Ariana Mustakis

04/27/17

Mrs.Dunne

Period 9

Text Analysis

There are multiple ideas about what a main idea of the passage as well as more

than one literary device that could be used to help develop it. The main idea of the

passage was about the life of the Navajo Native American Tribe and their creativity.

There are more than one literary device that the author of the passage uses t develop

the central, or main idea of the passage. The author uses, personification, imagery and

similes throughout the passage. The narrator, as written, uses different diction

throughout the passage to help develop the main idea of it. With the author sentences,

he includes interesting phrases about the traditions of the Navajo Native American

Indian tribe. Shonto W. Begay, the author of this passage, also writes the passage in

the perspective of a little boy who is part of the tribe which will give the reader

information of his perspective about the tradition and ways of the Navajo Indian Tribe.

One of the literary devices that the author uses to help develop the main idea of the

excerpt from a longer passage is simile. Simile is used more than once throughout the
passage. The first use of simile is when he starts, This anticipation is like grass in the

paths of a distant approaching thunderstorm. The author is comparing light to an

upcoming thunderstorm. After reading this simile, there was an attempt to conceive

why he compare light to an upcoming thunderstorm? Which was used to answer the

question, was there a single possibility that the Navajo Indians praised the sunrise

when they occurred every single day as it starts a new, fresh day to garden and hunt

for their tribe? What this represents as the main idea is part of the customs of this

specific Native American Indian tribe. Another simile that the author uses to develop

the central idea is when he says if, it is to survive, lest we become brittle and blow

away like shells of dry pion nuts. The author compares the tribes absent destiny

from their grandfathers to dry shells. The simile shows that the tribe carries out their

destiny from their elders as a part of their culture. If they do not follow their destiny,

then their faith will be no more. The use of similes, in the passage, The View From the

Mesa: Source of Navajo Creativity by Shonto W. Begay is a way that the author

develops the main idea.

While there there other literary devices the author used to develop the main idea of

the passage, the use of simile is one of the many literary devices that the author of this

passage used to develop the main idea of the passage. The central purpose of the

passage was to share the customs and creativity of the Navajo Indian tribe.