The mythical story, Rabbit Boy, encompasses the Native American’s cultural value of equality in terms of people and their natural surroundings. The setting of this narrative takes place in a time where all people, animals, objects and actions are in the same social realm. They all exist together in accordance to “nature’s plan” and not one thing is more important than the other.
The importance of animals is placed on the rabbit, who aids in bringing Rabbit Boy to life. The rabbit not only played an important role in creating a human, but he treated him as his own and with a mutual as well as loving respect. This respect is notable because the rabbit was the boy’s creator and in turn could have easily made him feel inferior—a mannerism common in western society. Another element that caused Rabbit Boy to come into being was the power of motion. The rabbit unknowingly created this power with his movement; this combination created life. For the original Native American’s this was displaying how nature is capable of doing powerful things and it should be equally respected and acknowledged in all of its various forms.
Another important character in this story was Iktome, the jealous spider. Iktome wanted to feel more powerful than Rabbit boy so he devised a plan that was fueled not by the natural circle of life, but rather jealousy. His attempt to be as powerful and above Rabbit Boy led to his death. This message seemed geared towards not allowing yourself to interfere with nature and the abilities it does or doesn’t give you, but rather let things run their course naturally.
What I took away from this myth was that I need to be more open to what I consider are things of importance or even significance. For example, the idea of motion being a spirit or even an element of great value was something that had never crossed my mind. I view movement as an action and not much more. This made me realize that I don’t have as much depth to my thoughts in terms of my surroundings as the Native Americans did. In terms of the spider, I took it more as one simply shouldn’t let negative emotions overwhelm you into doing wrong. That being said, I do think the original audience of this story took away much more meaning and morals than I am even capable of.
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