"Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective"

Language and writing is America is, not surprisingly, different than that in the Pueblo culture. I knew that older cultures are based much more on stories and their history was passed on through more oral traditions but it is surprising to me that basically all of their literature is old stories an family stories. I feel that since America is a much more individualized society people do not feel connected through stories as the Pueblo people do. Language here is analyzed much more and the focus is completely different. We edit papers and books over and over again; none of our stories "come from the heart," as Silko says, which is important for the Pueblos. Storytelling truly brings people together there and it is unfortunate that Americans do not really have that connection with language and the community. The closest we get to that is gossiping. Here, gossiping is not a polite or nice way to connect with people. It is more of a rude, behind-the-back way of talking about people. I was surprised to see that in the Pueblo culture it does not matter if a story is gossip, true, or fake-it is a story that people tell. Such a difference in language is obviously going to exist, but such a different perspective on how language should be passed on and told is quite interesting.