People:
 - Francisco, grandfather of Abel
 - Vidal, Abel’s brother (d.)

 Places:
 - Walatowa (native name of Jemez
 Pueblo) New Mexico (93)

 Some Quotes:
 - " Such vastness makes for illusion, a kind of illusion that comprehends reality, and  where it exists there is always wonder and
 exhiliration." (17)
 -" And suddenly he had the sense of being all alone, as if he were already miles and  months away, gone long ago from the town  and the valley and the hills, from everything  he knew and had always known." (23)
 
 

WWII:
 - "nearly 25,000 Indians served..." (19)
  - "When the warrior of World War II talked of the battles he had fought he talked not only of those fought on foreign battlefields but of those fought in the barracks of his own army, and on the streets of American cities."  (Steiner, 19)
 - "...his war story, like that of so many Indians, was not about his heroism in battle.  It was about his being Indian in a white man's army." (Steiner, 19)
- Indians represented not only their country, but their individual tribes, and all Indians collectively. (19) [first hand experience (interview) here, if needed)
- "The young warriors had fought in two wars at once.  One was military; one was cultural.  Both left their wounds." (21)
- After the war, the hopes and dreams of the Indian warriors, inspired by a knowledge of a vast world beyond the reservation, were dashed as the country and economy returned to the pre-war ideals and aims.  The warriors were forgotten.  In despair, many turned to strong drink. (21-23)

Background (cultural) information in understanding novel:
- Dypaloh: invocation
- shifts the novel into oral tradition,which is “a particular kind of discourse, one  which is ‘other’ to the non-Indian reader”(93).
- “signals a transformative act” (93).
 defines the “responsibility” of the traditional Native American story: “to tell us who we are and where we come from, to make us whole and heal us, to integrate us fully within the world in which we live and make that world inhabitable, to compel order and reality”(94).
- Essentially, this definition also illustrates the reasons for the journey of Abel, as well as that of the author, Momaday.
- “Abel’s name, with its loud biblical resonance, emphasizes his position in tension between Indian and Euramerican cultures”(98).
 

Background of novel and Momaday:
- Pulitzer Prize Winner: 1969
- “House Made of Dawn originally intended as a book of poems”(93).
- Initially, while there were many positive reviews of House Made of Dawn, there were also those who did not understand the
novel, misconstruing its themes and meanings (97-98).
- Momaday: “ We are what we imagine.  Our very existence consists in our imagination of ourselves.  Our best destiny is to
imagine, at least, completely, who and what, and that we are.  The great tragedy that can befall us is to go unimagined”
(Momaday, “The Man of Words” p.54) (282).
- Momaday says he never “suffered a sense of loss as Abel does”.  Momaday’s tribe was “dissolved” before his birth.  His
ancestors found other ways to “affirm” their identity, and they passed these ways to Momaday.
 
 

Lack of identity/outsider:
- “He was drunk, and he fell against his grandfather and did not know him.” (9)
Abel’s return from the war; Explain effects of WWII here
- “In a world in which identity is derived from community, to not know one’s grandfather is dangerous.” (Owen, 97) Other Destinies
- “all the dogs began to bark” (11)
Upon return, Abel is a stranger. (Owen, 97)
- “His father was a Navajo, they said, or a Sia, or an Isleta, an outsider anyway, which made him and his mother and Vidal somehow foreign and strange.” (11)
Abel was a stranger in some ways even before he left the reservation (see Owen, 97).  Yet, did have a sense of identity.
- “And suddenly he had the sense of being all alone, as if he were already miles and months away, gone long ago from the town and the valley and the hills, from everything he knew and had always known.” (23)
- “ …centered upon himself in the onset of loneliness and fear.” (23) Abel vision is impeded by himself… he cannot see beyond himself.
- “ Only when it was too late did he remember to look back in the direction of the fields.” (23) Again, Abel cannot attain a vision to sustain him when he leaves.
- See blue highlight**(23)
- “Nothing yet had passed between them, no word, no sign of recognition.”
No recognition/ no vision ***
- Angela:
o  “In the lowest brilliance of the day she wondered who she was.”(32)
- “When it came Abel’s, he made a poor showing, full of caution and gesture”(42)
like domesticated animals who were “made tentative” (See Vision)

Naming:
- “Then, under his breath and because he was alone, he spoke his brother’s name.” (13)

Dancing:
- “But it was all right; it was good, that dance, nearly perfect.” (14) pre-war

Vision:
- “…even in this moment of deep hurt and humiliation they thought of themselves as a people.” (15-16)  Refering to Bahkyush people, who “carried four things that should serve thereafter to signal who they were…” (16).
- “Such vastness makes for illusion, a kind of illusion that comprehends reality, and where it exists there is always wonder and exhiliration” (17).
- ***
- Angela:
o  pages 36 and 37
o “…the proof of her being and having been”(54) referring to Benevides house
-  “…a poverty of vision and instinct, by which they are estranged from the wild land, and made tentative”(57) Refering to domesticated animals