I Heard The Owl Call My Name Book Review

In I Heard The Owl Call My Name one of Margeret Craven's main themes was the clash of cultures, and whether or not one person can stand in the middle of two.  Margaret Craven makes multiple inferences about the clash of American and Kwakwaka'wakw culture. Mark, Keetah, and Gordon’s experiences are her examples about how another culture can affect you.

Mark had to readjust all his knowledge of life to understand the way the village functioned. What their morals were, and how their beliefs shaped those morals. Keetah was torn between her past and her future, the roots of her village and the future she could have a different world. And she hoped that maybe she could live in both, while not disappointing her elders or the man she loves. Gordon wanted to leave the village and the traditions it has. He saw his future in a different world, he wouldn’t be able to stay still in the village very long.

Craven talks about how Mark slowly becomes part of the tribe itself. He forgets his life outside of the village and becomes absorbed in the ways of the tribe.  This shows how whenever two cultures meet one will always be overshadowed by another, Mark found a connection with the tribe so he latched onto it as his new identity. When he went back to visit his sister on the main island he couldn’t feel associated with her world anymore. Craven writes, “You suffered with them, and now you are theirs, and nothing will ever be the same again” (87). The Bishop makes this comment to Mark after he questions his relations with the people of the tribe. He doesn’t think he has earned their respect and trust. But he soon realizes that he has truly become one of them and that he can relate to their hardships and struggles.

Craven describes Keetah as being in between both worlds, trying to decide if she can leave but still stay with her village or if she can’t leave the village entirely. Gordon asks Keetah to go with him when he decides to leave the village and not return. She says she cannot promise she will stay but she will try. She writes, “Gordon will do well, and in the end he will be able to live in both worlds,” Mark said. “But if Keetah is not strong enough to return by choice and not by failure, she will never again be able to live in either” (124).  Keetah stays with Gordon until she knows she will bear his child. She does this to keep a piece of Gordon in the village. She herself wasn’t able to stay in the outside world but she knew if she was going to go back she would take some of Gordon with her.

Craven describes Gordon as always being headstrong and knowing that he wants to be the first to have a profession and leave the village behind. Many of the elders did not approve of Gordon’s choices but Mark did. He promised his mother before she died that he would make sure he got an education and made something of himself. “And I will tell you something, Gordon, as I told your grandfather, You will represent your people in the outside world and they will be proud of you. And even if you cannot return, you will find that the work you do, the kind of man you are, all that is deepest and best in you will be based on what you have learned here” (124). 

Gordon needed someone like Mark to help guide him so he could discover if he was ready to cut out the village from his life. Gordon felt trapped in his village and knew he needed to escape before it swallowed him whole.

The novel contains many examples of the effects cultures have on an individual. Mark went through a redirection of the meaning of life and how to look at the world. Keetah had to choose between her roots and her future and whether or not they could co-exist. Gordon discovered what he truly wanted out of life. In conclusion Margret Craven’s examples of clashing of different cultures gives insight to the effects it has on one person.