In An American Sunrise Chapter 1 Analysis

The first things that a new nation establishes are government, and they find a way to make alcohol. The use of alcohol and the native Americans has been a long history starting with the days of barding. Since then alcoholism has become an epidemic on reservations across the country, according to the National Survey on Drugs that 9.2% of people living on reservations twelve or older have excessive drinking problems. In an ‘An American Sunrise’ by Joy Harjo, she describes an Indian bar as “It was difficult to lose days in the Indian bar if you were straight. Easy if you played pool and drank to forget”. The novel Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko explores the Native American relationship with alcohol and how the western culture has imposed on native …show more content…
Alcohol is the vice of the western world it is entirely white culture. The way natives first were an introduction of alcohol it was used as a tool of ‘diplomacy.' In Ceremony the first taste of alcohol as ‘poison.' “He spent the rest of the afternoon spitting into the river, and they had to keep laughing because he kept saying, ‘Ugh! Awful! It tastes like poison!’”. Beer is used to symbolize the poison that the white people brought to the native culture. Not only did the pioneers take lives of their ancestors but they have had a long-term impact that even in 2017 the indigenous peoples are struggling with. Also in Ceremony, the primary link to the white culture is through alcohol because Tayo’s Mother would go drinking with the white men to assimilate this act too negatively affects the Gallup community, tarnishing the reputation of the native community to the white citizens. Her actions also have a long-lasting impact on the community through her sister and her son. Alcoholism is the constant reminder that the Natives were conquered, forced to assimilate, and doomed to a life of

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