Parker Verhoeff

9th Grade English

Mr. Salsich

November 12 2008

The Kiowas:
A reaction of an Essay

"Winter brings blizzards, hot tornadic winds arise in the spring, and in summer the prairie is an anvil's edge", a quote from N. Scott Momaday's essay, "The way to Rainy Mountain". That quote spoke of just some of the turmoils his people had to go through. However he uses excellent imagery in this wonderfully written essay. He paints a picture in your mind of the struggles as well as the exceptional qualities, of the Kiowa tribe.

TS: Momaday is a meticulous writer who explains what it was like to live in the Kiowa tribe. SD: He wasn't born yet to live through those times, but he speaks of his grandmother's life when she was little, and wanted to see what she had seen back then. CM: His grandmother's name was Aho, and she lived with her tribe at the base of "Rainy Mountain", in the Great Plains. CM: Even though she never trekked past the mountain,"the immense landscape of the continental interior lay like a memory in her blood". SD: By the time she was ten however, the tribe was met with several severe disturbances. CM: First the numbers of buffalo herd began to decline at alarming rate; they couldn't perform their sacred rituals without them. CM: Then soldiers came from Fort Sill, who were told to "disperse the tribe". CM: "Without bitterness, and for as long as she lived, she bore a vision of deicide", a terrorizing moment that she remembered for the rest of her life, but handled it with dignity. SD: She died very peacefully, "her face was like a child", Momaday said. CM: Momaday visited her grave once more and was taken a back,"There, where it ought to be, at the end of a long and legendary way, was my grandmother's grave. [...] Looking back once, I saw the mountain and came away." CS: All in all, the Kiowa tribe are an extraordinary people, which Momaday explained better than any other writer ever could.


This essay was an outstanding piece of literature that was filled with history and breath-taking imagery. Momaday writes about his grandmother, and how she lived through tough times but still made it back into society. He talks of the struggles, but also of the dignity that the Kiowas show. Momaday is proud to be part of the Kiowa tribe, and proud of his grandmother who will live on in his heart forever.