Rainy Mountain; An analysis of an essay

Wendell Frink

Mr. Salsich

9English

12 November 2008

Rainy Mountain

An analysis of an essay

The Rainy Mountain is forever changing, a place with extreme weather, from boiling hot to freezing cold, and so is the life of the Kiowas. Ms. Momaday was from the Kiowa tribe and heard all of the hardships that the generations before her had to face. In her essay she describes how the Kiowas came into Yellowstone and then how the U.S. Calvary swept them away from their homes. Ms. Momaday’s essay gave me new insight on how the Native Americans were treated.

(TS) In her essay describes how the Kiowas were treated during the 1800’s. (SD) Firstly, she tells how the U.S. Calvary captured the Kiowa tribe’s people. (CM) After the Civil War, the U.S. changed its sights to the west, and with the west were the Native Americans. (CM) The U.S. Government did not like the Native Americans, so they sent out troops to capture, imprison, and sell the Native Americans as slaves. (SD) As if capturing the Native Americans wasn’t enough, they imprisoned them “in an old stone corral.” (CM) The grandmother almost went to the prison but missed it by “eight or ten years.” (CM) But she did know of the anger of the old warriors, “the dark brooding” of defeat which is the worst thing to live with during that time. (SD) Lastly, the soldiers slaughtered all of the wild buffalo. (CM)To pass time, the soldiers would shoot the wild herds of buffalo and leave the carcasses to rot in the fields. (CM) During the last Sun Dance, the Kiowas could not find any buffalo skulls for their decorations, because all of the buffalo were dead. (CS) After reading Ms. Momadays essay, my mind has been opened up to some Native American history.

The world is always changing, that’s what happened to Ms. Momadays family, their world changed. This wasn’t a good thing though, for they were thrust into a world of anger and hate. Ms. Momaday carefully tells the story of one tribe captured by the U.S. Calvary, and the events that ensued. The Native Americans weren’t wrong, it was the U.S. Government.