A Long Days Dying by William Eastlike

The short story is a friendly confrontation between an Indian and a White man, more
precisely between two different cultures and systems of thought, in the background
of a possibly tragic incident. While Little Sant, helplessly stuck in quicksand, reflects
on Indian beliefs in what he believes to be the last hours of his life, his father Big
Sant and Rabbit Stockings, a Navajo Indian, try to find him. In this story, elements
of Native American religion and identity are presented and compared with white
skepticism and European sense of progress. In this essay, I intend to highlight these
elements and to analyze in which way they are brought forward by the author.

First of all, the story introduces the element of the great spirit, which is
quintessential to Native American spirituality. Hartley Burr Alexander discusses the
idea that every creature is endowed with a certain degree of power. In this sense,
Navajo Indians have guardian spirits: The Indians still insisted on getting their
inspiration from their guardian spirit, which in this case is a snake. We also learn
that the guardian spirit has no power if you dont believe in it. The close relationship
between Native Americans and the natural world is emphasized by the different
reactions of Big Sant and Rabbit Stockings in front of the snake. For the Indians, the
rattlesnake is a news bringer, and, as we shall see at the end of the story, a savior,
whereas Big Sant wants to kill it.

Another element pertaining to the Native American system of thought is their

relation with time. As it is indicated in this story, for the Indians, the future is now,
this is why they dont plan for the future. Moreover, they dont believe in progress,
because the trouble with this country is, we are overdeveloped. The European
man cannot understand the subtleties of Indian spiritualism because they need
evidence. Example from the text: - This Indian has no evidence for his belief.
when Rabbit Stockings tells him that it must be the quicksand

The story begins with the description of an empty, invisible void, an image which
suggests a world devoid of meaning and lacking the presence of a superior entity
(without faint sign or distant signal). This is, seemingly, the world of the white
man, drained of spirituality.

Conclusion: the ideas pertaining to Indian religion are made fun of and minimized by
the two white characters in the story (in the case of Little Sant, with a break).
However, the story unfolds as a fable and its end is meant to show us that what the
white man may perceive as a superstition can be a vital sign.

If an Indian believes something its called superstition; when a white man believes
something its called progress.
Indians have got a lot of intuition

- Taming the thunder

- worshipping things
- This Indian has no evidence for his belief. when Rabbit Stockings tells him
that it must be the quicksand
- Little Sant crying -> But there is no one, the young man thought. There is no
spirit, no life, no death no death outside this one right here.
- The black horse?
- Hopelessness of the quicksand
- The guardian spirit has no power if you dont believe in it .
- The snake killed Luto
- Luto reincarnated

1. Superstitions
2. Not planning for the future - progress
3.