The Man who Killed the Dawn: a Sketch of a Collective Sequel (part II)
Indian outcasts – Abel of House Made of Dawn (Momaday, 1968) and Martiniano of Man who Killed the Deer (Waters, ).
Existentialism: A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one’s acts.
Prologue to an entirely separate compilation of these two novels:
Abel has been jogging since the end of Momaday’s novel. He began in the evening, after his grandfather passed-on. This section continued back around into the prologue of the same book. After a momentary break behind an appropriately discovered bush, he continues jogging once again around noon in the prologue of this sequel to both.
Abel (still jogging, nonetheless drunk from the previous night): Get out of my way!
Martiano (who belongs nowhere): No… I’m sick of getting out of the way.
Abel: My grandfather died just yesterday, the man who taught me everything that society never endorsed, the man who made me think that I have been living in an age that no longer exists. But I am here, damn it, and I do exist! [Though Abel initiates a fight with Martiniano at this point, Martiniano beats Abel until he’s nearly unconscious… but solely for dramatic purposes here.]
After…
Martiniano: Hey man, wake up! [screaming to Abel] Please understand, I had to do that. You know, Palemon set a stellar example that I just would not learn to live by. But understand why I did what I did.
Abel (suddenly awake, and with astonishing alertness – yet again, for dramatic purposes): Maybe I should have; then I’d sustain consciousness more frequently than I have been lately. But I’m good.
Palemon: Forgive me my friend. [speaking to Martiniano] Do you see what you lack? Not a form of life, for there are three for you to choose from: our old ways, the white man’s new ways, or your own which may be part of both or newer still. You lack only a faith in one of them.
Martiniano: Did not you say this to me once before?
Palemon: Hmm… Yes, maybe so. But you must know. The new world will establish its own faith; humanity will be better enlightened. You hear this from me. You hear this from Maria. Listen now, stupid.
Martiniano: Well, I’m glad you’re not sore. [focusing instead onto Abel] That damned away-school made me become selfish! And my dissonance between these two cultures is the reason that nobody likes to be around me for too long, or at least that’s how I see it. That’s why I cannot figure out my place!
Abel: Where are all these people coming from? [He asks this about Palemon, and at the same time he also looks to discover Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Thomas Nagel, and Soren Kierkegaard.]
Martiniano: We stand in peace. We bring a deep understanding of the interconnection of humans with nature. Come.
Abel: Our world has suffered destruction. Those greedy and imbalanced inhabitants have lost their connection with God.
Neitzsche: God is dead (Kaufmann, 100).
Dostoevsky (Ivan, The Brothers Karamazov: Kaufmann, 52): Without God and without balance or values, everything is permitted.
Nagel: Neither belief nor disbelief in God is irrational.
Kierkegaard: An unknown thing is an existent thing. God is an unknown thing. Therefore, God is an existent thing (Kaufmann, 83).
Heidegger: If nothing is not a void, then Nihilism is the answer. If we believe in nothing, nothing will dissatisfy or disillusion from the beginning (Kaufmann, 206).
Abel: Yei bichai. Nature is twelve gods.
Martiniano: The Navajo and Pueblo believe in a chain of worlds. Each world has suffered destruction when its inhabitants become greedy and imbalanced. So we lose our connection to God.
Later…
Martiniano: What does it mean to exist as a human being?
Karl Popper: What do you think it means to exist as a part of a community?
Abel: Any individual depends upon the community to define oneself. But I don’t want to step out in order to truly find out. I’m fully content in holding onto a painted past that I’m trying to live in, through my grandfather’s stories—back then, when nobody had any money, but everyone always told the truth.
Sartre: Existence precedes essence. What makes a person who that person becomes is not fixed by ones type, but by what one makes of him or herself, who he or she becomes.
Martiniano: [to Abel] I do too, I think. But I’m only selfish because nothing else I do is acceptable anyway.
Abel: But Nietzsche has a point… Science is becoming the next religion. That other world has become dependent on Science and Technology and looks to them for answers. Good for them. We all just need to stop judging others before we all die.
Thomas Nagel: Without a clear understanding of death, we would not be able to uphold any values (Kaufmann, 12).
Kierkegaard: The conclusions of passion are the only reliable ones (Kaufman, 83).
Martiniano: What sense does that make?
Abel: What does that say about clear and rational thinking? That abdicates logic! [Abel now starts a separate fight with Soren Kierkegaard, but only to be badly beaten again—again, purely for dramatic purposes].
Later…
Abel: [still growing even more philosophical and a broader vocabulary] The world has become dependent on Science & Technology and look to them for answers.
Martiniano: I agree with Nietzsche that Science will become adorned as the next religion.
Abel: Me too. But I try not to say much since I am ignorant to the experiences of others, and thereby cannot readily acknowledge the sacred experiences any individual will attach to my spoken words.
Martiniano: Who cares? Since I’ve returned from away-school, all the rest of the Taos Pueblo Indians think that I’m for these whites—it exists, I can feel it. But these whites want to punish me for killing this deer, even though they completely disregarded the carcass. These white people make no sense.
Abel: It is bad. For you, this makes no sense. But I’m feeling for myself here. Ben, my friend since youth, pities me. I feel it. I know it exists.
Martiniano: No. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one’s acts. After meeting these weird men, I now understand this.
Heidegger: I detest being referred to as an Existentialist!
Camus: [to Heidegger] I most certainly agree!
Abel: Who cares. Allow me to finish my story. Ben is stable; his transition between these two worlds was successful. He does not rub it in, but I do realize. I also realize that he tries his best to accommodate me, even after we fight when I’m drunk, but all I can do is worry about myself since I cannot figure what else to do.
Martiniano: I have a question. How did we meet? And how are we all here together? Is not the progression of time a factor of our existence? Or of our separate existential beings? Or is this just a dream of all this nonsense?
On that note, I awake. Even though I was skeptical about how all these philosophical, literary, and notable characters of these novels joined together, I was into that dream! Here, I’ll see if I can fall back asleep now and restart that dream again…
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Nonetheless, Existentialism makes an incredibly interesting topic of study.
Philosophical Existentialist movement, in regard to Søren Kierkegaard: http://factoidz.com/in-regard-to-s%c3%b8ren-kierkegaard-what-defines-existentialism/
Existentialist movement, in regard to Fyodor Dostoevsky:
http://factoidz.com/in-regard-to-dostoevsky-what-defines-existentialism/
An Existentialist spoof in Native American literature: http://factoidz.com/existentialist-spoof-in-native-american-literature/
Existentialist movement, in regard to Martin Heidegger: http://factoidz.com/in-regard-to-heidegger-what-defines-existentialism/
What is Existentialism?: http://factoidz.com/what-is-existentialism/
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MLA Citations:
Kaufmann, Walter. (ed.) 1956. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. New York: Meridan Books
“House Made of Dawn.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 09 Feb. 200
Velie, Alan R. Four American Indian Literary Masters: N. Scott Momaday, James Welch, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Gerald Vizenor. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1982.
The Mythology of All Races. Vol. VI. Indian Mythology, Iranian Mythology by A. Berriedale Keith; Albert J. Carnoy
