Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)
STUDIES - Bruce J. Degi: Braiding the New Native American Narrative: Michael Dorrié Yellow Raft in Blue Water.
refusing to see that individual people together make a culture, American society has long produced governmental policies and programs that divided communal tribal lands, forcibly placed children in boarding schools and forbade them to speak their Indian languages, and sought to destroy traditional Indian religions. ... Now, however, government policies no longer aim to eradicate Indian culture. Whether they are adequately designed to preserve and encourage the development of Indian culture remains an open question. (Deloria 53—4) And this "open question" surely includes literature by and about native Americans. Just as Alice Walker seeks to destroy stereotypes of gender and identity concerning black American women in The Color Purple , Michael Dorris —and Louise Erdrich —through the complexity of their characters, separate yet ever braided together, seek to dismantle the myths about the noble or brutal savage in American life. Understanding the individual is the first step toward change for everyone, inside and outside native American culture. "Cultural changes," as Deloria mentioned, "of any magnitude follow structural changes and institutional changes in the manner in which Indians live." And thus write. Early in the novel, Rayona, having run away from home, encounters the following sign in a state park: "'Attention hikers! If lost, stay where you are. Don't panic. You will be found.' I take the advice. I stay, I don't, and, before long, I am" (65—6). Perhaps with the publication of A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, ; the same can finally be said for the native American author. 32
