Pre-Reading Questions to Ponder

This story is another selection that you can add to last year's AMERICAN DREAM literature. Unlike most of what we studied at that time, Tracks reflects the dreams of the Native Americans. Think about these questions. You may do whatever research you need in order to be able to respond to these issues when we gather together in August.

• What is the relationship between Native American identity and American identity?

• How does Native American literature reflect or help create a sense of what it means to be Native American in the United States?

• What does this literature help reveal about the experience of having a multicultural identity?

• How does the conception of American Indian identity depend upon the writer's identity?

• What is Native American literature?

• What makes Native American traditions from different regions distinctive?

• How has Native American literature been influenced by politics on and off the reservation?

• How are Native American oral traditions shaped by the landscapes in which they are composed?

• What role does the land play in oral tradition?

• How does the notion of time in American Indian narratives compare with notions of time in Western cultures?

• How does the chronology of particular narratives reflect differing notions of time?