House Made of Dawn

The inhabitants of Walatowa, New Mexico, work the land and treat the produce of their farms as “the gift of God” (11). Walatowa is an agricultural town, and the local farmers labor all through the summer. Abel is returning to his grandfather’s house in Walatowa after fighting for the US in World War II. Abel’s grandfather Francisco is a farmer. He drives his horse-drawn wagon along a road to San Ysidro and reflects on his life. For a moment during his journey, he pauses to check a traditional horsehair bird snare that he set at the side of the road. Although he wanted to catch a jay or a tanager, he caught a sparrow. He discards the bird and sets the snare again, hoping for the right bird, one with feathers he can use to fashion a prayer plume. Returning to his journey, he remembers a ceremonial race in which he once took part. At Seytokwa, he raced against an “exhausted” (12) young man named Mariano. Francisco won the race and was celebrated in the nearby town square. The race was recorded in the journal of his life. Francisco arrives at the local bus stop, where his grandson Abel steps “heavily” (13) off the bus. Abel has been drinking and, with Francisco’s help, clambers aboard the wagon and they return together to Francisco’s house.

Abel wakes up a day later and feels sober. It’s still early in the morning, and he climbs a nearby hill to enjoy the view of the “whole of the valley” (14). As he walks to the top of the hill, he thinks of important moments in his life, reviewing them in chronological order.

When he was five years old, Abel and his brother Vidal rode horses to a local event. Each year, the community gathered to divert the spring water into the surrounding fields. The event had spiritual connotations, becoming a religious ceremony as well as a social gathering. During this time, Abel’s mother was still alive. He never knew the identity of his father, other than that he was “a Navajo, they said, or a Sia, or an Isleta, an outsider anyway” (14). His mother cooked a meal for her family, including Abel, Vidal, and their father. A few months later, she was dead. Abel couldn’t visit her grave for a long time.

When Abel was a young boy, he helped herd sheep. During one shepherding experience, he was accosted by an elderly woman who had been drinking. She was reputed to be a witch, and, in her drunken state, she placed “an unintelligible curse” (15) on Abel. Leaving his dog to corral the sheep, Abel ran away and hid. The wind whistling through a rock formation filled him with fear and dread. He never forgot that sound.

Abel remembers his brother’s death. When Vidal was dying in his bed, Abel sat outside the family house and watched his older relatives enter to see his older brother. Eventually, Abel was taken inside. Vidal was silent in his bed and may already have been dead. Abel was just about able to say his brother’s name.

On New Year’s Day, 1937, Abel was 17 years old. He woke up before dawn and accompanied his grandfather on a trip. He often hunted with his grandfather, but this time they went to a traditional ceremony in the nearby Sia reservation town. These towns were often referred to as pueblos. Representatives from the local tribes performed different roles in the ceremony. Afterward, they ate and drink. Abel met a young woman, and they escaped the ceremony for a short while, venturing to the edge of the town, where they had sex. At the time, however, Abel was so drunk that he took no pleasure in the act.

Abel sees an eagle flying overhead with a snake clutched in its talons. He takes this to be a portentous sign. The Eagle Watchers Society is one of the traditional priestly groups in Walatowa. The group’s members are descendants of the people from a village named Bahkyula. Originally, these people lived on the Plains, but they were decimated by warlike neighbors and disease. They left Bahkyula in the early 19th century, and the remaining 20 survivors became refugees. The Indigenous American people of Walatowa welcomed in the refugees, who brought with them important ceremonial objects, including a flute, masks depicting horses and bulls, and a statue of the Virgin Mary. When Abel was a boy, the head of the Eagle Watchers Society was a “hard” but well-respected man named Patiestewa. According to local tradition, the members of the Eagle Watchers Society are capable of prophetic visions. They play vital roles in traditional rainmaking and eagle hunting ceremonies. While working on a ranch, Abel sees an eagle with a snake in its talons, and he thinks about the Eagle Watchers Society. Looking further down the valley where the ranch is located, he sees a second eagle and realizes that the two eagles are performing a “mating flight.” The female eagle carries the snake up high and then drops it. The male eagle catches it, drops it, and then, accompanied by the female eagle, flies away.

Abel tells Patiestewa about what he saw. He wants to join the Eagle Watchers Society and accompany them on their quest to catch a live eagle so as to use its feathers as prayer plumes. Abel joins the hunt. It involves a ritualistic series of offerings and prayers at specific sites. After catching a “a great jack-rabbit buck” (18), Abel washes himself in the traditional manner. He climbs up a mountain alone and lays out a trap for the eagle, using the rabbit as bait. As he sits and watches, he sees a pair of eagles approach his trap. The female eagle lands beside the rabbit, and Abel catches her. When he returns to the other members of the Eagle Watchers Society, only one other man has been successful. However, he managed to capture only an “aged male,” so he released it after the group members blessed it. Later, the men all sit down to eat. Abel sneaks away and looks in the sack where he has bound the female eagle. The sight of the trapped bird fills him “with shame and disgust” (20). He strangles the eagle.

When he came of age, Abel leaves Walatowa to join the Army. Francisco didn’t want his grandson to join the military and wasn’t present at Abel’s departure. Leaving Walatowa, Abel rode on a bus for the first time. Realizing that he was leaving his small village for a vast world beyond, he felt lonely and apprehensive.

Abel struggles to recall certain memories. His memory loss particularly affects his recent experiences. Those at Walatowa are easiest to remember, but much of his time in the Army is unavailable to him. One memory, however, lingers in his mind: During a battle, he recalls laying on the ground with dead bodies and fallen leaves around him. The battle was over, and a strange silence descended on him. In the distance, he heard the “whole and deafening” (21) rumble of a tank. The tank approached and rolled past, almost killing him. Abel was terribly shaken by the experience.

Abel is at his house in Jemez. In the morning, he watches the sun rise over the village. The church bell rings, and he nurses a hangover. In the distance, he sees a car enter the village. The local priest is Father Olguin. He prepares to say mass in the small church, hearing his congregation coughing on the other side of the thin wall. He’s assisted by Francisco and a “small, sleepy boy” (22) named Bonifacio. Outside is the sound of a car entering the village. Olguin sees a young white woman enter the church and stand in the rear throughout the service. After, she introduces herself. A Californian named Angela St. John, she’s staying at a nearby house while receiving treatment in the local mineral baths, which are supposedly “very healthful.” She asks Olguin whether he knows anyone who can do chores around her home, such as chopping her firewood, because her husband isn’t there to help her. Outside, Abel continues to nurse his hangover. By afternoon, he descends down into the village and sees the men working in the fields. He feels “at home.”

Abel accepts Olguin’s offer to chop wood for Angela. When they first meet, she’s surprised that Abel doesn’t try to haggle over the fee for the work. She watches him chop wood and tries to make conversation. These attempts falter, and when he’s finished, Abel leaves. Angela takes the chopped wood into her home. Abel returns to chop wood again. The sight of him exerting himself stirs something in Angela. She observes him with a sensual energy, recognizing the “useless agony” that seems to reside in Abel. She can sympathize with his psychological suffering. She experiences melancholy during the afternoon, though this is typically the time of day when she feels closest to the baby inside her.

Angela watches Abel work, hurt that he still seems unconcerned about the fee. Abel remains silent, which perturbs Angela. She envisions having sex with Abel. Her thoughts have a racist edge, as she imagines how she as a “white woman” would feel having sex with an Indigenous American man. After Abel leaves, Angela thinks about how much she dislikes physical activity. She dislikes her body and that she’s carrying a child inside her. Occasionally, she imagines herself being consumed by fire. As she begins to move the chopped wood inside, she pictures a fire destroying a forest as well as her body.

That evening, she burns the chopped wood on her fire. Olguin visits her with an invitation to a feast that is set for the next day. Angela accepts the invitation, and Olguin leaves. Alone again, Angela remembers the last time she witnessed an Indigenous American ceremony. The idea of nothingness, of being “beyond everything,” seemed central to that ceremony, and she focuses on the idea once again. In her mind, the ritual of the dance is like the careful, considered way that Abel chops wood. Angela resolves to seduce Abel.