Darkened Water
...he Natives were savages and should be removed. “They shouldn’t have stopped and listened to Puritans. And learned that mountains were chains to be crossed like breaking something. They should have eaten whole buffalo, they should have. Like the people wanted for them” (51). They wanted to rid America of the Indians, so that the west could be “civilized.” “It’s a wonder they even made it to California. But, of course, they did, and they named it success. Conquest. Destiny” (43). Ortiz speaks of the loss of the buffalo, which occurred during the “civilizing” of the West. “Buffalo were dark rich clouds moving along the rolling hills and plains of America. And then the flashing steel came upon bone and flesh” (20). Ortiz uses personification of words describing herds of buffalo as clouds and flashing steel as metonymy to reveal his philosophy that the spirit of the Indian died along with the buffalo. Because of an acute sense of alienation, the Native American has had a hard time finding a place in society. Ortiz urges his people to “strive for significance,” to develop their unique talents, which are symbolized in seeds of grass and “strain of corn” (33). The strength of the people must be nourished by the old ways as well as the new. “In this hemisphere corn is ancient and young; it is the seed, food, and symbol of a constantly developing and changing people” (32). I believe Ortiz is telling his people not to forget their history, and turn to their tribal roots to find their identity. Ortiz shows us the alienation of Natives Americans in society, as he describes an incident at the Salvation Army store, where a clerk who suspects him of theft, humiliates him. “At the Salvation Army a clerk caught me wandering among old spoons and knives, sweaters and shoes. I couldn’t have stolen anything; my life was already stolen” (53). Ortiz buys a sweater to reassure the clerk and then escapes. Ortiz believes his life has been stolen, because Native Americans have already been robbed of their history and treated like they don’t matter. Ortiz describes a powerful image of the site of the massacre at Sand Creek. “The blood poured unto the plains, steaming like breath on winter mornings; the breath rose into the clouds and became the rain and replenishment” (66). “They were amazed at so much blood. Spurting, sparkling, splashing, bubbling, steady hot arcing streams. Indeed, they must have felt they should get on their...