The Woman Who Owned The Shadows Analysis

Introduction Native American culture is matrilineal. Indigenous communities across the globe are matriarchal. Many Indigenous myths and stories of emergence depict woman as the creator and preserver of life and culture. It is woman centered where women are creators and teachers of tribal rituals and laws. Women are respected because they are life givers and the protectors of culture. We come across many female gods who are honored and are feared in almost all Native American writings. The novel ‘The Woman Who Owned the Shadows’ should not be read as traditional text meant to fulfill the aesthetic expectations of a western criticism shoots from male oriented view of literature. Instead it is important to see the novel for what it is; a woman’s recreation of self, within the …show more content…
Nothing....
Expect how I was hot and how I was bored and how I was tortured and ignored.... chained and left and one dark drifted segment of branch on the shore, far from home: left to die.(Quoted in Indian Journal of American Studies. 29).

Conclusion
Thus we see that the Woman Who Owned the Shadows is about the self splitting experiences of mixed blood women. Allen through writings attempts to say that women are not held down in all cultures. But in Native American culture women were never considered weak. She wants other to know this truth. In this novel we see the protagonist, Ephanie’s spiritual birth.
The novel ends with Ephanie’s understanding of her connection to her heritages, even her novel depicting the aspect of importance of culture and tradition in Native American literature. She also proves that women are powerful in tribal society. Spider the mythical figure of Native American people is a great wise woman whose powers are beyond imagining. The power of spider is beyond is not only complete but it is also pure and clean. And the power of spider has created the world. So we can learn the importance of women in Native American