I Heard The Owl Call My Name

I Heard the Owl Call My Name, a novel by Margaret Craven is a very interesting look into the lives of the Native Americans who live in the Canadian wilderness. Their village, Kingcome, is basically alone in this world, cut off from civilization by natural obstacles that can only be overcome with a great effort.

It is with this same effort Craven conveys the sense of almost being in the presence of the tribe and its surroundings. Margaret Craven did an outstanding job giving me visual images of nature in great detail. For example, in the very first paragraph of chapter one, Craven describes in vivid detail the view of the inlet as Mark Brian first travels to the village. Craven is always careful to describe the environment, the mountains, sky, water and the trees. She also describes the animals that are found there. She writes of the "bald eagles fishing for herring" in chapter one and in chapter eleven she writes that "...the eagles and the robins returned to the village...wild geese called...the wise old crow cawed over the river". These ornate words and the way Craven puts then together, paints a good picture in t

These various details of wildlife and the physical surroundings help set the stage for the environment inside the village. The Indian people of Kingcome village were most aware of their place in this world. The Indians knew they were only a small cog in the big machine of nature. In chapter one page nineteen, the bishop describes to Mark that "...the myths are the village and the winds and the rains...the river...salmon...owl...even the mountain goat" are the village. All of this shows that the Indians, or at least the elders, knew their exact place in the scheme of things. This leads to the Indians' worship of natural things. Their former primitive religion, held the earth and Mother Nature in high regard. The people of Kingcome appreciated what they derived from nature. From her they found food, clothing, and shelter, the three basic necessities for survival. The Indians knew that without Mother Nature they could not survive. The elders of the tribe often tried to share these values with the young ones of the tribe, but were often ignored. This frustrated them because in primitive religions traditions and stories are passed from one generation to the next by mouth.

Over time, Mark became more and more comfortable with the Indians and their ways and conversely they became more comfortable with him. Later, the vicar even went as far as attending tribal dances and potlatches and going out with the fishermen on their fishing trips. By this time he had developed concrete friendships with many of the Indians in the tribe. Mark watched as the tribe struggled with the dilemma of sending their children off to the schools of the "white man". These children were being taught the ways of another people and this greatly troubled the elders of the tribe. If no one would learn the ways of the tribe,

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