In House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday, the protagonist Abel was a Native American war veteran. Similar to other veterans of war Abel turned to alcohol. Many veterans start heavily drinking because it helps them numb the pain that they feel from being in the crossfire of battle. Even though it helped numb Abel's pain for a little while he always returned to the harsh reality of dealing with post traumatic stress disorder. I found a blog titled "Alcohol: It's Different for Native Americans". In this article it discusses why alcoholism is one of the most prominent addictions within Native American cultures.
"Unlike other cultures that have ingested alcohol for thousands of years, the relationship between indigenous Americans and alcohol is relatively new. Native Americans have had fewer centuries to develop the tolerance to alcohol that is present in other ethnic groups. Mix in poverty and living with ongoing oppression, and alcohol contributes to a state of emergency on many reservations."
Reading this excerpt from the blog opened my eyes to how much different alcoholism is for Native Americans. Even though many people struggle with addictions to drugs or alcohol Native Americans struggle more severely. While living on a reservation things can be more intense because of the intimate closeness that Native Americans have. Domestic violence, health problems, rape or sexual assault, dropout, and suicide are all problems that occur on reservations that are usually fueled by alcohol. I felt that after reading this article, it made me better empathize with Abel because of the struggles he went through. Even though he made some malicious mistakes, he was preprogrammed to by war. He simply was using alcohol to forget about the pain he felt deep into his soul.
http://blog.nativepartnership.org/alcohol-its-different-for-native-americans/
Wow, I have never really taken the time to think about this. This adds some more depth to Abel, but I will also have to keep an eye out for any alcohol references into future texts. I guess we always thinks of Native Americans in a mythological way, so I would have assumed they had access to some sort of alcohol sooner.
ReplyDeleteThis was really interesting to learn. I had no idea that alcohol was more of a newer concept to Native Americans. While I might not think that they had access to more modern takes of alcohol I assumed that there was some sort of ancient version passed through the generations that would suffice and make their systems more adaptable to alcohol we serve today. This is not the case.
ReplyDeleteReading this does not change my opinions on Abel. While this makes his alcoholic choices more intense I don't feel more empathetic. Many veterans as you noted turn to alcohol upon returning home. Just because it had a greater affect on his system due to ancestry doesn't lighten his actions.