Momaday Reaction

"This angle is a certain delineation on the face of the Great Plains, an idea of geometry in the mind of God"

While reading N. Scott Momaday's The Names: A Memoir this passage really stood out to me, especially the last line about God's geometry. The way Momaday connected God to the human idea of geometry allowed me to picture the landscape he was describing in a different way. Although the paths of rivers appear to be somewhat random to most people, Momaday saw in them a purposeful design with reason and patterns. Without using any descriptive language, Momaday was able to portray a detailed image.

"Lightning is constant on the cold, black hemisphere"

The way in which Momaday connected the idea of lighting, something bright and violent, to something cold, black and still added a sense of drama to the piece of writing which really caught my attention. Momaday added to this contrast with the conflicting idea of lightning being constant. Lightning is something that is quick, a fast flash that comes and goes almost simultaneously and randomly, by describing it as a constant Momaday differentiated this place in his memory from all other places.