Homelessness and Alienation of Native Americans in Momaday’s House Made of Dawn: Tajfel’s Social Identity Analysis

Abstract

This study aims at identifying the aspects of alienation in the life of Native Americans. It investigates how Abel, the protagonist of House Made of Dawn, faces trouble in exploring his identity which is split between native and mainstream American ideologies and traditions. His physical remoteness from his ethnicity, ancestral land, and his alienation from culture and traditions alienate him in both cultures. He becomes a misfit when he is void of his past and unable to accept the new one. Exploring different dimensions of Abel’s character and life events, the paper depicts life on Indian reservations and the status of being homeless within the home. Tajfel’s theoretical approach of social identity highlights the need to define identity in this fragmented, torn, and chaotic world and urge to belong to a social group that shapes present in accordance to past behaviors, attitudes and norms. The character of Abel in Momaday’s narrative depicts this lack of social identity in his own land and becomes psychologically exiled, alienated and depressed native in his own land.