The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday - Essay Example

These four lines had the secular message not to wastewater and at the same time the hawker created a beautiful picture of the mountain standing majestically behind the church and the local people believed that the dark forests of the cliffs are the abode of ghosts. Through such four-liners, the hawker brought out the importance of place, memory, and tradition in the life of the rural folks. Added to that were the element of humor and the picture of that innocent grin of the not-so-old hawker. N.

Scott Momaday in the book “The Way to Rainy Mountain,” gave some sort of identical description of the rural scenic beauty. He wrote “The long yellow grass on the mountain shone in the bright light, and a scissortail hied above the land. There, where it ought to be, at the end of a long and legendary way, was my grandmother’s grave. Here and there on the dark stones were ancestral names.”(p.12) On Sunday, I asked the balloon-hawker, “Uncle, have you ever visited the ghost over the mountain?

” “No dear, do I ever waste water? The ghost interacts with only those who waste water!” he said with the mischievous grin. The fountain water has a tradition of holiness about it, which majority of the townsfolk respect even today. It is evident that the water is supposed to cure many physical and psychological ailments. The tradition of drinking water every Sunday after the mass is implicitly followed by many churchgoers.