Joy Harjo

Crazy Brave is a memoir written by Native American poet and artist Joy Harjo. In this memoir Harjo recollects and evaluates a number of pivotal moments, which occur during her life, that altered her identity as well as how she saw the world around her. Many of these moments occur in the first two sections of the book entitled “East” and “West”. These moments include, but are not limited to, when she is playing with bees and is stung as a young girl, when her mother forces her to put on a shirt while playing outside with her brother, when she colors a ghost green in class, when her stepdad finds her personal diary and reads it in front of the rest of her family, as well as when her stepfather does not allow her to be involved with the school…

Leslie Marmon Silko and Joy Harjo are both female Native American writers. Each of the authors’ works contain reoccurring themes, but their styles of writing differ greatly. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a dream as “joy, pleasure, gladness; mirth, rejoicing, jubilation; an instance of this,” (Oxford English Dictionary). For Harjo, the dream world is very real and she even experiences living in it. Joy Harjo is a poet, while Leslie Marmon Silko writes mainly short stories. Harjo’s…

Joy Harjo Poetry is an awesome and beautiful way for many people to express their feelings. There are many types of poetry and some convey deep thoughts, while some others are more lighthearted. Native American poetry reflects the feelings, the emotions, and the warmth of the poet but also, the way of life of the Native American tribes, and what they felt and dealt with during the fight for their land and way of life. Joy Harjo is one of the best known Native American poets and according to her…

As the semester came to a close I noticed one final reading left in my dwindling pile. Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo sat alone, holding the promise that the end of the semester was very near. With each page turn, I learned more about the life Harjo had lived growing up. She too had often struggled with the idea of self. For Harjo, she had to make the choice: whether to remember her father as a kind, loving man or a hateful drunk (Harjo, 2012). Many of us have probably experienced a time like…

After reading the poem "Remember" by Joy Harjo, I think that that the poem talks about how everything on the earth is connected. I get this belief after reading about how the writer tells people to remember how the earth is our skin and that the wind speaks. Thru out the poem I found multiple ways the writer tells about how we are all connected to each other and that all living things are connected. For example in the first two lines of the poem the writer says "Remember the sky that you were…

Analysis- "Remember" by Joy Harjo "Remember" by Joy Harjo uses a series of instructions to enhance a person's life. Using the pronoun "you" personalizes the poem and allows the reader to feel as the poet is speaking directly to her. It encourages the reader to survive in the modern world. The poet used the word "remember" as a theme to emphasize the meaning the poet provides. This is a characteristic of Joy's poetry, this symbolizes the idea that the poem might be thought of as a Native…

Crossing the Border Racism is a problem in the world. People accuse or don't treat others like they do there own race, they accuse them of doing the wrong things and treat them like they don't belong. The author of this story is Joy Harjo, she is a graduate of the Iowa writers workshop at the university of Iowa. Joy was born in Tulsa,Oklahoma, May 9th ,1951 and is a muskoke poet. I think that it is rude not treat everyone fairly which is shown in the poem, the border guard is being rude to…

Have you ever read something or have done something without knowing the true meaning? In the story "Remember" by Joy Harjo has more meaning behind what it says. Every line in the poem has an even deeper meaning in every word, line, and sentence and the more you read and actually look into it the more you understand the context behind the words. Lots of people do something or read something without thinking about what they have done, they don’t understand the essence of it. If they took the…

Joy Harjo’s poem “New Orleans” paints a painted picture of a woman struggling to find the remaining fragments of her culture throughout history and the city where she resides. In her remarks on her memories and stories, Harjo constantly uses images related to progress and analogies involving money and the pursuit of wealth which lead to the ultimate decay of the Creek’s culture and community. Harjo first writes about “a shop with ivory and knives” (13). Perhaps related to a economic analysis…

and their stories are then often left up to the interpretation of those reading or hearing the tale. Much like folktales, ambiguity within “Deer Dancer” by Joy Harjo is leaves the story up to the interpretation of the reader. One way to examine “Deer Dancer” is that the story is an adaptation of a Native American folktale is a modern setting Harjo’s take on a folktale represents the way that strippers, like the Deer Dancer herself, are viewed within society. To begin, one can argue that…