In telling the story about the Messenger Feast, the book sends its hero on a journey, a well-worn literary device.
No mythological theme holds more power than the Hero’s Journey. Across cultures, the motif follows a similar pattern. It’s found in legends often predating the written word. The hero leaves their familiar confines and travels to unknown places. There they endure a series of tests and, usually with supernatural assistance, emerge transformed.
Initially, we learn from the story itself, the Iñupiaq were anything but unified. As the tale opens, Piŋa, the hero, is hunting for his family. We quickly learn that his two elder brothers vanished and presumably died through unknown means during their own hunting excursions. We also learn that the family lives and wanders the lands alone, in fear of other families who, similarly, fear them.
The eagle family slowly introduces Piŋa to the skills they insist he needs to acquire. He is taught rhythmic pounding, timed to his heartbeat, and singing to accompany it. He is instructed in the art of drum making. Eventually strangers arrive who show him how to dance. Friendships remain elusive, however.
Vulnerable is what Piŋa is, held captive to a clan of magical shapeshifters whose intentions remain unknown to him. Strangers who had, after all, killed his two brothers. Yet he remains at their mercy and does as he’s told, with the occasional protest.
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