N. Scott Momaday'in The Way to Rainy Mountain, The Names ve The Ancient Child adlı yapıtlarında Kızılderili benlik arayışı

Momaday, who grew up within both white culture and Native American culture, explores his own cultural identity in his works The Way to Rainy Mountain, The Names and The Ancient Child. In this way, he tries to recover his Native American culture from near-destruction and help immortalize it by popularizing the ignored literature of Native Americans to the world. Momaday's recovery of Native American culture is accompanied with the recovery of his personal past: He also establishes the Native American self he searches in the places of interest for his family. What helps him in this search is his "blood memory," a capacity that help him imagine with his mind's eye, sights and experiences of the past although he has never actually been there. Momaday's identity as Native American does not depend on the proportion of native American blood which is inherited from his ancestors, but rather in the elements of memory, "memory in blood" and imagination in his three books. He deals with searching for his cultural identity, based on retelling of memories, memory in blood and imagination. Through the power of language, he believes that even the little Native American blood he possesses, is enough to connect with his ancestors. He also strongly believes in the power of words engender or create. Therefore, as an author, he contributes to his Native culture and reaches his readers who may seek their connections in their blood memories. Keywords: N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain, The Names, The Ancient Child, Identity, Cultural Identity, Native American Literature.