One of the facets of Linda Hogan’s novel Power that was particularly fascinating to me was the depiction of the division between culture. Omishto is a Native American that is living in both modern society and lives within her old tribal ways. I thought that Hogan did an exceptional job describing the way that Omishto had to choose between either fully adopting western culture or selecting the tribal way of life. One of the parts of the book that stood out to me was the disapproval of the other community members when she decided to accept the tribal ways. Hogan describes that before Omishto killed the panther that other Native Americans wanted their children to follow Omishto’s example and Omishto was one of the children that were described as someone who could make it out and make something of herself. However, after Ama and Omishto killed the panther, the mothers who horrified by Omishto and wanted their children to have nothing to do with her. I thought this exemplified the way that Native Americans were forced for multiple years to pick between living in the native ways or changing and moving into western culture. However, as time has passed the Native American reserves and culture has become more and more diminished. I found it extremely interesting that the other Native Americans would condemn a child for choosing to live in the more traditional ways than to accept and support her decision.
Another intriguing aspect to me in the novel was the underlying issue about the idea of indigenous religious rights. In Ama’s trial, one of the critical points in her defense was that in the treaty it gave the tribe the right to kill the panther on Native American reserve. I think this issue is something that can be seen worldwide in the realm of conservation. The Maasai tribe in Kenya has a ritual that for a boy to become a man that they have to kill a lion. This practice has been sensationalized and has made the Maasai tribe out to seem like they are against conservation and are ruining the lion population. However, the Maasai tribe was there for much longer than the conservationists, and before the land was turned into agriculture, there was a healthy lion population, but now with the decrease in lion habitat, the population has plummeted, and the Maasai are seen as being against conservation. I struggle with the notion that the the Maasai and other indigenous groups are said to be against conservation interests because their religious beliefs, but their religious ideals are not the catalyst in the decrease of wild population of animals. I think that Linda Hogan subtle slips this idea into the novel and it forces the reader to confront the initial feeling of disgust about the death of an endangered species but also forces the reader to look deeper into the issue and see that it is not all on the indigenous community. I think that Bill Rogow said it best when he said: “if the white man had the same commitment to preserving wildlife as the Indians, there would be no endangered species.”
