I Heard The Owl Call My Name
The quote in question 1 reflects Mark?s status in the tribe well. As the quote states Mark eventually became part of the village and the villages became his family.
This however was not an easy accomplishment, for most of Mark?s early period among the villages the villagers were cautious of him and kept their distance from him. This was until one afternoon when returning to the village Mark and Jim stopped the boat to see a run of salmon swimming upriver to spawn in the clear water.
Mark then recited a few lines of prayer about the salmon which the Indians spoke about with great respect to Jim. The salmon in Indian myth is referred to as the swimmer. The salmon prayer is symbolic of the continuous cycle of life and death.
After being in the village for a period Mark begins to realise time has lost its defining contours. When Mark first arrived in the village the future loomed huge, then the present had consumed him, however toward the end Mark states ?…like the raven or bald eagle flying high over the village, must see part of the river that had passed the village that had not yet reached the
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