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Reverend Tosamah, also known as the Priest of the Sun, is a Kiowa priest in Los Angeles who holds Pan-Indigenous sermons for Native Americans in the city. He is educated and lives away from his ancestral reservation, which gives him a feeling of superiority over “primitive” Native Americans like Abel. Tosamah is amused by Abel’s apparent lack of civilization, giving him the nickname “Longhair” to poke fun at Abel’s distance from American modernity. He speaks about Abel as if he is a symbol of colonization’s failure rather than an individual person. This frustrates Abel so much that he eventually snaps and physically attacks Tosamah, ending their tenuous friendship. Although Tosamah eschews Christianity as a colonialist “scheme” and presides over traditional peyote ceremonies, Ben notes that Tosamah is not connected to Indigenous spirituality in the way he would be if he’d grown up on a reservation.
Reverend John Big Buff Tosamah Quotes in House Made of Dawn
The House Made of Dawn quotes below are all either spoken by Reverend John Big Buff Tosamah or refer to Reverend John Big Buff Tosamah. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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8. The Priest of the Sun, January 26 Quotes
“And in his hurry he said too much. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ It was the Truth, all right, but it was more than the Truth. The Truth was overgrown with fat, and the fat was God. The fat was John’s God, and God stood between John and the Truth. […] He had said all there was to say, everything, but he went on. ‘In the beginning was the word….’ Brothers and sisters, that was the Truth […]
[O]ld John was a white man, and the white man has his ways. […] He talks about the Word. He talks through it and around it. […] And in all of this he subtracts the Truth.’”
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In his sermon to the congregants of the Holiness Pan-Indian Rescue, Tosamah discusses the spiritual significance of Truth. He believes that language is the key to expressing Truth, but overusing language cheapens it and dilutes its connection to Truth. Tosamah insists that the Biblical John struck at the heart of Truth when he wrote “In the beginning was the word,” but then John continued to write after that, weakening his message. This, Tosamah argues, is the flaw of white culture and religion. White people talk “through” and “around” the Word that leads to Truth, unlike Native Americans, who honor the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. M
When he had told his story once, simply, Abel refused to speak. […] That was good, for he should not have known what more to say. Word by word by word these men were disposing of him in language, their language, and they were making a bad job of it.
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When Abel is put on trial for killing the albino man, he finds himself unable and unwilling to navigate the court system. He views the murder he committed as a reasonable, justified act, but he can’t express that to the court. The values that prompted him to violence are Jemez values, while the court operates in English as an agent of colonialist bureaucracy. Abel’s belief that he only needs to tell his story once, “simply”, also echoes Tosamah’s sermon on the differing approaches to storytelling and language taken by white and Native American people. Abel uses words “simply” and straightforwardly Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum volu
10. The Night Chanter, February 20 Quotes
We went up there on the hill, him and me, with Tosamah and Cruz. There were a lot of Indians up there, and we really got going after a while. […] Somebody built a fire, and we heated the drums until they were good and you could really hear them. Mercedes Tenorio had some turtle shells and she started doing a stomp dance.
You can forget about everything up there. […] We could see one whole side of the city, all the way to the water, but we couldn’t hear anything down there. All we could hear was the drums and the singing.
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To celebrate Abel’s last night in Los Angeles, Ben, Tosamah, and Cruz bring him to a party outside the city. As the novel continues to explore different modes of storytelling, this chapter is told entirely from Ben Benally’s first-person perspective. This shows the reader an insider’s perspective on Native American urban life, which contrasts with Abel’s perspective as an outsider to that world. This party represents an escape from that urban life, which the book establishes as stifling and lonely. The Native American partygoers physically distance themselves from Los Angeles, and though the city remains visible, the festivities drown it Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi nec
He was a longhair, like Tosamah said. You know, you have to change. That’s the only way you can live in a place like this. You have to forget about the way it was, how you grew up and all. Sometimes it’s hard, but you have to do it. Well, he didn’t want to change, I guess, or he didn’t know how. […] He was going to get us all in trouble, Tosamah said. Tosamah sizes him up right away and warned me about him. But, you know, Tosamah doesn’t understand either. He talks pretty big all the time, and he’s educated, but he doesn’t understand.
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Tosamah describes Abel as a “longhair” to poke fun at his stereotypically Native American traits, with the word “longhair” evoking the image of a man who retains his traditional long hair rather than cutting it to assimilate with Western styles. Ben is in favor of assimilation, since he, like Milly, holds an unfounded faith in American way of life. He does not gloss over the difficulty of assimilation; he understands that it is an act of sacrifice, of one’s background, identity, and past. However, Ben also believes this sacrifice to be worth it in order to live “in a place Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores
“They gave him every advantage. […] But was he grateful? Hell, no, man, he was too dumb to be civilized. So what happened? They let him alone at last. They thought he was harmless. […] But it didn’t turn out that way. He turned out to be a real primitive sonuvabitch, and the first time he got hold of a knife he killed a man. That must have embarrassed the hell out of them.
“[…] They put that cat away, man. They had to. It’s part of the Jesus scheme. They, man. They put all of us renegades, us diehards, away sooner or later.”
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Tosamah sees Abel less as a human being and more as a representative of how colonialism has failed. He disparages Abel as “dumb” and “primitive,” mocking both Abel and colonialism’s attempts to force “civilization” upon people resistant to it. According to Tosamah, Abel’s “primitive” nature overpowers his military training and renders him useless to the colonial institution. Then, when the colonial machine loosens its grip on him, Abel immediately resorts to mindless violence. Tosamah is entertained by this perceived primitivism, celebrating it as an embarrassment to agents of colonialism (in this case, the American justice system). He sees himself as Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam o
[Tosamah] doesn’t know how it is when you grow up out there someplace. […] You grow up in the night, and there are a lot of funny things going on, things you don’t know how to talk about. A baby dies, or a good horse. You get sick, or the corn dries up for no good reason. Then you remember something that happened the week before, something that wasn’t right. You heard an owl, maybe, or you saw a funny kind of whirlwind […]. And then you know. You just know. Maybe your aunt or your grandmother was a witch. Maybe you knew she was […]. You just know, and you can’t help being scared.
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Though Tosamah is a priest of the pan-Indigenous peyote religion, he is dismissive of many Pueblo superstitions and spiritual beliefs. Ben attributes this scorn to Tosamah’s disconnect from the pueblos themselves. Throughout the book, Indigenous characters display a deep, often religious connection to their homelands. This connection allows Pueblo people to see magic in their lands and their communities that is not obvious to outsiders. This magic is as much a source of fear as a source of wonder. Ben often takes comfort in his religious beliefs, but he “can’t help being scared” of witches and the unexplainable, unspeakable “funny Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Pe
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Reverend John Big Buff Tosamah Character Timeline in House Made of Dawn
The timeline below shows where the character Reverend John Big Buff Tosamah appears in House Made of Dawn. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
8. The Priest of the Sun, January 26
Reverend John Big Bluff Tosamah, also known as the Priest of the Sun, lives with his disciple Cruz above a...
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Tosamah blames John and his followers for overcomplicating God’s Truth with their wordy gospel. Tosamah tells...
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Tosamah tells the congregation an ancient story that his grandmother taught him, emphasizing the durability of...
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Back at the chapel, Tosamah prepares his congregation for a peyote ceremony by explaining the botanical properties of the peyote...
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9. The Priest of the Sun, January 27
The entirety of this chapter comes in the form of one of Tosamah’s sermons. He lovingly describes the landscape of his native Oklahoma, including a landmark known as...
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Tosamah describes a visit he took to his grandmother’s grave. His grandmother, Aho, lived during the...
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In Tosamah’s sermon, he describes seeing Devils Tower (a butte that stands over the prairies). Tosamah believes...
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Tosamah discusses Aho’s reverence for the sun. As a child, she attended the last Kiowa sun...
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Tosamah recalls the wise old men who used to visit Aho’s house. They are severe, quiet,...
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10. The Night Chanter, February 20
Ben’s thoughts turn to the previous night. In his memory, he, Abel, Tosamah, and Tosamah’s disciple Cruz go to a social event on a hill outside the city....
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...that Abel is unlucky and could never fit in in Los Angeles. He notes that Tosamah has called Abel a “longhair,” which prompts Ben to remember another conversation with Tosamah. The...
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Abel’s life begins a downward spiral. Fed up with Tosamah’s comments about “longhairs,” Abel attacks the priest. He gets so drunk afterward that he misses...
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...compares Abel’s silent fixation on the incident with his inability to forget his fight with Tosamah. After this night, Abel becomes even more withdrawn and distant.
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...He believes that the policies of Relocation and Termination are designed to help Indigenous people. Tosamah has derided these policies to Ben, but Ben no longer trusts the priest’s judgment. As...
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