Common Culture in Creation Stories

Although the tales of Native Americans are short and simple, each story embodies an entire culture of its own. When put in its cultural context, the simplicity of the tales actually contains deeper meanings. While the creation stories convey origins and identities, the trickster tales serve as life lessons of morality and standards of behavior.
Despite the different animals, characters and plot lines, the Native American creation stories have common themes woven throughout. The overwhelming presence of animals, mountains and rivers emphasizes the Native American importance of and dependence upon nature. For example, in the Iroquois creation story the turtle becomes an “island of earth,” serving as a sturdy foundation for life itself (20). A second widespread theme is the presence of rival twins. The Iroquois Creation Story provides the strongest example of tension between good and evil in the form of the good mind vs. the bad mind. Finally, the significance of the number four can be found in both the creation stories and most of the trickster tales. For example, in the Pima creation story The Doctor of the Earth does not successfully create the Earth until the fourth try (22). The exception for the number four theme comes from the Clatsop people, who emphasized the number three, possibly as a result of a wider exposure to Christianity.
Trickster tales provide more detailed identities for Native American tribes. Through both good and bad examples, each tale reveals important values, morals and behavioral ideals. For example, the trickster Wakjankaga reminds the Winnebago people not to act superior towards nature in the tale of the talking laxative bulb (81). Another example of learning from bad behavior comes from the Navajo’s coyote trickster, who selfishly throws food away, instead of conserving and respecting nature as a vital resource for life (103). Other Native American tricksters provide positive examples, such as the Koasati’s Bear, who gives himself to others by literally cutting his stomach for the rabbit to eat (87). Another important value found throughout all of the trickster tales is the necessity of respecting one’s elders. For example, in the Sioux tale Ikto and Iya repeatedly argue who is the elder. “Well, my younger brother – or is he my elder brother?” Iya asks himself (84). With age, comes wisdom and tradition from years past. In these Native American tribes, everyone is related, stressing the importance of kinship.
Native American literature, in the form of creation stories and trickster tales, serve as a foundation for and cornerstone of the beginnings of American literature. Contrary to the overwhelming amount of precise detail present in British literature, these Native American stories are conveyed in a very general manner. Characters and animals seem to be floating across time and space, aimlessly wandering around a so-called “Earth.” Personally, I find this lack of detail interesting, since I am so used to the detailed writing of other authors and the details emphasized in my own writing.
As a foundation of American literature, Native American stories were products of a unique oral culture. The stories of today were once passed from generation to generation, not by pen and paper, but rather from memory, through plays and performances. This evokes an interesting question, as mentioned in the introduction – Is oral literature really literature? Can it be effectively conveyed through the confines of the written word? I believe that, yes, the oral culture of the Native Americans, biases included, can be considered literature in its own unique way, due to its intent of teaching people how to live, from times past and for the future.