The People, the West: A Film by Steven Ives.

Watch the video The People, the West: A Film by Steven Ives. It is almost an hour-and-a-half long, so, if you
do not have time to watch the entire video, at least click through the section of the PowerPoint presentation
Native American, Puritan, and Slave Literature that covers Native American oral tradition. Keep this
PowerPoint open and use it as a reference as you answer the questions about the story.
Watch The Iroquois: The Oral Tradition. Pay close attention to the story “The World on the Turtle’s Back,”
which is told in the video.
Navigate to the threaded discussion below. Copy and paste the following questions and your answers to each
of them into your initial post:
How does the experience of listening to a story differ from reading a story? For instance, what does the fact
that the story has been passed down for generations imply about the consistency in the details of the story?
When told in the native language, Native American stories are typically rhythmic, like a poem or song, and are
told to the beat of drums. Why do you think their stories were told this way?
Give an example of an important lesson that you learned as a child through a song, poem, or chant. Why do
you think this information was taught this way?
According to the story, what did the world look like at the beginning?
Creation myths often contain explanations for natural occurrences that have significance for the culture. List
two natural occurrences that are explained in the story.
Cultural myths also reveal the values of a particular culture. Identify two things that the Iroquois value, as
revealed in this story, and explain the evidence from the story that led you to this conclusion.
Based on this story, would you say that the Iroquois viewed the nature of humans as good, evil, or a mixture of
both? Explain the evidence from the story that led you to this conclusion.
Read Genesis chapters1-3. What similarities can you identify between the Iroquois creation myth and the
biblical creation story? Alternatively, you may identify similarities between the other stories in the video and
other biblical stories.
Considering that the bible was written on a continent that was completely separated from North America at the
time when each story was created, how might these similarities be explained?
Use the Glossary of literary terms to identify two literary devices, conventions, or components that are used in
“The World on the Turtle’s Back” and explain how each is used in the story.