Writing Back to the Center In Louis Owens’ Wolfsong

Abstract

Louis Owens, like many other Native American writers, finds himself writing back to the center in his novel, Wolfsong. Owens re-shapes the idea of the Native American by creating a realistic interpretation of Native experience. In Steinbeck’s “Flight” Mexican Americans are stereotyped and limited as characters. They are portrayed as people to be feared. Rather than letting this idea of minorities let sit, Owens writes back to Steinbeck in Wolfsong, creating a similar story to Steinbeck, but with a different ending for the Native American character. Owens erases Steinbeck’s portrayal and creates a more realistic interpretation of the interactions between the colonizers and the ones who have been colonized on our very own soil.