The Pulitzer Prize for House Made of Dawn, according to critic Kenneth Lincoln, was the catalyst for the Native American Renaissance. Numerous prominent American Indian authors (for example, Paula Gunn Allen, Leslie Marmon Silko, Gerald Vizenor, James Welch, Sherman Alexie, and Louise Erdrich) have identified the book as a vital source of inspiration for their own work. Editors [edit]
Numerous Holy MenFather Olguin, Fray Nicols, the Priest of the Sun (John Big Bluff Tosamah), and Ben Benally are among the holy men of House Made of Dawn (a Navajo who is called the Night Chanter). The novel is centered on Abel's travels, but it also contains interactions with men of religion both on and off the reservation.
In the third section (The Night Chanter), a friend of Abel, Ben Benally, describes Abel's frustration, lethargy, resignation, and inability to build a home in Los Angeles. It is Abel's day to return to the Pueblo. The Dawn Runner, the fourth and final installment, opens with Francisco on the verge of death. Several memories provide light on his history and his community's traditional way of life. He is assassinated early daybreak on February 28th, 1952. Abel administers the burial rituals; he then enters the usual race. By doing so, he acknowledges his ancestry and assumes the role of his grandpa within the Native society. The book concludes in the same way it begins: with a photograph of Abel jogging.
The novel's details are based on true events. In his biography The Names, Momaday alludes to an event that occurred in Jemez as the inspiration for the murder in House Made of Dawn. A local citizen assassinated a New Mexico state trooper, sparking widespread outrage. Elements of House Made of Dawn were also influenced by Native American beliefs and practices, genuine geographical places, and true occurrences. According to one of Momaday's letters, House Made of Dawn began as a collection of poetry, was restructured as tales, and was eventually fashioned into a book. It is partly based on Momaday's personal observations of life in Jemez Pueblo. As with the novel's protagonist, Abel, Momaday grew up on reservations and eventually attended and taught at major colleges. Momaday integrates his own experiences with his imagination in the book, something his father, Al Momaday, and mother, according to his biography The Names, taught him to do.
