Papers on "Zu?i and Navajo Spiritual Practices in Hillerman's Dance Hall of the Dead" and similar term paper topics

Paper #022642 :: Zu?i and Navajo Spiritual Practices in Hillerman's Dance Hall of the Dead
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Joe Leaphorn, Navajo detective learns more about Zu?i religious traditions and compares what he learns with his own beliefs, rituals, and practices.

Written in 2002; 3,430 words; 8 sources; MLA; $ 97.95

Paper Summary:

This essay presents a comparison of Zu?i and Navajo religious rituals, burial practices, and beliefs in an afterlife as revealed in Tony Hillerman's novel, Dance Hall of the Dead. While investigating the murder of twelve year old Zu?i, Ernesto Cata, who was scheduled to perform an important role in the Zu?i Shalako festival, "the most holy period of the Zu?i year," Joe Leaphorn must analyze various facets of Zu?i religion including gods, Kachinas, rituals, beliefs and dances. He naturally compares these concepts with his own Navajo beliefs. Numerous scholarly sources are utilized to illuminate the comparisons.

From the Paper:

Tony Hillerman's long time protagonist Joe Leaphorn is himself a Navajo tribesman. In the novel, Dance Hall of the Dead, Leaphorn, a Navajo policeman, investigates the murder of a young Zu?i. In the process of his investigation, Leaphorn offers a comparison of his own Navajo religion with that of the Zu?i. In an Author's Note at the beginning of the novel, Hillerman states that the "setting is genuine." He confirms that the Village of Zu?i and Ramah Navajo reservation exist in reality side by side and states that his depiction of these two cultures is accurate to the best of his ability, though the characters are fictional. Hillerman further states: "The view the reader receives of the Shalako religion is as it might be seen by a Navajo with an interest in ethnology. It does not pretend to be more than that." What Hillerman is saying is that no one, outside an initiated practitioner in a Native American religion can really comprehend the true significance of it's beliefs and rituals. Modesty aside, however, Hillerman in this novel makes an excellent beginning in differentiating between spiritual beliefs of Zu?i and Navajo. Thus the thesis of this essay is that in Tony Hillerman's novel, Dance Hall of the Dead, Zu?i religion can be seen to be extensively different from the religion of the Navajo's in the two tribes' rituals, burial practices, and beliefs in an afterlife. Outside sources will be used to confirm and expand the understanding of these varied spiritual practices.

Tags: American Indians religion

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