Symbolism And Imagery In Owens's Dark River

Ethnicity can be described as one identifying oneself in a particular racial, ethnic or cultural group, while also adapting to their traditions, customs, as well as their beliefs systems. In the novel Dark River by Louis Owens, ethnicity, gender roles, and the idea of history and the past are prominently shown throughout this novel. Owens use of both symbolism and imagery in this novel can be considered remarkable. His use of words actually can make one think they’re in the novel and experiencing everything Jake is.
Jake Nashoba is the main character in the novel he’s from a Choctaw decent but is living on an Apache Reservation. In most Native American traditions the idea of family, spirituality and ancestors are greatly valued and is placed somewhat on a pedal stool. Each Native American tribe has its own set of rules as well as beliefs that each member should follow. In Dark River Jake is considered an outsider because he is from a different decent as everyone else on the …show more content…
For example he puts in the character Shorty Luke, who is the storyteller on the reservation. In Native Americans traditions a storyteller is very important, instead of having their ancestor’s stories written down, they kept them alive by relying on these verbal passages which contain their ancestral rituals, customs and most important their people history. In the novel Shorty Luke states to Jake “Now it’s my story. The world’s story. You tell your way and I’ll tell it mine”, Owens again is playing with idea of the past and history, Shorty Luke is basically stating the job of a storyteller. Which is to repeat stories, which have been shared to him from other people either. The novel puts a post-modern twist of storytelling by using Shorty Luke; he kept the traditional aspect of a storyteller but he knew both the past and present customs and