The Way to Rainy Mountain

Choose one of the 24 stories in The Way to Rainy Mountain and analyze the juxtaposition between the three voices (ancestral, historical, personal). Using textual evidence from each section, explore what connects these sections. What ironies, similarities, or contrasts emerge from the juxtaposition of these pieces?

Choose one of Al Momaday’s illustrations. Carefully describe the illustration, and then turn back to the line from N. Scott Momaday’s text that it is paired with. How do the two interact? What does the illustration add to your understanding of the line and the story it comes from?

What is the role of elders in the Kiowa nation as depicted in The Way to Rainy Mountain? Use textual evidence from Momaday’s descriptions of at least two older figures to support your claim.