House Made of Dawn

The eagle is an important symbol in the folklore of many Indigenous American tribes and societies. In House Made of Dawn, the eagle’s recurring presence creates a direct link between traditional stories and modern stories. Like the old folk tales, the eagle is a significant part of House Made of Dawn, and Abel’s relationship to the bird of prey places him in the pantheon of Indigenous folklore. Similarly, the Indigenous foxes and bears—like eagles—represent a bond with the land that the imported European species lack. The novel contrasts Indigenous species like the eagle with imported species such as horses and cows, creating a direct symbolic parallel between the Indigenous people and species and the descendants of the European colonizers and their imported species. Like the eagle, Abel and his people represent a tradition and a history of understanding their world that can’t be replicated in a few hundred years. The eagle is a soaring, defiant symbol of how this bond can rise above oppression and marginalization to create enduring stories and symbols that continue into the modern era.

Organizations such as the Eagle Watchers Society are formalized efforts to preserve and maintain the historical symbolism of the eagle and other traditions. The Eagle Watchers Society is a relatively small group of community leaders who agree to take a young Abel on a hunt. They venture into the wilderness to find and capture an eagle, whose feathers will be used to make ornaments and objects of religious and cultural significance. Each step of the way, they perform rituals and observances that denote their respect for the land. When they finally catch an eagle, they continue these observances. The hunt symbolically demonstrates the desire to preserve cultural traditions. The relatively small group of men are performing a ceremony that has its roots in a time before European colonization. The Eagle Watchers Society and the hunt for an eagle isn’t as much about catching an eagle or obtaining the feathers as to continue traditions that have been important to their people for many centuries. The hunt shows their willingness to continue and preserve traditions, passing them on to the next generation despite the overwhelming, immiserating nature of social marginalization that Indigenous Americans endure.

Abel operates as an individual in the context of the eagle hunt. He’s the only successful member of the Eagle Watchers Society, as the only other bird caught isn’t deemed strong or healthy enough to provide the necessary materials. Abel catches the bird while performing the necessary rituals and observances. He does everything correctly, but when he later looks at the captured bird in the bag, he’s filled with a sudden sense of loathing. He strangles the bird unceremoniously, appalled by the sight of a majestic creature bound in a sack. The eagle has an important and individual symbolic meaning for Abel. To him, the bird represents the how his soul is captive rather than being allowed to soar; he empathizes with how the bird was tricked into trapping itself. Abel feels just as trapped in a society that deliberately casts him to the fringes. He strangles the bird in an act of self-loathing, performatively freeing the eagle from the depressing and embarrassing captivity that he believes defines his life. By strangling the eagle, Abel performs a symbolic act of mercy that he wishes someone would provide to him.