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Stream of Consciousness
Key Examples in House Made of Dawn
1. The Longhair, July 20
Explanation and Analysis:
The novel's style is poetic and nonlinear. Momaday lingers over images, especially when it comes to the natural world, in a way that makes it seem as though time moves in a circle instead of a straight line. One example occurs in Chapter 1, when Momaday sets the scene and introduces Francisco:
On the town side of the river there are a few orchards and patches of melons and grapes and squash. Every six or seven years there is a great harvest of piñones [...]. That harvest, like the deer in the mountains, is the gift of God.
It is hot in the end of July. The old man Francisco drove a team of roan mares near the place where the river bends around a cottonwood. The sun shone on the sand and the river and the leaves of the tree, and waves of heat shimmered from the stones.
Related Themes:
