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House Made of DawnNovel by N. Scott Momaday

Flashcards for House Made of Dawn

39 cards · 9 characters · 12 key quotes · 6 symbols · 12 literary devices. Nothing is saved and nothing is asked for — close the tab and the deck resets.

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Characters · 9

  1. Abel

    Abel is the fractured protagonist of N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, a young man from the Jemez Pueblo whose life revolves around displacement, trauma, and a desperate quest for wholeness.

    character

  2. Angela St. John

    Angela Grace St. John is a white woman from Los Angeles who comes to Walatowa (Jémez Pueblo) under the pretense of seeking the healing waters, but her true journey is one of self-discovery.

    character

  3. Ben Benally

    Ben Benally is a Navajo man living in Los Angeles and serves as Abel's closest friend, roommate, and narrator of the novel's third section.

    character

  4. Father Olguin

    Father Olguin is the Catholic priest at the Walatowa pueblo in N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn (1968).

    character

  5. Francisco

    Francisco is Abel's maternal grandfather and serves as the moral and cultural anchor of House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday.

    character

  6. John Big Bluff Tosamah

    John Big Bluff Tosamah — who calls himself the "Priest of the Sun" and a peyote roadman — stands out as one of the most intellectually compelling and morally complex characters in N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn.

    character

  7. Martinez

    Martinez is a corrupt motorcycle cop in Los Angeles, serving as a predatory antagonist in the novel's urban setting.

    character

  8. Milly

    Milly is a social worker in Los Angeles and Abel's girlfriend during the novel's urban segment, representing the well-meaning yet ultimately limited impact of assimilationist institutions.

    character

  9. The Albino (Juan Reyes)

    The Albino, known as Juan Reyes, stands out as one of the most intriguing and symbolically loaded characters in N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn.

    character

Key quotes · 12

  1. “There was a house made of dawn. It was made of pollen and of rain, and the land was very old and everlasting.”

    This lyrical passage opens N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968) and serves as both a prologue and a thematic anchor for the entire work.

    Narrator (ceremonial/prologue voice, drawn from the Navajo Night Chant) · Prologue

  2. “He was running, and under his breath he began to sing. There was no sound, and he had no voice; he had only the words of a song.”

    This closing passage from N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn (1968) depicts Abel, the Pueblo protagonist, participating in a dawn race following the death of his grandfather Francisco.

    Abel (narrative voice / third-person narrator) · The Dawn Runner (Epilogue / final section)

  3. “A man who is drunk and alone in the night is a man who has lost his way.”

    This line is from N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968), reflecting on Abel's struggle with spiritual and cultural dislocation.

    Narrative voice / elder figure

  4. “He had lost his place. He had been long ago at the center, had known where he was, had lost his way, had wandered to the end of the earth, was even now reeling on the edge of the void.”

    This passage is from N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968) and is told through close third-person narration that centers on Abel, the Pueblo protagonist.

    Narrator (focalized through Abel) · The Longhair / Part One: Walatowa, Cañon de San Diego, 1945

  5. “The sun rose up on the river and the land. Abel watched it, and he felt the strength of it on his face and hands.”

    This passage is from N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968), told in close third person as Abel watches the sunrise.

    Narrator (focalized through Abel) · The Dawn Runner / Part Four

  6. “He was alone, and he wanted to make a song out of the colored canyon, the way the women of Torreon made songs upon their looms out of colored yarn, but he had not got the right words together.”

    This passage is taken from N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968), told through close third-person narration centered on Abel, the Kiowa-Jemez Pueblo protagonist.

    Narrative voice (focalized through Abel) · The Longhair (Part 1)

  7. “The runners after evil ran as water runs, deep in the channel, in the way of least resistance, no resistance at all.”

    This lyrical passage comes from N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968).

    Narrative voice (close third-person) · The Longhair (Part One)

  8. “In the beginning was the Word. I have taken as my text this evening the opening verse of the Gospel according to Saint John.”

    This quote opens the sermon delivered by the Reverend John Big Bluff Tosamah, known as the "Priest of the Sun," in N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn (1969).

    Reverend John Big Bluff Tosamah · The Night Chanter (Part Two)

  9. “They must know the earth and the sky and the seasons, the way of the land and the way of the rain.”

    This line comes from N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968), which is often seen as a cornerstone of the Native American Renaissance.

    Francisco (narrative voice associated with elder Francisco) · The Longhair / Dawn Runner sections (Part IV)

  10. “The land was still and strong. It was beautiful all around.”

    This lyrical passage comes from N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968), narrated through a close third-person lens focused on Abel, a young Kiowa-Pueblo man returning home from World War II.

    Narrative voice / Abel (focalized perspective)

  11. “His grandfather had spoken to him in the old way, and he had understood.”

    This quiet yet powerful line comes from N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968), seen through the eyes of Abel, the Pueblo/Jemez protagonist.

    Narrator (focalized through Abel)

  12. “You see, the white man has his ways, and they are not our ways. He thinks in a different way, and he talks in a different way.”

    This quote is from N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968).

    Tosamah (the Priest of the Sun) · The Priest of the Sun

Symbols · 6

  1. Fire and Light

    In N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn, fire and light represent the struggle between spiritual wholeness and cultural dislocation.

  2. The Albino

    In N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn, the Albino symbolizes evil, spiritual corruption, and the destructive clash between Abel's Native world and opposing forces.

  3. The Dawn Run

    In N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn, Abel's dawn run represents his quest to reclaim his Indigenous identity and find spiritual wholeness following the trauma of war and displacement.

  4. The Eagle

    In N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn, the eagle symbolizes the deep connection between the Pueblo people and the natural-spiritual world, highlighting the consequences of breaking that connection.

  5. The Land

    In N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn, the Jemez Pueblo and the New Mexico landscape serve as powerful symbols of cultural identity, spiritual wholeness, and a sense of belonging.

  6. The Rooster

    In N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn, the rooster represents the fractured but enduring connection between Abel and his Native heritage.

Literary devices · 12

  1. Imagery

    Momaday's writing is rich with sensory imagery from the Jemez Pueblo landscape.

  2. Symbolism

    The dawn and the act of running stand out as the novel's key symbols, highlighted in both the title and the prologue.

  3. Narrative Poem

    Momaday constructs the novel as a non-linear, multi-perspective narrative that reflects Abel's fragmented consciousness and the disrupted flow of Indigenous oral tradition.

  4. Prose Poem

    Large portions of House Made of Dawn feel more like prose poetry than traditional narrative prose.

  5. Allusion

    The title and the song lyrics reference the Navajo Night Chant (Nightway ceremony), a healing ritual for those who feel out of sync with the world.

  6. Dramatic Monologue

    The sections narrated by Tosamah — the Priest of the Sun — and Ben Benally serve as extended dramatic monologues that uncover character through voice as much as through events.

  7. Motif

    The theme of the Word — encompassing language, naming, and the power of speech — threads through every part of the novel.

  8. Juxtaposition

    Momaday contrasts the ceremonial world of Walatowa with the urban displacement of Los Angeles in the middle sections of the novel.

  9. Anaphora

    Anaphora is a key rhythmic tool for Momaday, rooted in the oral traditions of Navajo and Pueblo chants.

  10. Extended Metaphor

    The novel maintains a rich metaphor where Abel's body represents the land, and the land embodies Abel's body.

  11. Pathetic Fallacy

    Momaday uses pathetic fallacy to connect his characters' emotional and spiritual states with the natural world, but he does it in a way that goes beyond mere decoration.

  12. Irony

    Momaday weaves structural and situational irony throughout his narrative.