For Thursday: Knafo, “Waiting on a Whale at the End of the World” (pp.114-128)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: How does the Eskimo’s situation compare with the Cherokee’s in the previous essay? Though they live almost worlds apart, and have very different cultures, what is similar about their experience as indigenous minorities in American culture? Another way of thinking about this is, how might one essay provide context for the other?

Q2: Even though it’s been twenty-one years since the last successful hunt, the members of the tribe refuse to give it up, claiming “it’s who we are” (114). But what does this really mean? How does the hunt shape them even if they don’t catch a whale? What do they learn from it, and what do they want to pass down to their children?

Q3: How has the Eskimo’s contact with Western civilization already changed them? What have they already lost, and do you think it’s too late for them to return to the old ways, or completely abolish their reliance on Western culture?

Q4: Though they fail to catch a whale this season either, the author explains that “Reppi had not lost faith in the tradition” (126). Is it faith or fear that keeps them going? After reading the essay, do they seem too scared to stop trying to hunt? Or is there an almost religious sense of belief fueling their mission?