Oral Tradition Into English Literature

Translation is the act of rendering one language into another; when the process of interpretation consists of transferring Native American oral stories into English literature, there are many variables that come into play that may affect the original meaning of the Native story. The act of oral tradition is among one of the most valued tools of passing down tradition and heritage among many different Native American cultures.  While reading and learning about the oral tradition through English literature, a question arose in my mind of whether or not these stories, songs, or poems meet at a true “equivalence” with our language.  I will be exploring what counts as a legitimate translation, and what does not. I will be analyzing several different texts, including the books, Looking at the Words of Our People, Our Stories Remember, Coming to Light, and other sources to find the true opinion of Native Americans from different tribes regarding their personal oral tradition being formatted into English literature. The oral tradition was created and meant for the purpose of passing down and telling stories in person using hand movements, verbal emphasis, and other concepts which give a completely different sense for the story as opposed to just reading them on a piece of paper or in a book.  The loss of interpretation in literature and the loss of medium are connected together and produce a poor sense of the true oral tradition.

Defining who we are and where we come from seems to be a highly-debated topic around the world. It is important to understand that there is no such thing as the Native American or the American Indian.  As Bruchac states, “seeing all Indians as being alike is as foolish as not being able to see them at all” (8).   The Native America is made up of hundreds of different cultures, with each tribe having their own history and their own customs and ways of living.  Though different cultures can have completely different views of life or ways of living, Native American cultures all seem to have a common ground when it comes to defining themselves as a culture.  This is the verbal dissemination of folklore from person to person and generation to generation over time; also known as the Oral tradition.  The oral tradition can be said to be most tribe’s Native identity. “Native American stories are as varied as the trees on the Earth and yet have many common themes, whether told by the Inuit of Alaska or the Seminole of Florida. Traditional Native stories are based on honoring all life, especially the plants and animals we depend on, as well as our human ancestors” (many voices).  Europeans had recorded thousands of Native tales on paper over five centuries ago.  Storytelling is still present among over three hundred living Indian nations (Buchan 9).  The Oral tradition in the older generations consisted mostly of handing down stories, songs, and poems within their own native tribe and language.  After watching different documentaries and reading over some of the thoughts of Natives, I began to wonder why their language meant so much to them.  There are many different tribal bands across the United States which consists of many different languages.  The way that the Natives embellish their language seems highly apparent and is part of who they are.   Hence, I began to wonder why keeping their Native language was so important to them.  By understanding how the white man treated the Natives in the past back from the boarding schools, I saw how the Native Americans were literally stripped from all they had.  The children were forced to forget about their “Native Way,” such as not being able to speak their own language, and not being able to wear their native dress.  Their identities were lost and many of the children were not allowed to communicate with any of their family or tribe back home, and they were forced to live in what seemed to be inhumane environments.  “By separating them from their insidious influence, they would be more easily molded into more civilized people” (Buchan 12).  This was true however, when the elders nowadays who went to boarding schools are interviewed, they almost all talk about how it was so painful for them to lose their own language. “Their aim was to wipe out our tongues and our native ways,” contends former Chippewa/ Cree boarding school student, Andrew Windy boy, while being interviewed for the documentary, Indian Boarding School.  “Our language is sacred, they don’t understand; when we talk to our spirits, they don’t understand English.” Native American Eliza Jones writes in Coming to Light, “It is believed the stories have spiritual power: telling a story can bring good luck to the teller” (Swann 83). This spiritual aspect makes it important to both hear and tell the story in its Native language.  Some of the elders talk about how they were able to speak fluent English after leaving the schools, and how their hearts were crushed as many of them forgot how to speak in their own native language.  This was a concept that grabbed my attention.  At first, I figured that it was just hard for the Native people to converge into a whole different language (English), as English is a rather hard language to learn to speak.  I began to understand that there was more to it than just the hardships of converting to English.  After all, they could still tell the stories that they remembered in English if they could find words for them, and were able to communicate with other English people; as many of them never did return to their tribes.  They all longed for the loss of their native Language.  It is something that is quoted as “not able to understand,” but it was in a sense a loss of their identity.  One major concept to oral tradition is being able to understand the story in one’s native language.  For many cultures speak about how the native language is sacred.  Stories, songs, and poems are what create the ancestry and history for many, if not all tribes.  The stories were passed down in their sacred language for many years until the Europeans came along and changed everything.  Telling or reading a story in English is just not original and does not hold the completeness it would in its natural setting and language.  Say, for instance, you followed a certain pathway through the woods each time before reaching your favorite point on a river.  This pathway over the years has become in a sense comfortable for you and you always use it. Now say, that one day you are asked to take a different path or to find a different way to the river; it naturally is not what you are familiar with and does not feel right since you like and understand your own original way.  In this case, the pathways represent the languages which are spoken when storytelling and the river represents the story itself.  Notice, when taking a completely different pathway than normal, you will not necessarily end up at the same place or point on the river as you would originally.  You will be able to complete the story, but not exactly as it was before.