The dictionary defines identity as, "sameness of essential or generic character in different instances the relation established by psychological identification,"(http:// www.m-w.com). Identity is important to Native Americans for the reason that it connects them to the land they are "intended" to live on and with their heritage. The authors whose works will be analyzed in this essay are James Welch, N. Scott Momaday, and Lucy Tapahonso, and their works, The Death of Jim Loney, the "Introduction" from The Way to Rainy Mountain, and What I Am, respectively. This essay will cover the concept of identity and how three authors use this concept to convey to their audience the importance of individual and group identity.Identity can also be defined as the distinguishing character or personality of an individual. Identity of self is important to most people, but most especially to Native Americans for the reasons that they feel a personal connection with their past, to their ancestors from long ago; through their ancestors and foundational stories they find their individual place in society. James Welch communicates this idea in The Death of Jim Loney by denying Jim any memory or any knowledge of his past that he can connect or identify with. Jim is lost with no direction; he has no memory past a certain point, and he uses this as an excuse to not start a new life. He feels that he has not had an old life which he can abandon to seek out a new life, and throughout the book he searches for the key to his past. The only people connected with his past that he knows are his estranged father, his sister who has moved on and forgotten her past, and an old friend with whom he goes hunting and ends up shooting. There is no one that he can use to feed his memory and give him a sense of self. He says, "I've never understood it. Once in a while I look around and I see things familiar and I think I will die here. It's my country then. Othe...
