Hungry Hawk
"I am writing of the West, not of the Indians primarily, and certainly not of the romantic West which the best-selling authors have exploited."(Page 154) This line comes from D'Arcy McNickle, the author of many short stories and poems based on understanding different cultures including the Native American culture. In one of his poems called "The Hawk Is Hungry", McNickle tries to explain the difference in the rural and urban life, and the forces that control them.
Born in the year 1904, D'Arcy McNickle grew up in the area of the Flathead Reservation in Montana until his parents divorced in 1914. He was then separated from his mother and was sent to an Indian boarding school. McNickle went on to study English literature and creative writing at the University of Montana and at Oxford University in England. His story "The Hawk is Hungry" is set in the 1930s in eastern Montana.
The first page of the Homestead Act.
The last page of the Homestead Act.
Anne BoleynThis region consists of mostly dry, flat grassland with scattered hills, and harsh seasons. The winters are bitterly cold, while the summer temperatures can reach above 100 ðF. Because of the vast amount of land available, for a brief period in the early 1900s, they attracted a lot of people because of the Homestead Act. Homestead Act allowed people to gain title to public land if they lived on it for five years and improved it. Because of the past that McNickle had experienced in Montana, he sets an illusional mood where everything would conflict with the reality or the real world.
"The Hawk Is Hungry" is about a guy living in the rural areas of Montana and trying to convince his younger sister, Anne Elizabeth, to move to his ranch in Montana and live with him. The only problem he had was that he...