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The First Water Is The Body By Natalie Diaz Summary

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The First Water Is The Body By Natalie Diaz Summary
“My Elder says, Cut off your ear, and you will live. Cut off your hand, you will live. Cut off your leg, you can still live. Cut off our water, we will not live more than a week” (Diaz, stanza 55).

“The First Water Is the Body” by Natalie Diaz explores the relationship between Indigenous peoples and water by describing it as part of an individual. Stanza 55, in particular, discusses the importance of water to everyone, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike. Within this stanza, Diaz offers a piece of advice from her Elder, comparing the loss of a limb to the loss of water by using the repetitive “Cut off” phrase. By making this analogy, Diaz hopes to convey how even losing a part of your body will not have as dire consequences as the scarcity
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