In Momaday’s reflection of the Great Plains, Momaday refers to the plains with great deference in order to characterize the spiritual connection the Native Americans held with the Great Plains, whereas in Brown’s reflection of the Great Plains, Brown focuses on the harms that settlers have imposed on the Great Plains in order to characterize the faded glory that he claims the plains possess. Momaday displays his admiration of the plains through his colorful description of the plains. He concedes that the plains may host a harsh environment, but he writes that the harshness of the plains is what gives the plains its character and colon Momaday describes the plains as a harsh, yet very much alive environment during the summertime. Although the plains may become “like an anvil’s edge“, and the plains “writhe in fire”, they are bearers of life.
The plains feature pecan, willow, and witch hazel trees, which are trees that bear fruit that can be used to make medicine. Momaday also contrasts the different aspects of nature: the slow, dreary aspects, and the fast, quick aspects of nature. He likens the “great green and yellow grasshoppers” to that pop up and sting the flesh. He describes the tortoises as creatures that crawl across the red earth, “going nowhere in the plenty of time”, Momaday is subtly contrasting the bland, monotonous society that the white settlers have imposed everywhere else with the variety of the Great Plains, and by doing so, he gives his audience a glimpse of the life in the Great Plains. Momaday continues his romanticization of the Great Plains by connecting the plains to his spiritual beliefs and by subtly contrasting the Plains with city life Momaday subtly conveys his preference for the calmness of the plains by writing that the plains lack the oversaturation of objects that city life offers.
He states that in the plains, “there is no confusion of the objects in they eye, but one hill or one tree or one man. He writes that when one looks at the seemingly neverending landscape of the plains, he or she will lose their sense of proportion. Momaday is essentially stating that the plains has a spiritual connection that can’t be felt elsewhere. Therefore, Momaday focuses on the positive aspects of the plains. However, Brown decides to focus on the more negative aspects of the plains, Brown writes that in the summer, “the sun baked the dry earth drier, the streams stopped running, great whirlwinds of grasshoppers were flung out of the metallic sky to consume the parched grass.”
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By referring to the sky as “metallic”, Brown is subtly voicing his anti-European sentiment. When white settlers traveled across the plains, they brought their guns and trains along with them, which polluted the atmosphere. The settlers would often use their guns and kill whole herds of buffalo, and leave the rotting carcasses behindl Brown, and his fellow Native Americans, would view the act as senseless murder. In Momaday’s reflection of the Great Plains, Momaday refers to the plains with great deference in order to characterize the spiritual connection the Native Americans held with the Great Plains, whereas in Brown’s reflection of the Great Plains, Brown focuses on the harms that settlers have imposed on the Great Plains in order to characterize the faded glory that he claims the plains possess.
