Autobiographies of Momaday, Silko & Some

Autobiographies are all about portraying ones life, experiences and memories to an audience. The audience could be those who are familiar with your journey and experiences, as it seems to be with Leslie Marmon Silko's, The Storyteller. It may very well be that the author not only chooses to tell the tale of their life, but to introduce the reader to an all new unfamiliar culture as seen in Malidoma Patrice Somé's Of Water and the Spirit. Still in N. Scott Momaday's The Way to Rainy Mountain, he tries to portray the image of his people by writing what began as traditionally spoken stories of the Kiowa's. Not only does he do this through his memories but in the ancestral voice as well. Though all these authors have many different ways of depicting their lives the commonality between them all lies in the fact that these stories stem from memories. Memories of their childhood, of their ancestors and cultures, memories of their experiences and how their past changed or sculpted who the are now. These anthologies of memories, be it their own or the memories of other important individuals in their lives, is what builds the intricate stories we have come to read about.

Memories are what help to shape all our lives. We all have an autobiography whether we have deliberately chosen to write one or not. Our memories are who we are. They allow us to remember those individuals who are important in our lives. It gives us the ability to live and learn from our past and to create a more favorable future. Each day brings us new experiences on our life journey and a new snapshot to be captured in our memory bank. The mind is such an interesting tool because not only do we recollect favorable events, but we also commit to memory those dreadful events that many would rather forget. This inability to pick and chose is a creative and important feature of the human mind. Our futures are unknown no matter how much planning one does. We need our memories, both good and bad, to enable us to learn from our mistakes and to make future choices and decisions based upon past experiences. It is very often the case that even with all the years we live and the experiences we have, we still have not hit milestones that will facilitate us as individuals to fully understand our world and make sound decisions on things to come. This is the reason for why we rely on the memories of our family members, ancestors and influential individuals in our society. Each author, in writing the story of their lives, incorporates the story of their ancestors because this is in fact their story as well.

Coming from an African (Nigerian) background it isn't difficult to understand the importance that ancestors, especially grandparents have in ones life. Growing up, I was taught that the elders of the family and the community were to be revered. This sentiment is something that is not very common amongst the youth driven society of the United States. Though born and raised in the United States I was still reared with my parents' native values. While reading these stories I felt somewhat of a connection to the authors knowing that so much importance was put on familial relationships, most importantly those who are elders. In Of Water and the Spirit, Somé's grandfather in the tradition of the Dagara culture basically raised him. The elders of the community being vital members of that society had a great influence on him as well.

Malidoma Patrice Somé describes the importance of the elders throughout his life.

He explains this sentiment very well towards the end of his book after being taken in by the elders for initiation after returning from his time in the missionary school and amongst the very different white world. He states on page 310:

"Elders and mentors have an irreplaceable function in the life of any community. Without them the young are lost-their overflowing energies wasted in useless pursuits. The old must live in the young like a grounding force that tames the tendency toward bold but senseless action and shows them the path of wisdom. In the absence of elders, the impetuosity of youth becomes the slow death of the community, which is exactly what Guisso had shown me by the way in which he worked with me."

This quote signifies the gravity of importance and value that I held on the existence of elders in the lives of those they can affect. Because elders have lived a long time they have experience things that the young have not experienced. They made the same mistakes and learned from them. This accumulation of knowledge that they have is the wisdom that must be past down to the young of the community. It may be true that it is best to live and learn from ones mistakes but any chance that you can learn from the mistakes of others and prevent any type of ill fate is always favorable. Malidoma is grateful for the guidance he received from Guisso, an elder in his community because it aided in shaping him as a more productive individual.

Malidoma's entire autobiography is memories. It maps out who he was from a young child. It gives us details as to the experiences, hardships and journeys he had to make to get to where he is today. I believe some of his most valuable memories are those of his grandfather and from his youth. He pays key attention to details about the setting and what was being said whenever explaining these encounters he had with his grandfather. There is a part early on in the book when his grandfather has him sit on his lap and tells Some a story when he was a child. He goes into detail about the history of his grandfather's boubou and why it was died pink to match the color of the other world. He goes into the cleanliness issue and how he couldn't bare the smell of his grandfathers clothing anymore. The description of this goes on and on, not as much as other but long enough. In reading about Some's memories I initially had the impression that he was way too long winded in his description and detail of what was happening. I now realize that all these intricate details have just as much a purpose to him as the purpose of the story he was telling did. This attention to details and learning from elders and the past isn't only seen in Malidoma's autobiography but in the other autobiographies as well.

Leslie Marmon Silko's autobiography is more or less the story of her people and tradition. Though it's not designed as a conventional autobiography describing the tale of her personal life, it seems to be the case that the story of her people, the Laguna pueblos, family and folktales that helped shape her life are in fact her story. Memories, narrative stories and life lessons were always an oral tradition in the Native American culture. Silko retells theses stories, putting them in written form as best as she can in the same manner in which they would have been passed on in the oral tradition. She is a great poet and uses this ability to create powerful poems to translate the story of her people to her audience. Storytelling is something of vast importance not only in the Laguna pueblo society but throughout Native American culture. The Storyteller's Escape is a wonderful example of the importance given to storytelling and memories. The premise of the story is an old storyteller on a journey to escape the fate of death. Although she was attempting to escape the enemy her main objective was not to escape alive but to ensure that the story of her journey would escape. Her biggest fear was that she would not only die but the story of her demise will not be around to be told to others. She did not want to be forgotten because the elders and ancestors life through the memories of the present. In the beginning of this story she states,

" With these stories of ours we can escape almost anything with these stories we will survive." Silko 247

This line explains the importance that is given to the memories of ancestors and elders. These stories are guides that help them to be successful in surviving and making it through future situations in life. These stories are not only for guiding the future but to remember the past. " She keeps these stories for those who return but more important for the dear ones who do not come back so that we may remember them and cry for them with the stories.

In this way we hold them and keep them with us forever and in this way we continue" Silko 247.

Once again, just as in the autobiographies, importance is bestowed upon the fact that the past must be remembered and the future bust learn from the past. This importance in remembering memories seems to also translate into the remembering ancestors as well.

Silko begins the book with a story about Aunt Susie, one of the storyteller's in her family that passed stories down to her and to help mold her future. This opening of the book with a story about her Aunt Susie I feel has some significance and shows the importance played to elders in her culture. In the beginning Silko states that she only remembers a small part of her history and then delves into telling what she does recall. "This is the way Aunt Susie told the story.

She had certain phases, certain distinctive words

She used in her telling.

I write when I still hear her voice as she tells the story.

People are sometimes surprised at her vocabulary, but she was

A brilliant woman, a scholar of her own making

Who cherished the Laguna stories all her life." Silko 7

This beginning line that leads into her story shows how much she admires and respects Aunt Susie not only for her stories but also for the unexpected intelligence she harbored.

The Way to Rainy Mountain is a very interesting autobiography in that it is told by incorporating 3 voices. The ancestral or historical voice explains the event or setting. The storyteller tells the tale and Momaday gives his perspective. This triple view method of looking at his past is one that signifies the important of his memories. He makes it known that the events of the past are what enable us to move forward. We need to know stories of our ancestors and hear tales that teach us different life lesions.

" A word has power in and of itself. It comes from nothing into sound and meaning; it gives origin to all things. By means of words can a man deal with the world on equal terms" Momaday 33

This is a very powerful quote that exemplifies the importance of "word", stories and memories in shaping who we are and allowing us to come to terms with the world around us. Locations have a great importance to him. He pays keen attention to detail and the setting when describing his memories.

"....Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth, I belive . He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions if of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of the noon and all the colors of dawn and dusk" Momaday 83

This is especially true when he wants to understand and connect to the memories of people and events that he wasn't around for told by his father and grandmother Aho. He tells them as if he was there himself and that they are not just other peoples' stories of the past but event that are a part of him that he can connect to. From the way he tells these memories you almost feel as if you too are there living in that time and place.

N. Scott Momaday's Native American heritage and culture gave him this great connection with his memories, the past, his environment and attention to detail. He learned what he needed from the past. Spending time at his grandmothers' home and absorbing these stories shaped the man he is today. It's best stated, " to know where you are going, you must know where you come from." This is very true especially seeing how the Kiowas went through many geographical and cultural changes that affected who they are as a people now. The past stories and encounters of the Kiowas as a whole are important stories of the ancestors that are needed to teach the young of the culture what to do when the situation they have encountered would arise in their present lives. Theses ancestral stories, memories and myths are not just for entertainment purposes. They are important as serving as a guide, a map almost, in the way to lives ones live, to help teach certain valuable virtues and laws of the land and help to keep the tradition. Without these in place, the future cannot learn and therefore progress from the point at which their ancestors left them to continue with the tradition of the people.

Ancestors are what help to shape and inculcate fundamental values in ones life. In each book it seems as if the elders make sure that the young in their community understand why they have come to existence and what sort of purpose they are to serve in the community. They don't do this in a strictly dictated manner either. They use tradition, history, their own memories, stories and myths to instill virtues and life lessons to the young they wish to mold. They understand the invaluable role they play in molding the future and do what's in their power to instill this knowledge to the future. Somé continuous talks about how his grandfather used to spend hours upon hours telling story after story whether anyone was listening or not. Momaday spoke of many mythological stories told by his grandmother that by first glance seemed like simple stories but all had a role in teaching him valueable life lessons. Silko used her cultural stories told by her ancestors to show the different themes they were supposed to enforce. In each autobiography the ancestors are in actuality the stories themselves and are important in that they are used to shape the future in some fashion. All three authors have a respect and reverence to their elders and the valuable role they play in each of their lives.

Both Momaday and Silko present their autobiographies by telling their stories in various voices. Momaday adopts this style of narration in The Way to Rainy Mountain by inculcating three voices to tell the tale of his life and memories. There's the folktale or story voice, which explains the story, the ancestral voice which represents the past and the present voice which grows from and reflects on these past memories. Silko expresses her autobiography through the use of stories, memories, poetry and pictures. These different voices used to tell are very important because they each bring separate but vital perspectives to the memories they are conveying. Somé kept his autobiography very chronological as he told his story from when he was a child and used his memories to create his story. He kept his story in one voice but it was just as effective as the other two autobiographies. All three seemed to also incorporate what seemed to be mythological stores to explain certain events. The difference is that the myths are known to be myths in the two Native American autobiographies but Some chooses to pass off these larger than life stories as reality. These cultures are not our own so it'd hard to completely write off an encounter as truth or fiction based on our own cultural views. Though all these autobiographies are different in the stories they choose to tell, the style in which they present them and what they chose to incorporate they all still are the same in that they all tell the life story of themselves and the cultures from which they come from.