James Welch's Winter in the Blood: Thawing the Fragments of Misconception in Native American Fiction
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Semester of Degree Completion
1996
Thesis Director
Michael Loudon
Abstract
The conventional scholarly view of Native American literature asserts that Native authors often portray their characters as alienated and despairing individuals that are incapable of attaining the means for dispelling those negative feelings. As a result, the characters are presumably destined to forever wander the barren reservation, unable to grasp their fleeting cultural traditions or the modern Euroamerican way of life. James Welch, with his novel Winter in the Blood, challenges that stereotypical scenario by allowing his nameless protagonist to discover a previously unknown link to his traditional Blackfeet heritage. Through the knowledge of his ancestors and the unconscious cycle of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey, the protagonist breaks the constricting bonds of western literary critics by finding hope for the future of Native Americans through a fusion of traditional and modern mythologies: a spiritual journey grounded in tradition and focused on the individual as the savior of a vanishing culture.
Recommended Citation
Leto, Mario A. II, "James Welch's Winter in the Blood: Thawing the Fragments of Misconception in Native American Fiction" (1996). Masters Theses. 1903.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/1903
Included in
American Literature Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons
