Bryan Lucero
English
10/22/13
Period 4
Native Americans did a lot of things in their time of living. When the Native
Californians lived they followed all their rules, rituals, and culture but some of them did what they weren’t supposed to do and let personal desires take over. In the “The Mans Wife” the man does many things that affect nature and the way of the living. In “ Butterfly Man”
ToilowanWoman can’t choose who to be with because of the things she admires or likes.
Finally, In the story of “Tesilya, Sun’s Daughter” is the cause of the events that unroll in the story. My claim is, The cautionary tales “The Mans Wife”, “Butterfly Man”, and “Tesilya, Sun’s
Daughter” reveal that Native American societies and cultures depended on group cohesiveness and not letting greed or personal desires take over. In “The Man’s Wife” the man does many things that affect nature and the way of living.
The man doesn’t want to let his dead wife leave in peace so he stays with her, burns off his hair, and didn’t eat or sleep while he was waiting for his wife. A quote that proves this is, “He was however able to tie around her waist a rope of eagle’s down, and clinging to one end of it, he walked a few steps behind her all through the night”(Kroeber 132). this quote proves that he insisted on being with her that he even went through and tied a rope around her. This also
shows that desire has taken over and he will do anything to be with her. Another thing that the man did was going into the dead people’s land. A quote that proves this is, “I must warn you that to the dead the smell of the living is offensive, and there will be restiveness among them, a feeling of the impropriety of your being here at all”(Kroeber 137). This is important because it shows that the man shouldn’t be invading the home of the dead because the dead and living should not interact with the dead. If this happens the dead is disturbed and the balance of