B. Northrop Frye’s mythos theory
1.6 Organization of the Thesis
In this thesis, I aim to investigate the significance of myth and its relationship to imagination in forming the Native identities in The Ancient Child. There are two primary myths I intend to deal with: the non-human figure in the Kiowa bear myth, and the figure of the Changing Woman in the Navajo mythology. I will also deal with the legendary American figure of Billy the Kid. The thesis consists of four chapters.
The introduction provides an overview of Native American literature, introducing the significance of N. Scott Momaday, beginning with his publication of House Made of
Dawn in 1968. I will look at Momaday’s essay “Man Made of Words” to explore the
relationship between imagination and Native identities. I will give a general overview of the myth theories of Levi-Strauss and Frye to give a theoretical basis for the myth.In my chapter two, I will focus on the male protagonist Locke Setman in The
Ancient Child, and his reincarnation as a boy turning to a bear, as in the ancient
Kiowa myth. I will borrow the framework of Northrop Frye’s “Theory of Myths” inAnatomy of Criticism to explore Set’s adventure. Based on Frye’s framework of the
romantic mythos, I propose that Set’s quest is a mythos of summer. The journey is completed in Tsoai, or “Devil’s Tower,” which is a marker of Kiowa tribal history and represents the mythical story of the bear-boy and his seven sisters. Set’s identity crisis, the splitting of self, is due to his orphanage and alienation from his paternal native place. On discovering his name-identity—Set’s name in Kiowa means bear—the bear inside him gradually awakens, and the identity crisis he faces caused not only his mental breakdown, but foreshadows his rebirth at the end. The mental death brings forth the latter spiritual rebirth as he eventually returns to his homeland. The Devil’s Tower, where the Kiowa bear myth originates, is essential in Set’s discovery of his native identity. The ancient myth begins to initiate his connection with the land, from which he has been separated.Chapter three shifts the focus to the female protagonist, Grey. I will investigate the role imagination plays in her transformation, especially her obsession with the legend of Billy the Kid, the American Wild West figure. Grey takes Set on a journey back to her mother’s home, Lukachukai, where Set is nourished by Navajo culture and tribal ceremonies. His bear identity becomes strong and prepares his ultimate transformation vision. By providing textual evidence, I aim to assert her role as not only a helper to Set, providing healing in conducting the native ceremony; she also embarks on an adventure of her own, maturing from a “child” to a medicine woman.
By venturing into the Navajo myth of the Changing Woman figure, I propose that in contrast to Set’s quest as only a mythos of summer, Grey’s adventure is composed of the cycle of four seasons, like that of the Changing Woman, and at the same time reflects her Native heritage. In the end I will also illustrate the emergence of the three child figures: Set, Grey, and Grey’s imagination of Billy the Kid, the three are combined into one, like three strings of one rope, or as previously mentioned in Trafzer’s description of the native identities, the “braid of hair woven together,” the
“tripartitie link among the ancestors, communities and individuals” (233).
Chapter Two
Mythos of Summer: The Bear Myth Revisited
In that lapse and hush the people let the summer go, mindful that the earth was going on from season to season, bearing them to a destiny.
N. Scott Momaday, The Ancient Child (15)
In this chapter I want to examine the quest of the male protagonist Locke Setman in The Ancient Child, centering on his reincarnation of the ancient Kiowa myth of a boy turning to a bear. By employing the framework of Northrop Frye’s “Theory of Myths” in Anatomy of Criticism, I intend to illustrate Set’s adventure as the romantic mythos. Based on Frye’s framework of the romantic mythos, Set’s quest can be seen as mythos of summer. This chapter is divided into two parts: the first part introduces Northrop Frye’s theory of myths, including the phases in the romantic mythos, and compares Frye’s framework to Momaday’s artistic design of The Ancient Child, and I aim to define Set’s quest, in Frye’s sense, as a romance quest. The second part focuses on the bear myth and explores the four forms of imagination in the novel—paintings, memories, dreams and visions, through which the quest of self-discovery is completed.
My intent in the chapter is twofold: first, I will examine the views critics hold in analyzing the myth of Set’s transformation from man to bear, and while agreeing with the view most critics hold toward the bear myth—that is—acts as a motif of
transformation in Native identity, I further argue that in rewriting the bear myth through different forms of imaginations, Momaday rediscovers Set’s loss of native identity in the quest of self in The Ancient Child; secondly, I intend to view Set’s journey as mythos of summer according to Frye’s framework, attempting to demonstrate Momaday’s revision of the Kiowa bear myth in The Ancient Child.
I. Northrop Frye’s mythos theory and Momaday’s artistic design of The