First Name
Professor Martin
English 2327
15 June 2008
Cornerstones of Native American Life 
	With no formal schooling method or writing, Native Americans relied on storytelling to teach their young important life lessons as well as to establish beliefs and engrain certain elements of culture. Common themes are present in both creation and “trickster” stories, and these themes provide insight into Native American life. As in many cultures, Native Americans include the contrast between good and evil in their stories to provide a frame of reference for their beliefs about right and wrong. Native American stories also provide many connections between man and nature which forms large part of Native American culture. Finally, the stories emphasize the cultural importance of being an elder. By incorporating these themes into common stories, Native Americans are able to teach and entertain generations on several cultural cornerstones that influence Native American life. 
	All cultures must teach their young that decisions are framed in the context of societal norms regarding what is good and bad. For Native Americans, stories provide clear examples comparing good versus evil. In “The Iroquois Creation Story,” the introduction sets up the struggle between good and evil: “…there were two worlds in existence. The lower world was in great darkness;–the possession of the great monster; but the upper world was inhabited by mankind…(18). This segment of the story establishes the existence of both good and evil, and then the story moves to explain what the difference between the two is. Both the Iroquois’ story and the Pima’s “The Story of the Creation” go about describing actions considered evil. The Pima’s story explicitly states several evil actions which include killing and eating other people and smoking at a young age (23). For these actions, the offenders were killed. Meanwhile, the evil actions are compared to good actions such as being compassionate. The “good mind” in the Iroquois’ story goes about “restoring the [earth] to its former condition” after evil has created injurious reptiles as well as aiding in giving apes living souls that know the difference between good and evil (20). As both the creation stories establish the understanding of good and evil, future stories continue to reinforce this belief. In “Ikto Conquers Iya, the Eater,” Iya is portrayed as an evil monster who has eaten people from the “good old days” (85) and is punished by being beaten to death. By pointing out evil actions, showing how characters act in a good manner, and generally emphasizing the connection between evil and death, the stories emphasize Native American’s belief in what is right and wrong and provide a basis for the culture to pass these beliefs down to future generations.
	The second common theme in the Native American stories is the focus on mankind’s relationship with nature. In the creation stories, the cyclical relationship between humans and nature is established. The Pima’s story explains the purpose of nature: “The Doctor of Earth himself created the mountains and everything that has seen and is good to eat. For if he had created human beings first, they would have nothing to live on (22). This point is further illustrated in “The Iroquois Creation Story” as the entire cycle of nature is explained: “…gave the [earth] all the animals of game for their maintenance and he appointed thunder to water the earth by frequent rains, agreeable to the nature of the system; after this [earth] became fruitful and…afforded the animals substance” (20). With such long explanations of human’s role in nature, it is clear to see how preserving and living in harmony with nature became an extremely important aspect of Native American culture. The story of “The Winnebago Trickster Cycle” further illustrates man’s relationship with nature as the characters are a fox, a bird, and a nit who seek to live together before the world becomes “a difficult place in which to dwell” (78). Subtly implied in the story is Native American’s belief of being efficient with resources taken from nature. Trickster, when seeking to become a woman, uses both an elk’s liver and kidneys to make female body parts. These parts of the elk would probably not be eaten, but Trickster finds a way to use all of his resources. This resourcefulness is also illustrated in the Iroquois story as the universe is made from the remains of the mother (19). Nature is also illustrated as a force to be respected. Trickster learns to respect nature the hard way through eating a bulb that causes gastrointestinal issues (81).  Through reading these early Native American stories, mankind’s relationship with nature is clearly one of the culture’s strongest aspects. This is why many Native Americans today are named after objects in nature and why the Native American belief system includes some inanimate objects, like the wind, as beings with a soul. The Native American culture emphasizes man’s role in preserving the earth and nature, and these stories help pass this knowledge down from generation to generation.
	An extremely important part of Native American culture is respect for elders. Throughout the stories, elders are respected and generally yield more power as decision makers. In the Pima’s creation story, Eeeetoy “insisted so strongly” to be considered the elder of the brothers (24). After being recognized by the others, Eeeetoy is given “more fame” due to Juhwerta Mahkai yielding to Eeeetoy (25). In the story about Trickster, most conversations begin with “younger brother” or “older brother” to establish the hierarchy of respect, and Trickster uses the respect given to him to plan to marry the chief’s son despite the other characters knowing this plan is embarrassing and wrong, as shown when they run away from Trickster (78-80). A third example of the importance of elders being illustrated is in the story of Ikto and Iya. After Iya does not respond to Ikto’s question, Ikto establishes a level of respect by declaring himself the elder: “‘Well, you fool, I made the earth and the sky myself!...There was a bit of leavings…which I didn’t know what to do with; I therefore rolled it into a wad and tossed it aside. And you grew from that!...I am the elder!’ he said. ‘Now then little brother, what errand are you on?’” (85). Due to Ikto being the elder, Iya responds which allows Ikto to eventually warn the tribal camp of Iya’s coming. As was clear in all these stories, Native American culture values elders at an extremely high level, and these stories allow new generations to be exposed to this facet of Native American culture at an early age. 
	By reading early Native American stories, cultural issues such as respect for elders and maintenance of nature are of extreme importance, and the good versus evil contrasts allowed Native Americans to establish a belief system similar is some respects to the Judeo-Christian system. The Native American stories are clearly a way to pass on these beliefs and cultural issues to future generations in a way that is both educational and entertaining. While filled with other cultural themes in addition to the ones listed above, the stories provide the basic cornerstones of Native American culture and life.