Essay 10

Madeline

English 9

Mr. Salsich

December 8, 2009

The Great Plains and Florida:

An Essay about N. Scott Momaday's "The Way to Rainy Mountain"

N. Scott Momaday was drawn back to his homeland on the Great Plains, shadowed by Rainy Mountain. As soon as he arrived in the place of his ancestry, he was changed. I flew away on a jet to the vibrant vacation world of Florida, brightened by the blazing sun. I, too, was changed.

TS Momaday made both physical and emotional journeys as he traveled back to his homeland, and his ancestors had made a journey many years before. SD The Kiowa "were a mountain people, a mysterious tribe" who made a journey "toward the dawn." CM They had been living in primitive darkness, but on their journey from the mountains down to the sweeping blanket of the grassy Great Plains, they found the sun, and "bore Tai-me," their god, and the Sun Dance culture. CM They left their life of meaningless gloom behind and stepped into meaningful enlightenment. SD Momaday was enlightened similarly when he returned to the land of his history. CM His "journey of the heart" let him see his homeland in a new light; he could see the "green belts along the rivers and creeks, linear groves of hickory and pecan, willow and witch hazel" in such clarity as he had never before experienced. CM His feelings of uneasiness with his heritage also receded into serenity, which can be seen in his touching description of the last time he saw his grandmother; he was at peace with his past. SD Momaday also journeyed in the physical sense. CM When his grandmother died, Momaday felt her home, the land of his ancestors, calling him. CM His qualms needed to be resolved, and he "traveled fifteen hundred miles to begin [his] pilgrimage." CS Momaday's journey, and the journey of the Kiowa tribe many years before, was affecting, illuminating.

TS A similarly important journey in my life was my trip to Florida; it was a broadening journey for me both physically and emotionally, just as Momaday's journey was. SD Last March, my family and I went on a vacation to Fort Meyers, Florida. CM The vacation marked the first time I had ever been on a plane, and the distance from Rhode Island to Florida was the farthest I had ever been from home. CM When the plane bounced onto the runway in steamy Orlando, I was jolted upright; the palm trees, amazingly flat landscape, and piercing sunlight were all very peculiar and disparate from my familiar New England habitat. SD Not only did Florida present me with a novel climate, it presented me with emotional challenges that I overcame during a journey within myself. CM Because I was forced to sit in a very small car with them for a week, I became much closer with my parents, if only for that short span of time; I learned about their childhoods, their travels, and how they met each other, and this made me feel older, more respected, as if I were a trusted friend instead of an untrustworthy teenage daughter. CM Also, I was the youngest person in a motel full of adults, so I tried to act more mature, like I was one of them, in the evenings when we all sat outside in the warm, still night air. SD I also experienced a "journey of the heart" because my grandfather, whom I had not known very well before the trip, came with my family on our journey. CM I learned to be more patient, especially when he wanted to watch a show about World War II when I wanted to watch comedy shows; when I started to whine and fidget about his choice, I stopped myself, and tried to be more patient, because I knew that he deserved to watch what he wanted more than I did. CM I also formed a bond with my grandpa that had been nonexistent before the journey; we talked more, and he told me stories, and I helped him buy a new pair of flip-flops, and now our relationship is much more comfortable and convivial. CS I am glad that I went on this family vacation to Florida, because it watered me, as if I were a seed, and I grew.

Both Momaday and I traveled great distances, literally and in our minds. Momaday saw a land he had only heard about, and he was enlightened, just as his Kiowa ancestors had been before him. I, too, saw a land I had only dreamed of when I arrived in Florida, and I matured and forged new family bonds. We both experienced special journeys, journeys into the light.