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Jemez is a pueblo in New Mexico, as well as one name for the Indigenous language of that area (also called Towa). Abel and his family members belong to the Jemez Pueblo, and Francisco often speaks in the Jemez language.
Jemez Quotes in House Made of Dawn
The House Made of Dawn quotes below are all either spoken by Jemez or refer to Jemez. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Prologue Quotes
Dypaloh. There was a house made of dawn. It was made of pollen and of rain, and the land was very old and everlasting. There were many colors on the hills, and the plain was bright with different-colored clays and sands. Red and blue and spotted horses grazed in the plain, and there was a dark wilderness on the mountains beyond. The land was still and strong. It was beautiful all around.
Abel was running.
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The novel opens with the word “dypaloh,” the Jemez equivalent to the English phrase “once upon a time”––in other words, a word that introduces a story. The story acknowledges that it is a story, but that does not mean it does not contain truth, or that it is unimportant. This opening also pays close attention to the landscape, and in fact introduces the features of the natural world before introducing the protagonist. Abel, the main character, is introduced in the context of the Southwestern landscape, establishing the importance of nature and of Abel’s personal relationship to the natural world. 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 debit
2. The Longhair, July 21 Quotes
[Abel’s] father was a Navajo, they said, or a Sia, or an Isleta, an outsider anyway, which made him and his mother and Vidal somehow foreign and strange. Francisco was the man of the family, but even […] the boy could sense his grandfather’s age, just as he knew that his mother was going to die of her illness. It was nothing he was told, but he knew it anyway and without understanding, as he knew already the motion of the sun and the seasons.
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Abel’s sense of isolation begins at a young age, as he feels alienated among his own people due to his father’s identity as an outsider. Though later chapters demonstrate that the Jemez people of Walatowa live in harmony with surrounding Indigenous tribes and nations, those other peoples are still outsiders. Abel’s father is one such outsider, and that alien status extends to his family, which establishes why Abel struggles to form meaningful connections even before he leaves Walatowa. Although Abel is the protagonist, the novel does not often explicitly relate Abel’s interior monologue to readers, and so this explanation of 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 ip
5. The Longhair, July 28 Quotes
The people of the town have little need. They do not hanker after progress and have never changed their essential way of life. Their invaders were a long time in conquering them; and now, after four centuries of Christianity, they still pray in Tanoan to the old deities of the earth and sky and make their living from the things that are and have always been within their reach; while in the discrimination of pride they acquire from their conquerors only the luxury of example. They have assumed the names and gestures of their enemies, but have held onto their own, secret souls; and in this there is a resistance and an overcoming, a long outwaiting.
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In this overview of the people of Walatowa, the omniscient narrator explains how holding onto tradition is a form of resistance. “Progress” is positioned as a colonialist pursuit that disrespects and devalues the Jemez people’s “essential way of life.” This perspective reframes a common racist, colonialist narrative that demeans Native Americans for being supposedly backwards or primitive. It asserts instead that the “progress”—of which European colonizers and their descendants are so proud—is not inherently good or valuable; in fact, holding to tradition instead of chasing progress is what makes Indigenous nations strong. This passage acknowledges the violent imposition of colonial 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. Perferendis consectetur et.
12. The Dawn Runner, February 28 Quotes
He was running, and his body cracked open with pain, and he was running on. He was running and there was no reason to run but the running itself and the land and the dawn appearing. […] He saw the slim black bodies of the runners in the distance, gliding away without sound through the slanting light and the rain. […] His legs buckled and he fell in the snow. The rain fell around him in the snow and he saw his broken hands […]. And he got up and ran on. He was alone and running on. […] Pure exhaustion laid hold of his mind, and he could see at last without having to think. He could see the canyon and the mountains and the sky.
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After Francisco’s death, Abel runs into the plains to run the race of the dead, a tradition his grandfather taught him. He honors Francisco by finally embracing the traditions his grandfather valued, after spending the story torn between Jemez traditions and the lifestyles expected in urban America. Abel honors his late grandfather by following in Francisco’s footsteps as a runner. One of Francisco’s passions as a young man was running, which helped him connect with his community and his religion. Caring for the dying Francisco forced Abel to develop into a man mature enough to look after someone else in 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. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta i
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Jemez Term Timeline in House Made of Dawn
The timeline below shows where the term Jemez appears in House Made of Dawn. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
The prologue opens with the word “dypaloh,” the Jemez equivalent to the English “once upon a time”––a word that begins a story. In an...
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11. The Dawn Runner, February 27
...of unconsciousness, Francisco speaks and sings in a fractured mix of Spanish and the native Jemez language. His disjointed speech recalls the race he won as a young man and calls...
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12. The Dawn Runner, February 28
...sing of the house made of dawn. The story concludes with the word “Qtsedaba,” the Jemez equivalent of “the end.”
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