Title “Life is life’s greatest gift. Guard the life of another creature as you would your own because it is your own. On life’s scale of values, the smallest is no less precious to the creature who owns it than the largest.” - Lloyd Biggle Jr. Acknowledging all of life’s creatures with respect is why Abel has difficulty killing the eagle in The Sundance. The Sundance is a tradition practiced by many Native Americans. People from the tribe go out in search of an eagle to hunt for this tradition. In N.Scott Momaday’s novel, House Made of Dawn, the tribe that partakes in this Sundance is The Eagle Watchers Society, along with the main character, Abel. In this novel, the eagles are revered yet hunted, and because they are hunted, Abel is conflicted
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This can be identified when Abel watches the eagle not being used in the Sundance, being released, “He could still see it in the mind’s eye and hear in his memory, the awful whisper of its flight on the wind. It filled him with longing.” (48) Abel’s sense of longing for this scared bird indicates that they were wrong by capturing these birds, and that should be left to be free, which supports Abel’s reverence toward these birds. Although these birds are greatly respected in Native American culture, they are also hunted. This is for The Sundance, they offer prayers to the eagle, they also speak to it because the eagle is said to be the closest creature to their God. Abel catches a great female eagle and brought it back to their camp sight, “He felt the great weight of the bird which he held in the sack. The dusk was fading quickly into the night, and the others could not see that his eyes were filled with tears.” (48) Even though Abel had hunted this bird for their tradition and brought it back to the camp to use, he still felt wrong about doing so. His tears were not for what he had to do, but for what the bird had become, a helpless, weak bird. As shown above, the eagle is quite respected by Abel and those of the tribe, even though they are hunting
This can be identified when Abel watches the eagle not being used in the Sundance, being released, “He could still see it in the mind’s eye and hear in his memory, the awful whisper of its flight on the wind. It filled him with longing.” (48) Abel’s sense of longing for this scared bird indicates that they were wrong by capturing these birds, and that should be left to be free, which supports Abel’s reverence toward these birds. Although these birds are greatly respected in Native American culture, they are also hunted. This is for The Sundance, they offer prayers to the eagle, they also speak to it because the eagle is said to be the closest creature to their God. Abel catches a great female eagle and brought it back to their camp sight, “He felt the great weight of the bird which he held in the sack. The dusk was fading quickly into the night, and the others could not see that his eyes were filled with tears.” (48) Even though Abel had hunted this bird for their tradition and brought it back to the camp to use, he still felt wrong about doing so. His tears were not for what he had to do, but for what the bird had become, a helpless, weak bird. As shown above, the eagle is quite respected by Abel and those of the tribe, even though they are hunting