The Man Made Of Words N Scott Momaday Analysis

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In "The Man Made of Words" by N. Scott Momaday he makes his mission very clear from the beginning by stating, "I want to try to put several different ideas together this morning. And in the process, I hope to indicate something about the nature of the relationship between language and experience." Although throughout the lengthy story he veers off and speaks about other thoughts, he somehow manages to do just that, speaks of the nature of the relationship between language and experience. There was one section in particular that stuck out and it was the section where he spoke of the fundamentals of storytelling. For Native Americans storytelling isn’t just a pastime, it’s a way to pass down their customs, their rich history and their heritage. In a way, storytelling serves as a connection to previous…show more content…
What Momaday is saying is, that the nature of the relationship between language and experience comes together and is called storytelling. Momaday makes a great point when he states "Writing is recorded speech. In order to consider seriously the meaning of language and of literature, we must consider first the meaning of the oral tradition." Oral tradition is defined as the following: The oral tradition is that process by which the myths,, legends, tales and lore of a people are formulated, communicated, and preserved in language by word of mouth, as opposed to writing. Or, it is a collection of such things. Momaday answered his own question of "what is the nature of storytelling? What are the purposes and possibilities of that act?" his incredible answer that speaks to readers is the following "Storytelling is imaginative and creative in nature. It is an act by which man strives to realize his capacity for wonder, meaning and delight. It is also a process in which man invests and preserves himself in the

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