembers hunt ing an eagle as a member
of a societ y named The Eagle Watchers Societ y. He was st ill a child, then. They hunt eagle as
a practice of their ritual. However, it seems there is something wrong with Abel:
He felt the great weight of the bird which he held in the sack. The dusk was
fading quickly into night, and the others could not see that his eyes were filled
with tears. That night, while others ate by the fire, he stole away to look at the
great bird. He drew the sack open; the bird shivered, he thought, and drew
itself up. Bound and helpless, his eagle seemed drab and shapeless in the
moonlight, too large and ungainly for flight. The sight of it filled him wit h
shame and disgust. He took hold o f its throat in the darkness and cut off its
breath. (p. 20)
As Bartelt (2005) asserts, rebellio n against tribal sensibilit ies appears during Abels
adolescencewith his vio lat ion of a serious taboo, the mercy killing of an eagle caught for
ritualist ic purposes (p. 471). A few days after Abel returns to the reservat ion he takes the
jo b of chopping woods for a white woman, Angela Martin St. John. His way o f cutting wood
evokes sensual desires in her. She wants to have a sort of power over him. However, she is
very offended in the face o f Abels indifference. He does not even bother himself to answer
her quest ions about the wage. She is surprised and feels mortified: His reserve was too much
for her. She would have liked to throw him o ff balance, to startle and appall him, to make an
obscene gesture, perhaps, or to say, How would you like a white wo man? my painted
fingers and my feet? but it would have been of no use. She was certain that he would not
even have been ashamed for her- or in the least surprised ( p. 31).
It seems that Abel lo ngs to integrate himself within traditional life (Konevich, 2002,
p. 237) after a longt ime separat ion. Thus, he jo ins a game that takes place in his town. Some
men including Abel are depicted on horseback because o f this game. Those men enter the
Middle and each rider, by turns, gallops to seize a rooster which is half buried in the ground.
Abel cannot display a good show: When it came Abels turn, he made a poor showing, full
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of caut ion and gesture. Angela despised him a little (p. 38). Another compet itor, the albino,
who is large and thickset, powerful and deliberate in his mo vements (p. 38), skillfully grabs
the rooster from the ground. After some time, the albino starts to hit Abel wit h the rooster in
his hand unt il it dies: Abel threw up his hands, but the great bird fell upon them and beat
them down. Abel was not used to the game, and the white man was too strong and quick for
him (p. 39). Interestingly enough, this game is a part of Nat ive American convent ion fro m
which Abel seems detached, and it is outraced by a non-Nat ive. The narrator lets reader know
about how Abel feels after his return. He comes to his land only to find himself in a
psycho logical struggle in feeling belo nged to his Native self. He cannot speak to himself. He
is utterly speechless, even wit hin himself:
His return to the town had been a failure, for all his looking forward. He had
tried in the days that fo llowed to speak to his grandfather, but he could not say
the things he wanted; he had wanted; he had tried to pray, to sing, to enter into
the old rhyt hm of the tongue, he was no longer attuned to it. [] Not dumbsilence was the older and better part of custom st ill- but inarticulate. (p. 53).
Able, again, goes to Benevides house to cut off wood. Later on, the old man Francisco is
described alo ne amo ng the rows of corn (p. 58), and he senses the presence of evil, which
foreshadows the forthcoming murder. Francisco has recognized that evil plays as great a part
in the circle o f life as good (Konevich, 2002, p. 237) unlike Abel who is shut off fro m a
comprehension o f his tribe and the manner in which they view the world (Konevich, 2002,
p. 237). Such a discord between Abel and his grandfather, who has raised him, undermines
Abels sense of belo nging to his origin and leaves him alo ne in his struggle.
August 1st is the day of ritual. The crippled old man, presumably Francisco, in
leggings and white ceremonial trousers (p. 67), seems to enjo y the spiritual at mosphere: It
made him glad to be in the midst of talk and celebrat ion, to savor the rich belief o f the
coming rain upon the rows of beans and chilies and corn, to see the return of weather, of trade
and reunio n upon the town (p. 68). He feels much attuned to each part of the ritual. He goes
to shrine and kneel before Our Lady of the Angels. He performs every spiritual act ion with
all his heart and soul. As a part of the ritual, a show with a horse and a bull takes place. While
horse is regarded as a beaut iful, sensit ive thing (p. 70), bull is recognized as a kind of a
vict im, an object of ridicule and hatred (p. 71). Francisco easily relates the show to his
experience. This show takes him back to the footrace in which he overtook Mariano. He also
comes to acknowledge that he has been the bull several times. However, he believes that it
was done honorably and well (p. 72), which indicates that Francisco, Abels grandfather,
feels at ease about his past.
After the who le ritual, Abel and the albino man walk together. The conversat ion
between them is not revealed. There has been a tension between the two since the rooster
game even though they have had no argument. Abel ends up wit h killing the albino man. It
seems there is not sound motive for Abel to commit murder. His killing the albino on a day of
ritual should not be a coincidence since a ritual is a climax of Abels alienat ion fro m his
heritage. As Konevich (2002) states, Alt hough the albino may be a symbo lic representation
of white culture, Abel does not kill him out of a sense of righteous vengeance, but rather as a
result of his own disassociat ion fro m tribal customs ( p. 236). If he could speak out his
feelings he would have told the albino high words to revenge his sense o f otherness and
disunit y amo ng his own people. As Bartelt (2005) suggests, the action of this murder
beco mes symbo lic o f Abels attempt to resolve the cultural identit y crisis which had plagued
him since ado lescence (p. 473). He is unable to verbalize whatever he deals wit h inside.
Therefore, this act of murdering might have been his unique way to break his numbness. He
is now in another fight after World War-II in which he vo luntarily fights wit h his fellow
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Abels Identity Crisis and his Journey to his Native Self in House Made of Dawn

Seklem, I.

soldiers for the good of their country. This time he is alo ne in his inner struggle, and there is
no quick fix for him to accommodate himself to either his Nat ive tradit ions and or life outside
the reservat ion.
In the second chapter of the book, seven years have already passed since Abel was
jailed. After his release, he is now in Los Angeles. Another character, Tosamah, The Priest
of the Sun enters the scene wit h his sermon (p. 77). He talks about Kiowa myt hs and legends
which he heard fro m his grandfather. The narrator turns to Abels state of mind right after the
spiritual sermo n of the priest. As a stark contrast to this spiritual mood of the novel, Abel is
depicted as so meone who is out of place: Why should Abel think of the fishes? He could not
understand the sea; it was an enchanted thing, too, for it lay under the spell of the moon (p.
87). Moreover, Abels quietness fro m the beginning which is still prevalent is contrasted to
Tosamahs focus on the Word: There was only the dark infinit y in which nothing was. And
something happened. At the distance of a star something happened, and everyt hing began.
The Word did not come into being, but it was. It did not break upon the silence, but it was
older than the silence and the silence was made of it (p. 86). The first appearance of Abel in
an urban and modern life after his release from prison is not favorable:
He was in pain. He had fallen down; that was it. He was lying face down on
the ground, and it was co ld and there was a roaring of the sea in his brain and
there was a fog rolling in from the sea. The pain was very great, and his body
throbbed with it ; his mind rattled and shook, wobbling now out of a spin, and
he could not open his eyes to see. Something was wrong, terribly wrong.
When he awoke, he tried to move; he was numb with co ld, but the effort to
mo ve brought new pain, sharp, then massive pain. It was so great that he
fainted, and the next time he knew better than to mo ve suddenly. The effect of
the alcoho l was wearing o ff. In another moment he began to retch, his whole
body contracting, quaking invo luntarily, and again the pain mounted and his
mind was slipping away. He wanted to die. (p. 88-9).
As the novel unfo lds, it is learned that he is lying on the beach. He does not know where
he is and what he is do ing. He can only feel the pain he is in. Later on, he starts to recall his
experiences in pieces and thus letting reader know about what he has gone through after the
murder. He thinks of the trial. However, he cannot remember much. There were charges,
questions, and answers; it was ceremo nial, orderly, civilized, and it had almost nothing to do
with him (p. 89). Father Olguin seems to understand Abel when he defends him in t he trial:
I believe that this man was mo ved to do what he did by an act of the imaginat ion so
compelling as to be inco nceivable to us (p. 90). Abel, in the mean t ime, remains silent:
When he had told his story once, simply, Abel refused to speak. He sat like a rock in his
chair, and after a while no one expected or even wanted him to speak (p. 90). As he
continues recalling, his line o f thought is abruptly interrupted by a shift in register (Bartelt,
2005, p. 469):
Age and date of birth:
Sex:
Height:
Weight:
[ ]
Education (circle appropriate completed years of schooling):
Fathers name (age and occupation if living):
Mothers name (age and occupation if living): ( p. 92).
As Bartelt (2005) claims, the register switch above makes an intertextual reference
to the co ld and impersonal genre o f o ffic ial informat ion forms (p. 470). He also states that
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the quest ionnaire list ing a number of biographical quest ions is designed to strip him o f his
individualit y (470). As Foucault proposes, this form underlines surveillance over his every
mo ve (Bartelt, 2005, p. 470). Such questions will possibly cause Abel to have so me
difficult y in responding to some of the prompts. (Bartelt, 2005, p. 470). Bartelt (2005)
exemplifies this claim by point ing out that his father was unknown to him and may have
even been a foreigner fro m another tribe, an officially ignored fact which may actually
have been part of the original trouble in Abels life story. In his early childhood, he has felt
like an outlandish even in his Nat ive co mmunit y. This adds another dimensio n to his
difficult y in his demand for ident ificat ion of himself. As Erikson alleges, wit hout having
achieved a well-developed sense of self in ado lescence, the adult will be capable of only
highly stereotyped interpersonal relat ions that tend to intensify his sense of iso lat ion (cited
in Bartelt, 2005, p. 472). It is most likely t he Abels case. However, it is almost impossible
for Abel to detect what his problem is: He tried to think where the trouble had begun, what
the trouble was. There was trouble; he could admit that to himself, but he had no real insight
into his own situat ion. Maybe, certainly, that was the trouble; but he had no way of knowing.
He wanted a drink; he wanted to be drunk (p. 93). Then, Milly co mes alo ng. She is one of
those who are meant to be instrumental to improve Native Americans lives. She occasio nally
brings quest ionnaires to Abel:
No test is co mpletely valid, she said. So me are more valid than others.
But Milly believed in tests, questions and answers, words on paper. She was a
lot like Ben. She believed in Honor, Industry, the Second Chance, the
Brotherhood of Man, the American Dream, and him- Abel; she believed in
him. After a while he began to suspect as much, and (p. 94).
However, in his new modern environment, assessment instruments seem to
exacerbate Abels sense of cultural estrangement and iso lat ion (Bartelt, 2005, p. 475). After
some reminiscences he has thought of, he wants to pull himself together: He had to get up.
He would die o f exposure unless he got up. His legs were all right; at least his legs were not
broken. He brought one o f his knees forward, then the other, and he managed to get to the
fence. (p. 110). When he stops to rest, his mind again shifts back to old days. He imagines
Milly and Ben co ming towards him on the beach. In the third part of the book, Ben narrates.
Throughout his narration, it is easy to see his sincerit y towards Abel. He really wants to help
him settle into this modern life. Unlike Abel, Ben seems to have found a co mpromise
between his tradit ional ways and modern life he is now in. He remembers one night when he,
Abel, and his so me other friends met up: I started to sing all by myself. The others were
singing, too, but it was the wrong kind of thing, and I wanted to pray. I didnt want them to
hear me, because they were having a good time, and I was ashamed, I guess. I kept it down
because I didnt want anybody but him to hear it (p. 129). As is understood fro m this
excerpt, he has been ho lding on to his heritage. He has not completely silenced that part of
himself even though he is ashamed that others might hear when he prays. This
embarrassment must be because he is afraid that others would not understand this spiritualit y.
That is why, he only wants Abel to hear him pray: House made of dawn, house made o f
evening light, house made o f dark cloud, house made of male rain, house made o f dark mist.
(p. 129). His narrat ion, so met imes, drifts into his mind. For readers, it beco mes possible to
feel as an intruder in his mind. He inserts some stories and songs into his telling. He ment ions
a plan that he has made up to tell Abel when he is in the hospital. They would get drunk and
sing the o ld songs. Ben speaks to him o f those o ld ways, the stories and the sings (p. 129).
He tells him what he thinks about what they mean, which indicates that the connect ion
between him and his culture is active. Abel listens to him enthusiast ically and he believes this
fake plan and asks quest ions about details.
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That Abel gets excited about being drunk in company wit h their stories and songs might
suggest silver lining to come out. Abel and Ben have grown up in the reservation. As a
reader, it is hard not to make a co mparison between the two. They, now, are in a battle o f
self-expressio n and o f finding a way o f being in step with their changing environment. It
seems Ben has not as great difficult y as Abel in achieving this. He accounts for Abels
deterioration over time fro m his po int of view: But he was unlucky. [] And it would have
gone all right after that, too, if they had just let him alo ne. The parole officer, and welfare,
and the Relocat ion people kept coming. They were always warning him, you know? Telling
him how he had to stay out of trouble, or else he was go ing to wind up in prison again (p.
139). As Ben implies, Abel would have recovered had he not been constant ly disrupted and
controlled by the paro le o fficers or the Relocatio n people (p. 139). He also believes that
those people might be the reason o f Abels getting muter: And they cant help you because
you dont know how to talk to them. They have a lot of words, and you know they mean
something, but you dont know what, and your own words are no good because theyre not
the same; theyre different and theyre the only words youve got (p. 139). Ben feels that he
was getting all mixed up (p. 140) because o f people around him. He recalls when everything
has been too much for Abel. It is when Tosamah talks about the reservat ion- which is a sore
issue for Abel. He gets mad: It was like everyt hing just exploded inside of him, and he
jumped up fro m the table and started for Tosamah. But he was crazy drunk, and he couldnt
stay on his feet. He stumbled backward and fell against the sink (p. 141). Ben states that
Abel beco mes worse after this incident. He stops going to work for some time. More
importantly, he beco mes a best friend of alco hol. He, most of the time, fools around as drunk.
When he runs out of money he beats Ben to give him mo ney. Later on, he starts to do the
same to Milly: Pretty soon I wouldnt give him any more, but you know what he did? He
started asking Milly for mo ney. He would tell her he needed so me new clothes, or bus fare to
look for a job or something, and she would give him two or three dollars, so met imes five,
every time (p. 143).
Milly worries about Abel a great deal. He simply cannot hold on to any jo b. The
Relocat ion people find him several jo bs. However, he is fired since he is drunk most of the
time. For some of those jobs he does not even show up. Milly is always good to him and Ben.
Therefore, Ben is afraid that Abel might offend her: he would make jokes and say things
about her somet imes, and I laughed all right, but I didnt like it much, because I thought a lot
of her and she was good to us. I never said anyt hing when he talked like that. [] She liked
him better than me, I think, and I was always afraid that he might hurt her so mehow (p.
143). These t imes are still their good times together. However, one night when Ben and Abe l
are coming home fro m a friend of theirs they encounter a villain police o fficer, Martinez. He
crosses their path with a stick in his hand. Ben is scared since he feels that something bad will
happen:
Pretty soon, Hello he said. Who is your friend, Benally? And he stepped in
front of him and held the light up to his face. I told him his name and said he
was out of work; he was looking for a jo b and didnt have any mo ney.
Martinez told him to hold out his hands, and he did, slowly, like maybe he
wasnt going to at first, with the palms up. I could see his hands in the light
and they were open and almost steady. Turn them over, Martinez said, and
he was looking at them and they were almo st steady. Then suddenly the light
jumped and he brought the stick down hard and fast. (p. 153).
Ben sees him doubled up with pain (p. 153). His hands are swo llen badly alt hough they
are not broken. However, he cannot protest. He simply cannot say anyt hing just like the
incident in which he could not argue against Tosamah. Ben believes that this event is the final
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straw for Abel. From this day on, he is drunk all the time. He stops looking for a jo b: The
liquor didnt seem to make any difference; he was just the same, sitting around and looking
down like he hated everything, like he hated himself and hated being drunk and hated Milly
and me, and I couldnt talk to him (p. 160). They have an argument eventually. Ben feels
that he cannot take him anymore. He tells him how he is fed up wit h thinking about him and
his life. Abel is enraged and leaves Bens place. Later on, Ben regrets what he said to Abel.
Abel does not appear for three days. While Ben feels, in a way, relieved that he is not around:
I kept telling myself that maybe it was a good thing, him go ing out by himself like that. He
was drunk and sick, you know, and he couldnt get very far (p. 161). He cannot help
thinking about Abel: I figured maybe he had been picked up and thrown in jail, maybe they
could see that he was sick and they would get a doctor to take care of him. [] He would be
there when I got home, and we would straighten everyt hing out (p. 161).
3.3 Abels return to his native self
Three days later, when Ben wakes up to some no ises at the door, he sees a body which
is half dead. After Abel recovers, he leaves for his ho me. Ben says that he wanted to pray for
Abel. They go together on horseback to the hill and Ben retells what they will do once they
meet again: We were go ing to be all alone, and we were go ing to get drunk and sing (p.
166). To some extent, he finishes his narration in a reassuring tone. In the fo llowing sect ion
of the novel, Abel is at home wit h his grandfather Francisco, and Francisco is on his
deathbed: He had shivered all morning and co mplained of the co ld. [] He revived in the
dawn, and he knew who Abel was, and he talked and sang. But each day his vo ice had grown
weaker, unt il now it was scarcely audible and the words fell together and made no sense (p.
171). Abel is taking care of him. While he lies sick, Franciscos life flashes before his eyes,
as the phrase goes. He remembers so me o f the most unforgettable times o f his life. One o f
them is about a race which Francisco takes both his grandsons, Abel and Vidal, to a spot
where they can hear the runners. The race Francisco ment ions is a ritualist ic one. This
memory flooding back foreshadows a funeral o f Franciscos. The fo llo wing day, he wakes up
and feels that his grandfather is dead. He gets up and he does not seem anxious as if he has
already braced himself for this death. He knows what he is supposed to do:
He drew the old mans head erect and laid water to the hair. He fashio ned
the long white hair in a queue and wound it around with yarn. He dressed the
body in bright ceremonial co lors. [] He wrapped the body in a blanket. (p.
183) .
He does the who le burial procession in accordance with their tradit ion. That Abel at last
knows what he must do (Woodard, 1978, P. 28), and he carries every detail out in a proper
way co mes as surprise. It is understood that he has been, actually, keeping tradit ionalist ways
somewhere inside and wait ing for the right time for him. He does not wait for the dawn to
break. He immediately goes to Father Olguins place to let him know:
What in Gods name-? he said.
My grandfather is dead, Abel said. You must bury him.
Dead? Ohyes-yes, o f course. But, good heavens, couldnt you have waited
unt il-
My grandfather is dead, Abel repeated. His vo ice was low and even. There
was no emotion, nothing.
Yes, yes. I heard you, said the priest, rubbing his good eye. Good Lord,
what time is it, anyway? Do you know what time is it ? I can understand how
you must feel, but- (p. 184).
After stopping by at Father Olguins place he does not go back to Franciscos house.
But he instead runs a ritual race formerly performed by his grandfather, a race for hunt ing
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Abels Identity Crisis and his Journey to his Native Self in House Made of Dawn

Seklem, I.

and harvests (Warner, 1984, p. 25). As Clements (1982) states, after years o f estrangement
fro m his nat ive culture and several fut ile attempts to come to terms wit h evil on an individua l
basis, a technique more characterist ic o f white than Jemez culture Abel runs in this ritua l
race (p. 60). He must be now in the dark wilderness which is described at the ver y
beginning o f the novel, which indicates that he starts to run and cont inues running up unt il
the very end. He lets himself into the nature to express himself. He is alo ne when he begins to
run, yet he is not depicted alone in the end. I believe, as Woodard (1978) alleges, Abe l
achieves the ult imate act of imaginat ion by go ing alo ne into the dawn and imagining the
other runners (p. 28). While running, Abel starts to mumble a song: He was running, and
under his breath he began to sing. There was no sound, and he had no vo ice; he had only the
words of a song. And he went running on the rise of the song. House made of po llen, house
made o f dawn (p. 185). Whether he sings out loud or he sings ins ide is not of significance
here. What is important is that Abel sings only when he is sober (Warner 1984, P. 26). He
is not drunk as he has always been. As Warner (1984) claims, the act of singing is set up in
implicit opposition to everything that conflicts with that tradit ion: the passivit y o f reservat ion
life, increasing secularism, white explo itat ion, and, not least in importance, alcoho lism (p.
26) .
Abels singing and running might be signs of, as Warner (1984) purports, Abels
reunio n wit h the land and with the art ist ic and religious parts of his culture (p. 26). It can
also be interpreted as his reintegration into the Pueblo way of life (Clements, 1982, p. 60).
Throughout the novel Abel has been experiencing a serious ident it y crisis. However, the end
signifies a fresh start. There is an obvious progress in his struggle, which will reso lve his
complexit y. It is when he learns not to forget but rather to remember who he is- a
Tanoan/Navajo Indian, the grandson of Francisco the farmer (Warner, 1984, p. 23). His
eventual abandonment of alcoho l is a first step. As Warner (1984) notes, Abel undergoes a
change fro m levels o f confusio n and drunkenness to a new understanding o f self and
heritage that is marked by a tradit ional art form: a song (p. 26). Running a ritual race and
singing are other noteworthy co mponents of this progress.
4. Sum Up
In this study, Abels search for his ident ity was invest igated. Attempt was done to
elaborate on Abels life and his floundering in holding on to his Nat ive American ident it y.
The paper also attempted to show how Abel felt stranger among his own people and how he
could not integrate himself into their rituals. It is noticed that his grandfathers death opens a
new page in Abels life. In the end, he achieves a sense o f Nat ive self. Abels running and
singing has been inferred as his fundamental progress on the way to recover his Nat ive
ident it y. The running into nature and singing signify his co ming to embrace his Nat ive
culture. To conclude, Abel search for ident it y and his struggles and conflit s wit hin, in so me
way or other are also the typical experiences of native american writers like Momaday.
About the Author:
Irem Seklem is a research student working on her thesis wit h the North American Studies
Department of Philipps-Marburg Universit y in Germany. Her major area o f research interest
is Gender Studies.

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International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies

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Works Cited:
Bartelt, G. (2005). Hegemonic registers in Mo maday's house made of dawn. Style, 39, 4,
469- 478.
Clements, W. M. (1982). Momaday's house made of dawn. Explicator 41, 1, 60-62.
Konevich, J. (2002). Momaday's house made of dawn. Explicator, 60, 4, 236-238.
Momaday, N. S. (2010). House made of dawn. New York: Harper Perennial.
Stevens, J. W. (2001). Bear, outlaw, and, storyteller: American front ier myt ho logy
and the ethnic subject ivit y of N.Scott Momaday. American Literature: A Journal of
Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography 73, 3, 599-631.
Warner, O. N. (1984). Images of drinking in wo man singing, ceremony, and house
made of dawn. Literature of the South West 11, 4, 15-30.
Wanyama, M. A. (2013). Adaptable Analyt ical Vistas Illumine a Touchstone: Langston
Hughes as Minor Author/Poet. International Journal of English Language &
Translation Studies Vol-1, Issue-3. 20-39. Retrived fro m http://www.eltsjournal.org
Woodard, C. L. (1978). Momaday's house made of dawn. Explicator 36, 2, 27-28.

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Table of Contents
Sr.
No
1

Paper Title / Author(s) / Country

Pages

Editorial
-Mustafa Mubarak Pathan, Libya

03

A Model for Cognit ive Process of Neologisms Translation

04-19

9
10

11

12
13
14
15
16

17

-Seyed Moha mma d Moghadas and Masoud Sharififar, Iran

Abels Identity Crisis and his Journey to his Native S elf in House Made of
Dawn: A Critical Analysis Perspective
-Irem S eklem, Germany
Diversity vs. Differ ence: A Critical Analysis of Hybridity and Cultural Identity
Crisis in the Novels of Cheikh Ha midou Kane and Chinua Achebe
-Alassane Abdoulaye DIA, Senegal
Exploring the Struggle for Survival and Clashes of Generation Gap and Racial
Pride in Lorraine Hansberrys Raisin in the Sun
-Dr. C. N. Baby Maheswari and Dr. Katyayani Sanga m, Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia
Face Value: The Effect of Ethnicity and Gender on Student Expectations of
English Language Instructors in the UAE
-Nausheen Pasha Zaidi, Amy Holtby, Ernest Afari and David Thomson, UAE
Guidelines for Effective TAP (Translation for Academic Purposes) Tutorial
Courses
-Elha m Yazdanmehr and Sara Shoghi, Iran
Learn and Unlearn: Drama as an Effective Tool in Teaching English Language
and Communication
-Shiba ni Ba nerjee, India
Reading Stories to Enhance English Grammar Intake:Correlational Analysis
-Yoseph Gebr ehiwot Tedla and Mekwanent Tilahun Desta, Ethiopia
School-Aged Childr en and Adult Language Production in an Indonesian TV
Show
-Kisno and Dr. Sangga m Siahaan, M.Hum, Indonesia
Situated Motivation: A Framework for how EFL Learners are Motivated in the
Classroom
-Truong Sa Nguyen, Vietnam
Teaching English Idioms through Mnemonic Devices at SSC Level in Pakistan
Sidra Mahmood, Pakistan
Teaching Unplugged: Applications of Dogme ELT in India
-Sadeqa Ghazal and Dr. Smriti Singh, India
The Usefulness of Translation in Foreign Language Learning: Students Attitudes
-Ana B. Fernndez-Guerra, Spain
The Uses of bahi as a Discourse Marker in Daily Libyan Arabic Conversations
-Kha deja Mujtaba Ahmed, USA
Trauma of War as a Paradigmatic Discourse in Doris Lessings Martha Quest and
A Proper Marriage
-Dr. Deepti Dharma ni and Anu Sheoka nd, India
Trevor Griffithss Comedia ns from Marxist Perspective
-Jayalakshmi B. , India

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20-30

31-44

45-53

54-68

69-78

79-91

92-105
106-119

120-129

130-140
141-152
153-170
171-181
182-189

190-197