I Heard An Owl Call My Name

            
             I Heard An Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven is a book about the life of a man named Mark Brian. Mark pays Mark has a deadly disease, but has no knowledge of it. The Bishop decides to send him to a place called Kingcome village knowing that he has the deadly disease. He is to lead a mission that reforms the group of native Indians called the Kwakiutl natives. The plot line of this novel is based on the ups and downs of the tribe itself. Mark must help this tribe in every way possible that he can. The Bishop's ulterior motive was to help Mark grow as a person. By not telling Mark Brian about his disease the Bishop gets him to become involved and attached to the Indians.
             Mark found that the tribe that he was to reform was becoming overwhelmed by the white-man's world. While the older members of the tribe were not religious the younger members didn't have much respect for their elders. Mark's first struggle of many was to be accepted into this primitive society. He meets the members of the tribe as he learns about the Indian cultures, traditions and rituals. Some of the cultures were disappearing from the tribe. Mark had to help preserve the old culture of totems and salmons from being replaced with alcoholism and residential schools. At one point a few of the younger members of the tribe went to a school in Vancouver. The elders disapproved of this because they knew that the young members would never return.
             Mark Brian succeeded in earning the respect and trust, and perhaps love, of the people. These people taught him the most valuable thing that he learned: the acceptance of life, death and submission. He sees the cycles of life, the vanishing ways of the life of the natives, and most of all the acceptance of death. After he had accomplished his mission he finally meets his end. The Indians of Kingcome never forgot Mark Brian and his life is remembered, not his death.