Power

"Sleep is another sinking down and it is a deep sleep in which I dream of people who do not yet know they are human. Maybe they are only now being born. It includes me, this cast of people, and there are the four women singing and they are the future, not the past like I first thought. In the dream I am a green branch beginning to bloom, to grow something strong and human and alive" (94).

Omishito is really struggling with the connection that she has to her family after she accompanies Ama who searches, and eventually kills, the endangered panther. After her family discovers that she was involved with the killing of the panther, her family openly disapproves of her choice to do so.  Her mom is devastated that she knew that Omishto knew the government had a law against killing it, yet she did so anyways. But, to Ama the law was not going to stand in the way of her own spiritual beliefs. Omishto is clearly torn between her more modern, westernized mother and the tribe and Ama's understanding of life;she is unsure of where she stands and feels stuck. This inner conflict that Omishto is feeling reminded me of what we talked about on Monday. She seems very unsure of herself, and I think that this dream she is having shows just how badly she wants to be sure of herself. She wants to be free to express who she is, which is beyond her mother's understanding, and I think Omishto is really identifying with the spiritual forces of the tribe in this dream. She states, "they are the future, not the past, like I first thought" (94) and I think this shows her wanting to move forward from the life that she lives in order to be truly alive.