Week 9 Essay: Moralizing Aspect of Eskimo Folk Tales

Moralizing Aspect of Eskimo Folk Tales

I only read the second half of stories from this unit, so I cannot speak to all of the Eskimo stories available on the Un-textbook, but from what I did read I saw that many of the narratives concern themselves with teaching a lesson of some sort. The first three stories of the second half are especially strong in this regard, while the others are a bit less overt. There is a definite feeling when reading these stories that they were or have descended from orally passed down narratives told in order to pass on wisdom and certain values. 

Some of the characters in these stories act in extreme ways and do things that I could not imagine any average person doing. Pâtussorssuaq in the story of the same name abruptly kills his own kin after the man hears that his uncle and his uncle's wife plan to go on a hunting journey. After slaying his uncle Pâtussorssuaq's aunt flees and the protagonist heads to his own tent to kill his wife, "for he was already weary of her." He's foiled by the fact that his wife has already fled, but by this time the story has clearly established Pâtussorssuaq as a negative character who is acting disproportionately greedy and murderous. Yet oddly Pâtussorssuaq ends up getting what he wants and living with his late uncle's wife. However, she dies quite quickly and thus "had little joy of the woman he had won by misdeed." Pâtussorssuaq's later death at the hands of his uncle's spirit indicates that, while those who murder and cheat to get their way may profit for a short time, their ultimately destined to meet an untimely end.

It is interesting to note that both in this story and in "Papik, Who Killed HisBrother's Wife," that it is not the actions of humans that ultimately brings in justice, but the actions of the supernatural, or perhaps more precisely the supernatural acting in the form of nature. Pâtussorssuaq first loses the object of his affection to the natural force of death, and then loses his own life to his uncle's ghost, which takes the form of a bear. Papik similarly is killed by a spirit that has assumed a bear's form. These stories portray nature to be somewhat of a judge, jury, and executioner capable of taking care of those who would act immorally. 

Human justice has its day in some of the other works though. "The Eagle and the Whale" features the pair of brothers of some women who have had the misfortune of being paired up with an eagle and whale respectively. These stories indicate that these pairing are unnatural, and there is a need for human interference in order to restore things to the normality. At the same time these narratives could be seen as cautionary tales to women of marriageable age who have resisted getting married.While this may seem weird to the sensibility of modern women, it probably made sense within a culture where women could not be expected to live easy lives if they did not marry since they would inevitably need husbands who could provide them with food and other necessities. Even in such a whimsical tale, there seems to be an underlying message that is indicative of the values in Eskimo culture. Even the short tale "Kánagssuaq" conveys important lessons about kindness and reciprocity. The way Kánagssuaq helps his fellow hunter Kilitêraq and is later repaid in kind with a walrus hide and a bearskin is a beautiful depiction of mutual reciprocity, a value I've noticed is quite central in many Native American cultures. 

The stories the Eskimo Folk Tales are not, in my mind, very strong in the way of characterization or story, with the exception of a few. They are, however, effective moralizing and value-conveying tales that would have been useful for teaching and aiding the enculturation process for Eskimo youths. Characters do not always act reasonably in the stories, but this is because they are not meant to be realistic so much they are meant to serve as mechanisms to teach proper and improper behavior and the consequences associated with each.

Inuit seal-skin home/tupiq (Un-textbook)