Yellow Raft Essay, Research Paper
Yellow Raft In Blue Waters is a tale of three women a fifteen year old half black and half Indian Rayona, who is trying to find herself, her American Indian mother Christine, consumed by both tenderness and resentment for the people she adores, and the mysterious Ida, who is the mother and grandmother. In written by Michael Dorris, the narrative is viewed from varying perspectives emphasizing the differences in the way we perceive every aspect of our lives, all three characters failed to have paradigm shifts so the basis for their misunderstanding is the fundamental underline miscommunication. Their inability to manage conflict and the resulting repression of their emotions create a lot of tension between them.
On a cross-country trip when Christine was bringing Rayona to her mother’s house, with the hope of leaving her because she felt Ida would be a better mother, her ultimate intention was completely misunderstood by Rayona. Rayona perceived that she was being abandoned not being cared for by her mother. Running through Christine s mind was the thought that Ida had her where she wanted her, That Ida s dream had come true and I had come crawling back, failed and without pride, Had Rayona known this she might have understood her mothers reasoning. Had Christine called in advance explaining her sudden urgent need of help, perhaps Ida would not have said, Give me three good reasons why I should be glad to see you? If Ida had known that Christine was in a bad state of health mentally and physically she probably would have let them in to her home. Therefore, This was the reason Christine left this was nothing like Rayona imagined being left. Rayona thought her mother did not love her and Christine thought She was being a good mother. Ida s point of view was that she felt triumphant like her daughter had come crawling home to her, but she was unconvinced to let her back in.
After Rayona being searched for several weeks by her mother and mother s friends after running away from the priest their reunion is experienced differently by each one. If Rayona had a paradigm shift she would not felt neglected when she would not have asked her mother if Christine wanted to see her. If Rayona knew that how hard it was raising a child on her own she would probably understood what was going on. Her mom did really l
If Christine would have seen things differently as a child, she might have encountered fewer problems with Ida. Christine would have known that she is not really Aunt Ida s daughter and Aunt Ida is doing a favor for Christine. Also Christine would not have minded Ida treating Lee better. Ida did not treat Christine as well because Ida did not want to get too close to Christine because she was afraid that Clara would come back and take her away and if she did Ida would be heart broken.
The priest came to take Rayona to a camping trip up in the woods and the priest told Ida that the other kids were already up there. Once they arrived at the site they went on a boat and the priest started raping her. This was the reason Rayona ran away. Now if Christine knew she probably would not have said, Aunt Ida said you walked out with not even a note good-bye. She was a crazy woman for two days until that priest came to tell her you went back home. I called Charlene, everybody, even Elgin, but nobody knew a damn thing about you. Your no goddamn good
Because of a paradigm shift, I came to a deeper understanding the characters behavior. I was also able to comprehend their emotions more fully. Before being aware of what was really happening, I viewed the characters action and attitudes with an outlook that was much less charitable.
As a result of having read this book, I have learned to with hold judgment of others when I am not in possession of all the facts relating to the incident. I am also aware that I probably do not know all the information if I have not talked to others about the situation. In summary, I am much more aware of the need to find out all of the details about a given situation before judging the people involved.
I once encountered a situation were I did not have a paradigm shift. It happened three years ago when my cousins were moving to New York. I thought they were moving because my aunt s husband just wanted to leave and go to New York with his family. However, this was not the case. They moved because my aunt s husband did not have a good business in Los Angeles but when they moved to New York his business started booming. Having questioned my aunt would have helped me reveal the real answer. Had Rayona and Christine also probed deeper they might have had better lives.
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