The Ancient Child (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: N. Scott Momaday
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: Self-discovery, Mythology or myths, 1980’s, West, U.S., Native Americans or American Indians, Legends, Painting or painters, San Francisco, Visions, epiphanies, or revelations, Westerns, Outlaws
- Locales: San Francisco, CA, Indian Reservation, Oklahoma
The title The Ancient Child refers to the Kiowa creation story of a boy who, while chasing his seven sisters, turns into a bear. Frightened, they climb a giant tree and become the constellation the Seven Sisters. The boy/bear pursues but cannot climb so high. His slide back down the tree leaves claw marks that, when the tree falls and its clawed trunk petrifies, appear as the slashes on the Devil's Tower, Tsoai-talee. Tsoai-talee is also Momaday's Kiowa name, so he is connected to both sacred land and bear power. Within the context of the story, his alter ego Locke “Loki”...
[The entire page is 961 words long]
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