Essay for Week 9: Gobble Gobble!!

This week I read the Native American Marriage Tales. I thought that it was okay. I know that a lot of the Native American stories involve animals and nature, however, I was not expecting all of the partially animal/partially human characters. Almost every story had one of them! I also don't really understand how someone can fall in love with an animal. Not my favorite part of the stories. However, I felt really bad for how they were treated. For instance, in The Dog-Husband, the parents and the rest of the town kill the dog the girl was in love with, and tried to kill her by leaving her in a house to be burned to a crisp. All because she loved the dog/man and was pregnant with his child. I guess it doesn't really fit the image of the ideal family. I also really liked the Girl and the Turkeys story. It definitely had a Cinderella vibe going on. I liked that the turkeys were almost like the fairy godmother character. It seemed very fitting that they would try to do something to help make her life a little better since she had taken care of them for so long. I think I liked that better than the fairy godmother that had never even met Cinderella. It made the act seem more loving and meaningful. This unit was not really my favorite, however I think it was a good choice. The stories, although I thought it was a little strange, really let me grasp a little bit of the Native American cultures. It was really nice that I got to read stories from multiple tribes. I got a chance to compare and contrast all of the different tribes. Overall, it was an okay unit to read, but I got a lot out of it.

Male North American Turkey via Wiki Commons