In Navarre Scott Momaday's novel, House Made of Dawn, he clearly demonstrates to readers a significant difference in the use of language between the Natives and non-Natives. Momaday refers to the Native's word as the "spoken word," and the non-Native's word as the "written word." Momaday expresses the idea that the whites (non-Natives) lack a sense of imagery in their speaking, and focus only on correct definition and proper grammar. The author makes it apparent that the words of the Natives speak volumes for themselves, and go far beyond definition. Momaday provides us the message that words are an incredibly important part of the Native culture.
One of the first places we are able to see how powerful words are to the Natives is in chapter two. A key point in Momaday's writing is that he wants to show that the whites do not value language as the Natives do. Momaday uses Tosamah to speak about the Word and how it is used by non-Natives. Tosamah speaks of the white man, "He talks about the Word. He talks through it and around it. He builds upon it with syllables, with prefixes and suffixes and hyphens and accents. He adds and divides and multiplies the Word. And in all of this he subtracts the truth" (83). With this, Momaday shows that Non-Natives are not focused on the elaboration and importance of their story, rather they are focused on the context and intelligence in which it is presented. The whites do not give their audience anything of substance to work with. They are engulfed in what the Natives would deem as unimportant. The opportunity to make a connection with the audience is diminished because they are too focused on grammar, rather than captivation. Because of this non-Native mindset, Abel has an extremely difficult time trying to plead his case during trial. The white men will not listen to Abel's story. They do not give Abel the opportunity to use his Native language because they refuse to interpret the words for what they are worth.
