Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in House Made of Dawn, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Home, Belonging, and Identity
Nature
Religion, Ceremony, and Tradition
Storytelling
Connection vs. Isolation
Summary
Analysis
The omniscient narrator offers a long, vivid description of the landscape. The narration follows the summertime activities of many native animals, including snakes, foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, and several species of birds. These animals are connected to the land, unlike the “alien and inferior” animals brought to the Americas by European colonists. The indigenous people of the land have a similar connection to it, having occupied the land for 25,000 years. The people are not eager for change, and even after Europeans forced new languages and religion upon them, the people retain their “essential way of life.” This commitment to the past is an act of resistance.
The story continues to emphasize the beauty and richness of the Southwestern American landscape, and it lays out explicitly why many Indigenous people chose to pursue an intentional connection to nature. Native animals have adapted to thrive in their natural environments, and similarly, the novel suggests that Native people are better suited to live on their homelands than colonizers. Native Americans’ do not reject the technology of their colonizers because they are unadvanced, but because they value their traditions more than that technology.
Themes
Abel walks through the canyon above the plain. He considers his return home a failure. He has not said what he wants to say to Francisco. Worse, Abel has lost his connection to his people’s language, robbing him of the ability to pray or sing with them. He finds some peace walking through the canyon, but he lacks the words to articulate its beauty or the beauty of his town. He wants to sing of this beauty, but he can’t.
Though Abel has returned home, he has failed to connect with his loved ones or with the community as a whole. Even while he is surrounded by people, Abel’s isolation persists. Leaving Walatowa distanced Abel from the Jemez language, robbing him of the words he needed to connect.
Themes
Abel approaches the Benevides house. Inside, Angela waits for him. She hears him arrive and start chopping wood, and she listens to the rhythm of his work. Later, she walks to a bathhouse where an attendant gives her a mineral bath. Rejuvenated, Angela returns home and finds Abel on the front stoop. The sun has set, and the air seems colder than it should. Angela brings Abel inside for coffee. She expected to greet him with amusement, but she is only “grateful and chagrined.” She senses that Abel has an instinct for power and sex that she hovers around like a fire.
The contrast between Angela’s social and financial privilege and Abel’s lack of it is exemplified as Angela enjoys a mineral bath while Abel performs manual labor. Despite this inequality between them, Angela loses her sense of control over Abel when she invites him inside. When sex becomes a possibility rather than a fantasy, Abel has the power. As Angela is drawn to Abel, the imagery of fire calls to mind Angela’s self-loathing and desire to burn away her body.
Themes
Angela asks Abel if he finds her beautiful. When he says no, she asks if he would like to have sex with her. He says yes, and the two have sex. Elsewhere, an old man rests after a long day of labor in the fields. His lame leg suggests the man is Francisco. Under the whispers and noises of the plants and wildlife, the old man hears the vibration of an evil presence. He is too old to fear this presence, and he responds only with sadness. The old man walks out of the cornfield, leaving behind the albino man, who watches him from a hidden spot behind the stalks.
Angela and Abel share a mutual passion for each other, but their relationship also enables the tendencies that prevent them from forming meaningful connections, as Angela’s insecurity allows Abel to avoid making himself vulnerable. On the other hand, Francisco connects easily with the natural world and senses the presence of danger. His premonition of evil is the second indication, after Angela’s repulsion during the ceremony earlier, that the albino man is dangerous.
Themes
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