Linda Hogans Mean Spirit - Essay Example

There are many issues to consider in Linda Hogan’s “Mean Spirit”, but there are also those things that are not predominantly mentioned in various critical reviews of this literary piece in the academe. One of those quite overlooked issues is the matter of how one’s way of living is influenced by a certain culture and real-life orientation. The author was brilliant enough to include this special depiction of the issue in various parts of the book.

One vibrant depiction includes how the Native Americans were momentarily influenced by the Whites, especially in some aspects of their lifestyle.    

Mixed-blood people were side by side in faith with their darker brothers and sisters. Though they wore dark, American suits, most of the men still braided their hair. Some of the younger women had lightened their hair to a brassy orange with hydrogen peroxide. Some of them wore makeup that was paler than their faces, imitating the white women’s pictures in magazines, but Michael Horse wasn’t fooled; they were Indians. (Mean Spirit 12)

            However, in every change, there are those quite hesitant to accept such. Among them as depicted in the story was Michael Horse who was not convinced to adopt the modern American culture. Despite such a level of opposition, some decorated their houses just as the Whites decorated theirs’ so they were able to buy “heavy, carved furniture and glass chandeliers” (Hogan 5).

            Talking more about lifestyle, Native Americans were also influenced by matters of faith. As depicted in the novel, Christianity was successfully introduced to them, allowing some of them to end up buying “anemic-looking statuses of saints, Jesus, and the blond virgin Mary” (Hogan 190).

            However, in the context of religion, a natural disaster was set by the author as showcased by how Tornado Nola “destroyed the Catholic church, but it left the Baptist church untouched” (Hogan 161). This is a remarkable depiction of how conflict sets in within the American community even if it poses modernity. This is just proof of how conflict arises even in modern times, as far as one’s lifestyle is concerned.

            In other words, people might be influenced by various beliefs and ways of living, but the conflict will never end, knowing the fact that everyone is always left with a choice, either to accept or freely dispose of the thought of adopting one’s way of life and belief. Linda Hogan’s “Mean Spirit” is a good read if one would want to learn more about the prevailing conflicts in life concerning beliefs and prevailing culture.