The Raven and the Sources of Light

Reagan Campbell

August 26^th, 2012

“The Raven and The Sources of Light”

            In The Raven and The Sources of Light, the Raven has human like characteristics when he speaks. “I just know the way! I will change myself into something very small and wait in the stream to be caught.” (Page 2) This is an example of anthropomorphism. Another Native American theme shown in this myth was food. The driving force of the Raven was to get the light back from the Great Chief so the food will still grow. If the world continued on with no light the Haida people would not survive due to lack of crops. Once the Great Chief’s daughter drinks the seed in which Raven has transformed into, Raven is reborn into a child. This shows the importance of children in the Native American myths. The Great Chief valued his grandchild and gave him everything he wished for. This myth is an example of an Accretion or Conjunction myth because when Raven decides he is going to rescue the light, he collects pebbles for his long journey. As Raven continues across the water, he drops pebbles into the water that eventually turn into islands where he can rest. The pebbles the Raven drops turn into islands. This shows the births of land from another object. This could also be a Dues Faber myth because Raven creates the world we live in today by rescuing the light.