I've learned many things so far this year in American Literature, but there were a few topics we learned about that really stood out to me the most. At first I was hesitant about taking American Literature because I had the impression that I was not as interested as I should have been to take the class. However, after reading and learning about Native American creation myths, my mind started to change and I felt that I made the right choice in taking American Literature. The topics that stood out to me the most this year were that the Puritans treated the Natives differently than I thought and how the Bible is essential to their beliefs, Thomas Jefferson owning slaves, and that Native American creation myths were a lot different than I believed.
…show more content…
Before talking about this topic, I believed that Native American creation myths were all the same and that they all ended in the same fashion, but I was completely wrong. I learned that there are many different creation stories from multiple Native Tribes. For example, the Cherokee creation myth is about how the earth is a great island being held up at the cardinal points by a cord. They believe the earth was made when a water beetle, which is also the “Beavers’s Grandchild”( The Cherokee Creation Myth 1 of 3) offered to go down and see if there was a solid place for all the animals to go from the island being held by the cord. After they found a place to live, every animal was awake until the seventh night. On that night, only the owl, panther, and one or two more animals were given the power to see at night. The other animals could not see on the seventh night because it is stated “ Because you have not endured to the end you shall lose your hair every winter”( The Cherokee Creation myth 1 of 3). Then man came after the animals and they eventually found a place to live on land with them. On the other hand, in the Iroquois creation myth is about a woman who fell from the sky world and was caught by two flying animals and she lived on the giant turtles back. Soon she had twins and the twins created the world by when the one thing would create something good, the other twin would great something bad to balance it out and keep the world
Before talking about this topic, I believed that Native American creation myths were all the same and that they all ended in the same fashion, but I was completely wrong. I learned that there are many different creation stories from multiple Native Tribes. For example, the Cherokee creation myth is about how the earth is a great island being held up at the cardinal points by a cord. They believe the earth was made when a water beetle, which is also the “Beavers’s Grandchild”( The Cherokee Creation Myth 1 of 3) offered to go down and see if there was a solid place for all the animals to go from the island being held by the cord. After they found a place to live, every animal was awake until the seventh night. On that night, only the owl, panther, and one or two more animals were given the power to see at night. The other animals could not see on the seventh night because it is stated “ Because you have not endured to the end you shall lose your hair every winter”( The Cherokee Creation myth 1 of 3). Then man came after the animals and they eventually found a place to live on land with them. On the other hand, in the Iroquois creation myth is about a woman who fell from the sky world and was caught by two flying animals and she lived on the giant turtles back. Soon she had twins and the twins created the world by when the one thing would create something good, the other twin would great something bad to balance it out and keep the world