Vision Quest History

In Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, it is stated that a quest consists of five things: a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges on the way, and a real reason to go there. In this particular situation, there is not just one quester, but instead and entire family: the Joads. They are headed to California in search of a steady job that will support them. On their way, they face money problems, car troubles, deaths, and issues with the government. The real reason to go there is always self knowledge in the eyes of Thomas Foster. The family learns that they must stick together and help each other and others out in order to survive. Without the help of their neighbors they would have perished of hunger and never would have made it into California. Unfortunately, they never actually reach the point where they have steady and happy lives. This is their Holy Grail. They were journeying toward something that they were never going to find in

In Native American religions a dance called the Sun Dance is used as the rite of passage for young men. You men would stick a rod though their peck and dance around a pole of three days as a way to become connected with the Spirit World. The pole is used to show strength and the boys would quickly have to get the rod out by dancing. Another rite of passage in Native Americans religions is the Vision Quest. Young boys and girls partake in this to find their spirit animals. They go into the woods mostly naked and sometimes covered in body paint and fast in the woods for days. Eventually a spirit comes to them, most of the time as an animal but it can be in human form, and is said to be their guardian

In Thomas C. Foster’s guide, How to Read Literature Like a Professor Revised Edition, Foster presents readers with the knowledge that a trip in literature has the potential to become something much deeper, a quest for self-knowledge. Foster lists five very important aspects that every quest will have which are, a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials en route, and a real reason to go there. The distinction between stated reason to go there and real reason to go there are that typically the quester goes along their journey and discovers an intimate detail about themselves that relates nothing to the stated reason. It gives the quester a better sense

As Thomas Foster tells us, every quest has five different items. They consist of a quester, a place to go, a stated reason for going, challenges and trials on the way, and a real reason to go there. In the book The Hummingbird’s Daughter, by Luis Alberto Urrea, we find all these elements. The first, the quester, is our main character, Teresita Urrea. Her “place to go” is not a physical place, we learn, but rather her purpose in life. Teresita’s purpose is to bring peace: Teresita becomes a saint, and helps to bring peace between the Spanish people and the Natives who both inhabit Mexico. Her reason for bringing this peace is simply her desire to help others- and when she becomes a saint,

Indigenous traditions represent the oldest cultures which associate the quest archetype with a search for real knowledge of the external world, which was otherwise unavailable to people with little technology to search the external environment empirically. Indigenous quest characteristics come through an active need to learn about a harsh world in order to survive adulthood. With such cultures having limited methods of acquiring knowledge of the external world, the quest then serves as a function to show the development of knowledge needed in order to survive in indigenous society

The five aspects of the quest are the quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials on the way, and the real reason to go there. When I read The Secret Life Of the Bees the quester was Lily, she was looking to go to Tiburon to find out more information about her mother and the past. On her journey she runs away from her father, falls in love, and becomes a part of a family. The real reason behind her journey is to get away from her father and feel connected with a family.

One of the rituals was the Death Ceremony. “Native Americans celebrated death, knowing that it was an end to life on Earth, but, believing it to be the start of life in the Spirit World” (“Native…”). This ceremony was preformed to make sure that their soul would not star and roam the earth. The different tribes did different things in these rituals, some gave the dead food or herbs. Others may give gifts to make sure the trip to the afterlife was safe. They would also dress them in traditional clothes and wash them with yucca suds and putting prayer feathers that were tied around the forehead and then they were buried with some of their favorite things. Another ritual was the healing ritual which were often held to bring people to harmony within themselves. There are some differences from tribe to tribe in what they do in the ritual but some would sing and dance and it could last for days and others would use the medicine wheel and a hoop that was sacred to

In Thomas Foster’s book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, it is written that there are five aspects of a quest: “the quester; a place to go; a stated reason to go there; challenges and trials en route; a real reason to go there” (Foster 3). In the book The Poisonwood Bible, the Price family were the questers going to the Congo to bring Christianity to the villagers. During their stay at the Congo, they faced hate, disease, violence, and even the death of Ruth May. Although the whole family was attempting to bring Christianity to the villagers, Nathan Price’s real goal was to baptize all the villagers.

The Native Americans had settled in the land years before the arrival of the Euro-Americans. Hundreds of Native American groups occupied the land, each tribe with its separate culture, language, and spiritual way-of-life. Despite the many differences, “there was also considerable interaction and dialogue among tribes about spiritual concepts. Through the common language of sign-talk, ideas could be shared and compared among Indian tribes including the spiritual concepts that are an intricate part of the Indian’s everyday experience” (Treat). The Native American culture was primarily oral. Almost all tribes believed in a cosmology or creation myth regarding how this world and the things inhabiting it came to be. Most native peoples worshiped an all-powerful, all-knowing “Master Spirit.” They also revered and placated a host of lesser spirits in hopes of receiving assistance in their daily interactions with the world around them. Often times shamans, who were believed to have supernatural powers through visions, were called upon to communicate and implore the spirits to ensure a good harvest, or victory in warfare, or healing, or interpreting dreams, or other matters of great

The experience of vision seeking was characteristic of many but not all tribes. The seeker was sent out after having been instructed on what to expect. The person was often purified with a sweat bath and told to fast and pray for four days. After that, the nature of vision questing differs among tribes. In some areas vision quests were expected of all males; in some areas females were also expected

The Blind Side was released on November 20, 2009 by Warner Bro. Pictures, and directed by John Lee Hancock. The film is based on a book, “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game” and a true story. The Blind Side is a semi-biographical sports drama film about a neglected and troubled African-American boy named Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) growing up in the ghetto with his drug addict mother. Due to his mother’s drug abuse problem, Michael is forced into the foster care system. Michael would always run away from his foster home leaving him homeless. One night, while Michael is looking for a warm place to sleep, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) an upper class Caucasian female finds Michael and decides to give him a place to sleep in her home. Although many of her friends and family judged her for her decision of taking an African-American child into her home, Leigh Anne provided Michael with an education, home family, food, and clothes. She gave him the opportunity to have a future and to become his own person. Adults from the age range of thirteen and older will enjoy The Blind Side because of its cast,

Almost every Native American tribe does or did a vision quest. A vision quest is a tradition to celebrate important life events. People might stay a night or two in isolation or they could extend it by fasting for four to seven days (Vision Quest Gale). People can receive what they think is self power from a spirit which then becomes their spirit animal. They most commonly wear the tokens of their spirit animal to show its importance (Krown).

For the purpose of this paper, we will examine the similarities and differences between Irish Celtic and Native American shamans and their position in their respective cultures.

A Quest consists of five elements: 1. a quester, so to speak, or the person who is on a quest. 2. a place to go. 3. a stated reason to actually go there. 4. challenges and trials on the way. 5. a real reason to go there.

a.___A vision quest is a A vision quest is a spiritual journey, a period of solitude and reflection during which one searches for inner revelations that will provide meaning and direction for life. Also, “in which a person would go to some lonely spot to fast and beg for aid; men might also mortify the flesh, though women usually did not. That is what a vision quest is. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________