“The Way to Rainy Mountain”

Introduction

“The Way to Rainy Mountain” by Momaday, is both a festivity of the probable for its eternity in singular tribal awareness and a tribute for the downfall of an vigorous tribal individuality. Separated into 03 main divisions, “Closing In,” “The Going On,” and “The Setting Out,” the book has 24 numbered sections. A gradual composite begins to form as the author claims the elements for his own mythic heritage.

The book both begins and ends with a poem. The introductory poem, “Headwater,” is a lyric description of the Kiowa emergence into the world. The Kiowa became what they dreamed. They were what they saw. Coming down from the mountains, never an agrarian people, the tribe adapted to its new environment as nomadic warriors and horsemen. Although they learned quickly from the Crow and were befriended by Tai-me, who became the focal point of their Sun Dance culture, the Kiowa did not long flourish. Tribal division and a series of disasters in the 1800's decimated the tribe. A meteor shower was taken to symbolize the destruction of the old ways. Epidemics raged. The buffalo and the Kiowa horses were massacred. Their slow surrender to the soldiers at Fort Sill was spiritually devastating to tribal consciousness.

Discussion

The myth of the arrowmaker in section 13 is a recurrent theme in Momaday's writing. Artistry and precision are aesthetically essential to an appropriate balance with nature. They are also essential to survival. Because the arrowmaker is a craftsman, he knows that his arrow will fly true. His stalking awareness (as much a part of the Native American tradition as is dreaming) alerts him to an alien presence. Taking “right action” and moving cautiously, the arrowmaker allows the stranger the opportunity to declare his intentions. When the stranger does not, he becomes the enemy. Momaday uses ambiguity to heighten curiosity, and the anonymity of this fallen presence is intriguing. (Momaday 10-12)

The warrior society of section 3 illustrates Momaday's emphasis upon mastery and right action. If an individual is attuned to both self and surroundings, self-aware but not self-preoccupied, then his or her behaviors will be effortless and true. The dog that leads the warriors is not as attuned to his own nature as is the dreamer who counsels him simply to be a dog. (Berner 57-67)

The concluding poem, “Rainy Mountain Cemetery,” eulogizes the ancient ones who have traveled to dimensions beyond this ...