The Native American Experience: Iroquois Creation Myth

The Iroquois Creation Myth : Rhetorical Analysis

"And the deep mind of the right-handed twin lied to his brother, and the deep mind of the left-handed twin told the truth.”

Marriage

Inconsistencies cont.

Man's influence in the creation of the Earth.

• In different versions of the myth, the sky woman is pushed into the hole while in others she falls.
• In some versions, the sky woman grabs soil from the sky world as she falls, in others an animal brings soil from the bottom of the ocean

• Marriages were originally a matter of individual choice, however, in the historic period of matrilineage, the native's mother's often arranged marriages for their children.

• Men practiced polygamy

Inconsistency of the Iroquois Mythology

No two stories are the same

• Oral stories
• 5 tribes spread out
• Cultures and traditions fused with Europeans
• Converted Indians retell stories differently

Importance

Iroquois chief Canassatego, advised that the colonists form a union based on the Iroquois League.

Importance cont.

The elevated status of women served as one of the guidelines in the creation of the constitution.

According to Benjamin Franklin, if it was possible for savages to create a united confederacy that would last for ages, the same should be applicable to the colinies of the fledgling nation.

• Storyteller
• an Iroquois Indian
• an elder speaking to a younger generation

One of the major contributing factors of the Iroquois to American history was their influence in the American constitution.

Their unique society served as an example of political and military organization and complex lifestyle.

S- Storyteller, Iroquois Indian, a speaker of the wise, an elder speaking to the young

O- to allow the Iroquois to explain why, how they are here on Earth

A-Iroquois children, descendants, historians

P- to show each man, woman, and child what their purpose was in order to benefit human kind

S- background on the Iroquois beliefs- their creation of the world and the origins of their culture, society and morals

Tone -Didactic

• designed or intended to teach
• intended to convey instruction and information as well as pleasure and entertainment

• Young Iroquois Indians
• Historians

The Iroquois Creation Myth’s unknown author, mostly attributed to David Cusick, uses parallelism and antithesis to convey the complex nature of the Iroquoian view on the nature of evil. Unlike the Euro-American paradox which creates a sharp contrast between the natures of good and evil, the Iroquois believed that everything in creation was good, and only tainted with evil.

• Background on Iroquois beliefs
• Creation of the Universe
• Origin of their culture
• Purpose in life

Creation Myth

Right-Handed Twin was always truthful, reasonable, goodhearted, and "straight-arrow"; Left-Handed Twin lied, fought, rebelled and made "crooked" choices.

Because Right-Handed Twin created human beings, he is known as "Our Creator," and "The Master of Life."

But Left-Handed Twin helped, and invented rituals of sorcery and healing. The world they built included both cooperation and competition, loving kindness and aggression.

The woman who had fallen from the sky then had a daughter, who became impregnated by the West Wind. While in the womb, the daughter's unborn twins began to quarrel about how they should emerge, the left-handed twin refusing to be born in the usual way. Instead, he forced himself out of his mother's left armpit, killing her as a result.

The newborn twins then buried their mother, who became Corn Mother, source of corn, beans and squash, the Three Sisters of the Iroquois. From her heart grew sacred tobacco, used to send messages and thanks to the Sky World.

The two brothers continued to compete with each other as they created the animals and plants, and in the process, represented different ways of living. Right-Handed Twin created the beautiful hills, lakes, blossoms, gentle creatures; Left-Handed Twin, the jagged cliffs and whirlpools, thorns and predators.

After they finished their creations, the continued to compete in other ways - by gambling, by playing lacross, then fighting with clubs.

One day, grasping a deer antler, Right-handed Twin finally prevailed, and killed his brother, throwing the body of Left-Handed Twin over the edge of the earth.

As a result, Right-Handed Twin rules day and the Sky-World and Left-Handed Twin prevails over night and the lower world.

Angry, and believing that grandmother had always favored the errant Left- Handed Twin, he cut off her head and threw it up toward the sky, where it became the Moon.

Then he threw her body into the ocean, where it became all the fish of the sea.

The Iroquois believe that both Left-Handed Twin and Right- Handed Twin are necessary for the world to be in balance.

This tension and struggle for balance between the two brothers and principles of life is incorporated into Iroquois festivals and cycles of life.

In the beginning, in the Sky World, a pregnant wife asked her husband to fetch the delicacies she craved. But she wanted the bark of a root of the Great Tree in the middle of the Sky World, which none were permitted to touch. Finally, however, he gave in, and scraped away soil to bare the root of the Tree.

Underneath was a hole, and as the woman peered down into it, she fell through. The birds helped transport her as she fell, and the great Sea Turtle received her on his back.

Here, on the Sea Turtle's back, she planted bits of the roots and plants she had brought from the Sky World. And she walked across the turtle's back, planting, praying and creating the Earth that we know as Turtle Island.

• The use of parallelism reflects the idea that both twins were created equal, as beings of good, however, the use of antithesis acknowledges the belief that despite this, the “left-handed twin”, who represents the crooked minded, is so tainted with evil that it completely envelops him. This belief is further illustrated as Flint and his twin’s minds speak to each other, his “told the truth”. Despite being so fully enveloped by evil, in the deepest crevices of mind, he is still good. In contrast, as Sapling’s deepest inner thoughts speak to those of Flint, he lies to his brother, showing that even the very embodiment of good, is tainted in his in his most inner self by evil.

Name Origin

Name Origins cont.

The Iroquois are more than just a nation. They are a confederacy of first five and later six nations, often referred to as the Five Nations.

Consistent Characters

Works Cited

There is some controvesry when it comes to the origin of the name "Iroquois."

On one hand, it is believed that the name was given to them by their enemies the Algonquians. "Iroqu" meaning "rattlesnake."

On the other, the basque fishermen are said to have given them the name "Hilakoa" meaning "killer people."

• Snow, Dean R. "Mythological Origins." The Iroquois. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1994. N. pag. Print.
• Buck, Christopher. "Native American Myths and Visions of America." God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America. NY: Educator's International, 2015. N. pag. Print.
• "Native Languages of the Americas: Haudenosaunee/Iroquois Legends, Myths, and Stories." Iroquois Legends (Haudenosaunee Folklore, Myths, and Traditional Indian Stories). N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.
• "Iroquois Creation Myth." Creation Myths --. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2016. <http://dept.cs.williams.edu/~lindsey/myths/myths_12.html>.
• "Iroquois." Iroquois. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2016. <http://www.tolatsga.org/iro.html>.

Homeland- upstate New York between Niagara Falls and the Adirondack Mountains.

They consisted of five neighboring tribes of similar cultural and linguistic backgrounds .

Most of their time was spent at war with each other until they realized it would be more beneficial to unite into one powerful confederation.

• "Sky Woman" that shaped the earth, leads to the creation of our world "Mother Earth"

• Animals help the Sky Woman survive

• The "Twin Gods" as creators.

• Twins created humans and their opposite natures create contrast between good and evil

Unintentional Allusions

“ The woman decided that she wanted some bark from one of the roots of the Great Tree-perhaps as a medicine, we don't know. She told her husband this. He didn't like the idea. He knew it was wrong, But she insisted, and he give in.”

• Biblical similarity with Adam and Eve ; the sacred tree

"He always told the truth, and he always tried to accomplish what seemed to be right and reasonable. The left handed twin never said what he meant or meant what he said. ... He was the devious one"

• The relationship between the two twins parallels that of Cain and Abel in the book of genesis

“…he would have equal power over the souls of mankind after death; and he sinks down to eternal doom, and became the evil spirit”

• Flint's removal from the earth into the underworld mirrors that of Lucifer's biblical casting down from the heaven.

Two Twins- Unintentional Allusions

The two twins represent two ways the world which people are:

straight mind and crooked mind

• Balanced into the world :

Right hand – positive, kind hearted, calm things

Left hand – destructive

Ying Yang and Zeus and Hades from Greek Mythology

“She kept her husband busy almost to distraction finding delicious things for he to eat.”

• Greek Mythological similarity that god are like people and go through conflict

“ Man was made of clay like pottery, and baked in the fire…”

• Greek Mythological similarity- Prometheus created man out of clay ; relationship between man an nature

The Native American Experience: Iroquois Creation Myth