A Land Remembered

https://www.floridamemory.com/fpc/peithmann/pe0574.jpg

In this novel, Tawanda Cypress is a Seminole Indian girl who Zech meets when he is still young and goes with his father to inform Keith Tiger that white men hung his son as well as Tony Cypress’ son. Tawanda is around Zech’s age, and is the second girl that Zech interacts with. Zech’s interaction with Tawanda is much different from Glenda, the other girl, because the girls are opposite of each other, representing two different worlds. Tawanda is a traditional Seminole Indian living in Keith Tiger’s tribe and growing up with that culture in the natural world. She develops close, intimate relations with Zech and has a child with him even though they never end up together. Her role in the novel is to represent the world before so much change and development came into play. Zech has one life with Tawanda, which is hidden and could never be accepted, and another with Glenda that is real. Tawanda is accepting of this and treats Zech with love no matter what even when he stays with her for a night, leaves her with a child, and does not come back until years later. I believe this is to reveal to us that the natural world gives to us without hesitation even though we do not treat it with the care we should. Tawanda represents the old world of coexisting with nature in harmony before everything changed. Just as the old ways begin to die in the novel with the increasing destruction of nature, Tawanda soon dies as well.

http://www.johnhorse.com/imgszz/swarsocapezz.jpg

Tawanda coexists in harmony with the environment and the natural world. As an Indian, she uses nature’s resources without taking advantage or destroying them. She lives along the Okeechobee with her tribe. Tawanda loves her natural environment and flourishes in it. She is very accepting of her way of life and sees no other way. She is at peace with the world she lives in. She experiences great joy in the pure, undisturbed nature of Pay-Hay-Okee. She sees the environment as a gift to use when needed but to be given the uttermost respect at all times. She loves and accepts her life the way it is even through all the hardships her tribe had to face involving the white man. She is proud of her life and both cares for and respects the environment.  

https://keithyorkcity.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/seminoles-1910.jpg

 

 

 

Tawanda experiences a strong sense of place in the great marsh known as Pay-Hay-Okee or the River of Grass. For Tawanda, as well as many of the other Indians, this place is like no other. Pay-Hay-Okee is an escape from the world and its changes. It is a place that is separated from the real world, almost like a fantasy. It is a secret of the Indians that they show very few people and is reached by canoe. In Pay-Hay-Okee, nature is vast and undisturbed. Tawanda leaves a legacy behind through impacting Zech’s life in a positive way by making him realize the value of nature and sustaining it. In addition, she bears a son with Zech and passes her culture, values, and ways of life down through him. Tawanda will always be a reminder of the world before so much destruction. She passes down a positive energy towards nature and its many gifts.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5169/5210244086_00a14d4871.jpg

 

            I was born in 1994, so I grew up in an interesting time. Technology was certainly a big part of my life; however, it was not nearly as prevalent when I was a child as it is now. When I was a kid, I would play outside all the time whether it was block tag, “Indians”, riding bikes, or so much more. When I was growing up I had a Gameboy Color and then a Gameboy Advance; now there is the Nintendo DS and all these tablets. I still played with Legos, Polly Pockets, and Barbie dolls. I got my first cell phone in high school and it was just a simple call and text phone with no data. In this way, I feel like I can relate to Tawanda. It is a completely different age; however, the situation parallels. In the past 10 years, I feel like there has been a huge change in the level and amount of technology. Kids in middle school and even elementary school now already have iPhones as well as the latest tablet or game system. Playing outside does not happen as often because of all the new, much more advanced technologies. I feel as if the culture that I grew up in as a child has mostly vanished. In the novel, Tawanda is growing up in a time where the world as she knows it is vanishing throughout the years because of the great developments and changes. The way of life that I had when growing up has disappeared as well because of the great advancements in technology.