Mrs. Withstandley/ Miss Amendola

Reading

Answers to packet questions, p. 12

Questions:

1. When Kapugen’s wife died, he left his house in Mekoryuk, left his job as manager of a reindeer herd, and took Miyax with him to seal camp. Miyax adored her father and loved having time alone with him. Aunt Martha thought he had lost his mind and believed he had never acted responsibly since his wife died.

2. The bladders of the hunted seals were believed to contain their spirits. During the Bladder Feast, they were inflated and then returned to the sea, where it was believed they would enter the bodies of the newborn seals.

3. Kapugen taught Miyax that wolves are social; they love each other and are capable of feeling love for humans who learned to communicate with them.

4. An i’noGo tied is a “house of the spirits.” It is sometimes made of seal fur and blubber into which a shaman puts the collected spirits of various animals.

5. Miyax was also called Julie because the Eskimos of Mekoryuk spoke English all the time. Everyone had two names, one Eskimo and one American.

6. In the winter, Eskimos at seal camp lived traditionally and spoke their own language. In summer, many families from Mekoryuk came to Nash Harbor and they mostly spoke English. Miyax preferred the winter.

7. Kapugen had to leave Miyax with Aunt Martha because the law demanded that Miyax go to school and Kapugen had to serve in the army.

8. Miyax accepted an arranged marriage because she was unhappy living with Aunt Martha, and she thought that child-marriages were just a formality. She believed that living with Naka would provide her with a better home.

9. The letters fueled Miyax’s fantasies about the wonderful life she would lead in San Francisco. These were based on an innocence of the world outside and unhappiness with her present life.

10. Miyax could no longer live under the same roof as Daniel, who was being teased by his peers for not behaving like a husband. Julie left Barrow for Point Hope, where she would look for transportation to San Francisco.

Question for discussion:

1. What do you think Miyax meant when she said, “Julie is gone…I am Miyax now.”

a. She is going to need her Eskimo skills on the tundra and “Miyax” is her Eskimo name.

b. It was like going back to seal camp.

c. Daniel and the others in Barrow called her Julie. She rejects this name because she believes that Miyax is stronger.