Peyote Religion in Sundown by John Joseph Mathew

n way trying teach the Indian out of him. He is confused of what his glorious past really was. Were his people really the savages and pagans he grew up hearing about in school. He grows up ashamed of his Indian blood, and tries to adapt to the white society. Chal's friends at college embarrass him. His friend, Son on His Wings, accepts his Indian and is proud. Chal joins the Air Force because that is American and it may replace some his lost feelings of the warrior role, but he is still filled with torment.
             Toward the end of the story you believe Chal may finally be all right when he visits the sweat lodge with Son on His Wings. It is there when Chief Watching Eagle spoke of the "roads" to White Deer during the sweat lodge ritual. He was not only trying to ease the pain of the loss of Running Elk, White Deer's son; he was explaining the choices one must make according to their heritage or blood. It was as if he was speaking to Chal directly.
             "Long time ago there was one road and People could follow that road. They said, 'There is only one road. We can see this road. There are no other roads.' Now it seems that road is gone, and white man has brought many roads. But that road is still there. That road is still there, but there are many other roads there too. There is a White man's road, and there is road which comes off from forks. The bad road which no white man follows - the road which many of the People follow, thinking it is the white man's road. People who follow this road say they are as the white man, but this is not white man's road. People who follow this road say that road of Indian
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Peyote Religion in Sundown by John Joseph Mathew. (2000, January 01). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 01:22, October 20, 2026, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/48004.html