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    Eli Sirota - Copy of N

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    The story "Turtle Meat" follows an old Native American man named Homer who lives on a farm with his friend Amalia. During a fishing trip, Homer catches a snapping turtle that represents wisdom and longevity. When he kills the turtle, it symbolizes him letting go of these qualities as he ages. Later, Homer finds out Amalia has been sent to a retirement home due to declining health, paralleling his loss of the turtle. The relationship between humans and nature is central to Native American culture and literature, as animals can represent aspects of the human experience.

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    Eli Sirota - Copy of N

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    98 views11 pages
    The story "Turtle Meat" follows an old Native American man named Homer who lives on a farm with his friend Amalia. During a fishing trip, Homer catches a snapping turtle that represents wisdom and longevity. When he kills the turtle, it symbolizes him letting go of these qualities as he ages. Later, Homer finds out Amalia has been sent to a retirement home due to declining health, paralleling his loss of the turtle. The relationship between humans and nature is central to Native American culture and literature, as animals can represent aspects of the human experience.

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    eli sirota - copy of n

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    The story "Turtle Meat" follows an old Native American man named Homer who lives on a farm with his friend Amalia. During a fishing trip, Homer catches a snapping turtle that represents wisdom and longevity. When he kills the turtle, it symbolizes him letting go of these qualities as he ages. Later, Homer finds out Amalia has been sent to a retirement home due to declining health, paralleling his loss of the turtle. The relationship between humans and nature is central to Native American culture and literature, as animals can represent aspects of the human experience.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    98 views11 pages

    Eli Sirota - Copy of N

    Uploaded by

    api-692341185
    The story "Turtle Meat" follows an old Native American man named Homer who lives on a farm with his friend Amalia. During a fishing trip, Homer catches a snapping turtle that represents wisdom and longevity. When he kills the turtle, it symbolizes him letting go of these qualities as he ages. Later, Homer finds out Amalia has been sent to a retirement home due to declining health, paralleling his loss of the turtle. The relationship between humans and nature is central to Native American culture and literature, as animals can represent aspects of the human experience.

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    Turtle Meat

    Story

    ● Objective summary of the story: An old Native American man named Homer, lived with his longtime friend

    Amalia on a farm. Throughout the whole story he is fighting with his self worth after he did not inherit his

    fathers land. Now he lives on a farm with his friend Amalia. One day on the farm he decides to go fishing on

    the pond on the farm, and after a successful day of catching fish he sees a snapping turtle who represents the

    wisdom, longevity, safety, and health in his life. He tries to catch this turtle that ends up biting him, which then

    leads to him having to kill it. After the fishing trip, he comes back to the house to a bunch of people yelling at

    him for letting his longtime friend Amalia go to a retirement home due to her poor health. It shows us that him

    killing the turtle represented him letting go of all of his wisdom, longevity, and safety as he got old.
    Theme Throughout the Story

    ● In the story “Turtle Meat” Joseph Bruchac demonstrates the symbolism of the turtle who
    represents wisdom, longevity, safety, and health. The main character then goes on to kill the
    turtle amidst his fishing trip which symbolizes him losing all of these qualities in his life.

    ● The relationship between nature and humans in native american culture demonstrates how
    native americans use animals for wisdom and to explain the world around them.
    Cultural Background + Author Background

    ● The author was Abanaki

    ● Cultural values - The Abanaki are deeply religious and their core belief is that
    the earth has always existed which they call the “Grandmother” and that the
    “Owner” created all life on the planet.

    ● Most Abanki worked to hunt and collect fur which they later used to trade, other
    occupations include a builder and doctor.
    Essential Question
    ● What roles do nature, spirituality, and the relationship between humans and the natural
    world play in Native American literature?

    The relationship between humans and nature in Native American literature is used to understand their way of
    life by utilizing nature to symbolize aspects of human life. For example in “Turtle Meat” the turtle represents
    youth and wisdom.

    ● How do Native American writers address the historical and contemporary challenges faced
    by their communities, such as displacement, cultural erasure, and social injustices, in their
    literary works?

    Native American writers address the historical and contemporary challenges in Turtle meat by showing
    Amalia taken away due to her poor health. Homer faces social injustices when Amalia gets taken away
    because they assume that he can't take care of her well enough or, by him being stripped of his youth when
    killing the turtle it can historically symbolize how Native American faced being stripped of their culture in
    reservations.
    Homer Characterization
    ● “He closed his eyes remembering how the turtle held onto his sleeve even after its
    throat was cut and its life was leaking out into the pond.”

    ● This indirect characterization shows that Homer almost feels bad about killing the
    turtle and killing the turtle resembles him letting go of his longevity and wisdom.

    ● “He thought again of Mollie sitting in the rocker and looking out the picture
    window”

    ● The indirect characterization in this part of the story shows us that after his previous
    wife had died, Homer was lonely.
    Amalia Characterization
    ● “She had always been like that… it hadn't stopped her from throwing jake wind out of
    the farm”

    ● This indirect characterization shows how Amalia even though being easily wounded
    physically, was always a strong person mentally

    ● “My legs seem to have locked homer please can you help me get up”

    ● This is more of direct characterization that shows how Amalia is growing old and needs
    support.
    Conflict
    Internal Conflict:

    Homer faces lots of internal conflict because of his growing age and past memories of his
    youth. These memories, some of them sad, forces Homer to relive his glory days. When he
    catches the turtle and kills it he lets all of his youth and longevity go.
    Significant Symbolism
    ● One symbol is the turtle that represents wisdom and longevity. This symbol helps us
    understand the story because we can see that once Homer kills the turtle he kills what
    it represents inside of him.

    ● Another symbol is the horse his dad gave which represents his past. This symbol
    helps us understand the story because the horse was given to Homer in his dad
    inheritance when most of his siblings got nothing. This detail lets the reader know,
    when people cared for him, it meant a great deal to him.
    Final Thoughts
    ● The story was very interesting and very hard to interpret

    ● I liked the story because of the variety of ways you could interpret it and I also liked
    how the symbolism in nature connects to human life
    Works Cited!

    “All Abenaki Info.” Smore, 1 Feb. 2024, www.smore.com/zsz78-james-g.

    Bruchac, Joseph. Turtle Meat. Navajo Community College Press, 1983.

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