Valley Of The Gun Analysis

Name: MOHAMMED BINKHUDHAYR.
Instructor: D. VASQUEZ, A.
Course: GS-2010-009.
Family and Friends
1. The title of the analyzed reading is "Valley of the Gun".
2. The author's name is Joe Bageant.
3. The reading is located at 31-35 pages of the book.
4. It represents the culture of the United States.
5. I have chosen this reading because I consider the US culture very interesting and worth studying. It is so due to the fact that it is relatively young in the comparison with most of the other world culture, and it had been forming as a synthesis of the various cultures of the first settlers of the Northern American colonies.
6. The article is overfilled with the specified terms that are only familiar to the hunters, including a lot of names and …show more content…
Despite the fact that the author managed to demonstrate hunting with the highest ethical and moral point of view, I am still quite skeptical about this activity and I think that I myself could not take part in it. That is why reading this article caused me mixed impressions.
10. The article "Valley of the Gun" by the American writer Joe Bageant describes the culture of hunting as a family value among many residents of highland South of the United States. The author describes the story of his family traditions and analyzes hunting with cultural and religious point of view in their context.
Talking about the cultural aspects of hunting, he traces them to the Celtic and Germanic traditions and primitive animism of these tribes. He draws a parallel between hunting traditions of his family and the ancient rituals of unity with nature the primitive people had. These parallels are very obvious and include the sacred attitude to the weapons, the gradual initiation of youngsters to the hunters' circle, and a number of specific rituals before and after the hunt. Regarding the religious aspect of hunting, the author says that it allows the person to fully appreciate the gifts of the Creator and thank him for them. Among the other things, he talks about the meditative character of waiting for prey and the unity with nature that it …show more content…
The author was able to describe the distinctive culture which is unique even within the American culture in general. Joe Bageant managed to convey the sacred and animistic character which the hunting had in his family. In fact, in his article, he created an image of the neo-animism in which people keep the clan structure and traditions and only improve their weapons. I also liked the idea of religious overtones of hunting and the hunters' respect to the prey. Speaking in general, the author managed to interest the readers from the very beginning of the story and keep their attention during the reading.
Summarizing the foregoing, "Valley of the Gun" describes an original and interesting culture and analyzes it from various aspects. This article allows to look differently at the US gun policy and demonstrate the sacred and clan considerations some groups of people have about weapons. This reading is certainly interesting and informative.

Works Cited
Hirschberg, Stuart. One World, Many Cultures. New York: Macmillan Pub., 1992. Print.
Bageant, Joe. Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War. New York: Crown, 2007.

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