Exploring the Text

1. What does N. Scott Momaday mean when he describes Christopher Columbus’s voyage as “a passage from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance” (par. 1)?

   Question

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   Exploring the Text: - What does N. Scott Momaday mean when he describes Christopher Columbus’s voyage as “a passage from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance” (par. 1)?
2. Momaday discusses the “irony” of the term “New World” (pars. 3–4). What are his reasons for this characterization?

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   Exploring the Text: - Momaday discusses the “irony” of the term “New World” (pars. 3–4). What are his reasons for this characterization?
3. Nearly halfway through the essay, Momaday introduces himself: “It is appropriate that I interject here my particular point of view” (par. 9). What ethos does he establish in the next several paragraphs? Why do you think he chose not to “interject” his viewpoint earlier in the essay?

   Question

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   Exploring the Text: - Nearly halfway through the essay, Momaday introduces himself: “It is appropriate that I interject here my particular point of view” (par. 9). What ethos does he establish in the next several paragraphs? Why do you think he chose not to “interject” his viewpoint earlier in the essay?
4. What does Momaday mean when he says of the hollow log origin story: “It is tempting to associate the hollow log with the passage to America, the peopling of the Americas, to find in it a metaphorical reflection of the land bridge” (par. 14)?

   Question

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   Exploring the Text: - What does Momaday mean when he says of the hollow log origin story: “It is tempting to associate the hollow log with the passage to America, the peopling of the Americas, to find in it a metaphorical reflection of the land bridge” (par. 14)?
5. What is the importance of the story of the arrowmaker that Momaday tells near the end of the essay?

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   Exploring the Text: - What is the importance of the story of the arrowmaker that Momaday tells near the end of the essay?
6. Momaday begins and ends his essay with a reference to an entry in Columbus’s log that refers to Native inhabitants as “naked people.” Why does Momaday find this description so significant?

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   Exploring the Text: - Momaday begins and ends his essay with a reference to an entry in Columbus’s log that refers to Native inhabitants as “naked people.” Why does Momaday find this description so significant?
7. Momaday states that Native Americans “tell stories in order to affirm our being and our place in the scheme of things” (par. 15). What affirmation is in the stories in this essay, including his personal narrative?

   Question

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   Exploring the Text: - Momaday states that Native Americans “tell stories in order to affirm our being and our place in the scheme of things” (par. 15). What affirmation is in the stories in this essay, including his personal narrative?