1. How the World Was Made

This particular story exemplifies Native American literature very well. It shows the different ideas that provide a background for their stories. At the beginning of the story, a water beetle volunteers to look at what is under the water that they inhabit. This is a small example of hospitality from the beetle. The Cherokee country is very mountainous, which in this story is revealed to be due to a great buzzard flying around, and when his wings would flap they would create mountains and valleys. The sun was set in place by the animals by testing out different 'hand-breadths' until they placed it at the perfect height.

There are several more examples like this that show how the world was tweaked until everything was in perfect working order. I think that these examples show that the inhabitants of the world at the time really cared what would happen in the future and sort of planned ahead as they created what we know now as our earth.

Symbolism in The Old Man and the Sea

There are several symbols in The Old Man and the Sea, but the most prevalent to me was Santiago's infatuation with Joe DiMaggio. Not only did Santiago follow his baseball career, he looked up to DiMaggio like a hero. He would always compare his situation to DiMaggio's, or think things through like he thought Joe would. Constantly Santiago would even wonder if what he was doing would make DiMaggio proud of him for his strength or courage. Santiago several times mentioned that during his career that DiMaggio had a bone spur yet worked through it. Whenever Santiago would come across a new challenge he would relate it to the bone spur. Basically, DiMaggio was a symbol of admiration and inspiration for the old man.