The Blessing Way

Several Navajo characters in The Blessing Way are alienated from their traditional culture due to the encroachment of outside influences, particularly white, urban values. The text portrays this movement away from traditional practices as having negative impacts both on the individual and the Navajo community as a whole. Sandoval, an 81-year-old elder of the Navajo Nation, sees the changes to his community firsthand, especially at traditional ceremonies like the Enemy Way. Sandoval describes the changes in attitude among young people who come to the ceremonies: “In the old days there wouldn’t have been any drinking and gambling at a ceremonial like this” (89). The younger generation, many of whom go to school or work out of the Nation, are exposed more to “white man” culture, which to Sandoval waters down their understanding and acceptance of their own culture. Sandoval must guide Charley Tsosie through the Enemy Way step by step, and even “had to remind him to face the east” (87), which he claims older generations knew by heart. Even those like Leaphorn who have deep knowledge of the culture appear to not fully accept it, which further proves to Sandoval that the Old Ways are being lost.