Ready Reference Treatise: House Made of Dawn

“House Made of Dawn” is a story of a young Native American named Abel. He is somewhere between two words: on one side there is his heritage on the reservation and on the other side there is the industrialized world of contemporary America in Los Angeles.
Momaday stated that while writing this novel, the time was quite turbulent because of the Second World War.

The author is said to have drawn on his childhood experiences of growing up on reservations.

Through the character of Abel, the author succeeds in describing the difficult experience of several young Native Americans during the 20th century.

In those days, efforts to relocate Indians were going on. The young Native Americans were struggling to enter the industrial work force.

The reservations were quite isolated, and alcoholism had badly affected the Native Americans.

The author has used several oral tales and his personal imagination in this novel to very emphatically pass on the stories his Kiowa fathers had told him when he was a child.

The Native Americans have a very strong tradition of storytelling and they pass the stories to their children and thus they continue to pass on from generation to generation.

Ready Reference Treatise: House Made of Dawn
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis