Mythopoeic aspects in Alvin Maker series





 the existence of the Secondary World – although there is no alternative realm as such, the universe is filled with supernatural in which some folks refuse to believe. The distinction between the world from a red man or white man perspecitve is crystal clear; the land is a sentient being living in harmony with the Reds who respect it, but has a strongly antagonistic relation with the white men who only bring destruction and decay.



 'The Red did not have to think about where he placed his feet; he knew that the twigs under his feet would soften and bend, the leaves would moisten and not rustle, the branches he brushed aside would go back quick to their right place and leave no sign he passed' –  on Ta-Kumsaw and his connection to the land.



 ''He wasn’t no Red, that was for sure. He got scratched up by bushes and branches and bit by insects, none of which felt too good on his sunburnt skin. He also kept running into thickets and having to back out. Like the land was his enemy, slowing him down ''– on Measure's attempt to walk through the forest.



 the struggle between good and evil forces – a cosmic conflict of the Maker (creation) and the Unmaker (destruction of all matter) is woven into the story yet is not depicted as an immediate threat to life. Instead, Card focuses on the inevitable war between the Reds (Native Americans) and the invading white men, who often feel nothing but repulsion towards the Reds and intend to push them south, annihilating as many as possible in the process. Also, the majority of white men in the novel are portrayed as a fatal disease spreading throughout the land, cruel people with no morality.



 '''as Alvin watched Ta-Kumsaw paddle steadily down the river out of sight, it occurred to him that it just didn’t feel like Ta-Kumsaw had lost. It was as if the battle wasn’t about Ta-Kumsaw. It was about White men, and their worthiness to have this land. They might think they won, they might think the Red man slunk away or bowed his head in defeat, but in fact it was the White man who lost, because when Ta-Kumsaw paddled down the Wobbish to the Hio, down the Hio to the Mizzipy, and crossed the fogs of the river to the other side, he was taking the land with him, the greensong; what the White man had won with so much blood and dishonesty was not the living land of the Red man, but the corpse of that land. It was decay that the White man won. It would turn to dust in his hands, Alvin knew it.' ''- Alvin on the defeat of Ta-Kumsaw, chief of the Reds who was, not surprisingly, betrayed by the French. White men are only capable of destruction, even if they are not aware of it and they do not intend harm.



 ''Beyond the edges of his vision, just out of reach, there was the Unmaker like a transparent shadow, shimmering fingers slicing through the wood. Ta-Kumsaw, him Alvin could heal. But who could heal the greenwood? Who could heal the tearing apart of tribe from tribe, Red from Red? All that Ta-Kumsaw had built was shivered apart in that single fraction of an hour, and all Alvin could do was keep a single man alive. A great man, true, a man who had changed the world, who had built something, even if it was something that in the end led to more harm and suffering; Ta-Kumsaw was a builder, and yet even as Alvin saved his life, he knew that Ta-Kumsaw’s building days were done. Likely enough the Unmaker didn’t begrudge Alvin his friend’s life. What was Ta-Kumsaw, compared to what the Unmaker was consuming at this feast?'' - Alvin sensing the Unmaker thrive.



 departure – initiation – return journey – both the prophet and Alvin went through the three stages. When we first meet Lolla-Wossiky he is a lowly drunk disconnected from the land. Then he sets on a journey to find his dream beast (Alvin), experiences revelations and visions, and returns to his people as Tenskwa-Tawa, the prophet. Same goes for Alvin, who is enlightened by Lolla-Wossiky (Alvin's dream beast) about his powers. Then, after being kidnapped and rescued by the prophet, he joins Tenskwa-Tawa and learns of the Crystal City and his destination. Finally, he returns home, although as a totally different boy.



<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> ''And the past year had changed Alvin. He was taller, yes, but also he knew that his walk was different, more like a Red man, unaccustomed to the feel of a White man’s road beneath his feet, wishing for the greenwood song, which was near extinguished in these parts. Maybe I am a stranger here these days. Maybe I seen and done too much this last year to ever come back and be Alvin Junior anymore.'' - Alvin returns home after a year's absence.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> ordinary character who is destined to accomplish very important mission – even though Alvin is a seventh son of a seventh son, which is a powerful combination, he still is just a boy. As his tale moves forward, he discovers more about his special skills and the part he is about to play in the great scheme of things. Lolla-Wossiky's deep spiritual change may also be seen as a turning point – a troubled Red becomes a prophet whose destination is to lead all of his kin.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> '''He saw himself standing in a clearing, speaking to a hundred Red men, a thousand, from every tribe. He saw them build a city of lodges, a thousand, five thousand, ten thousand Reds, all of them strong and whole, free of the White man’s likker, the White man’s hate. In his vision they called him the Prophet, but he insisted that he was not that at all. He was only the door, the open door. Step through, he said, and be strong, one people, one land.' ''- Lolla-Wossiky's vision as he realizes his destiny.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> selflessness of the main protagonist – before the visit of the Shining Man, Alvin does not hesitate to exploit his special skills to his advantage, however, he learns a vital lesson from the Shining Man and swears he aid his selfish desires.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> ''Ever since the Shining Man came to him in his room that night when he was six, Al had never used his knack to help himself. Cutting stone for his father, that he could do, cause it would help everybody. He’d run his fingers on the stone, get the feel of it, find the hidden places in the stone where it could break, and then set it all in order, just make it go that way; and the stone would come out, just right, just the way he asked. But never for his own good.'' - Alvin on his exceptional knack. His powers are to serve good, not himself.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> sacrifice 

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">'' 'They stood, families together, father and mother with their children in the circle of their embrace, waiting for the White man to spill their blood. ''

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> ''“The earth will not soak up your blood,” Tenskwa-Tawa had promised diem. “It will flow into the river, and I will hold it there, all the power of all your lives and all your deaths, and I will use it to keep the land alive, and bind the White man to the lands he has already captured and begun to kill.”''' - Red men right before the massacre, ready to sacrifice their lives for the greater good.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> ''Vigor leapt out when the tree was no more than a rod away, his body failing against it just above the root. The momentum of his leap turned it a little, then rolled it over, rolled it and turned it away from the wagon. Of course Vigor rolled with it, pulled right under the water—but it worked, the root end of the tree missed the wagon entirely, and the shaft of the trunk struck it a sidewise blow. The tree bounded across the stream and smashed up against a boulder on the bank. Alvin was five rods off, but in his memory from then on, he always saw it like as if he’d been right there. The tree crashing into the boulder, and Vigor between them. Just a split second that lasted a lifetime, Vigor’s eyes wide with surprise, blood already leaping out of his mouth, spattering out onto the tree that killed him.'' - Vigor sacrifices himself, saving his pregnant mother who is about to give birth to her seventh son.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> cooperation of the good forces for general purpose; heroism of ordinary person and lack of it at the evil side – as mention above, good people does not shy away from heroic deeds even if it means death. Forces of good, or rather forces of creation, always seem to find a way to beat even insurmountable odds, as if the Univers was on their side. A white man, who is mostly evil personized, constantly schemes and plots to achive its sinful goals. Despite the effort, the plan is often distorted by selfishness and lack of loyality.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> ''But what of my oath to the king? What sort of plotting is this? I was meant to be a general, to lead armies in battle; or a Governor, to move the machinery of state for the good of the people. Instead I am reduced to plotting, backstabbing, deception, betrayal. I am a Brutus, willing to betray all for the sake of a loyalty to the people. And yet—I pray that history will be kind to me.'' - Gilbert La Fayette on the eve of the battle against Andrew Jackson's forces.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> happy end – in the first three volumes of Alvin Maker series there is no happy ending as such, although the pursuit of the Crystal City hints that the forces of good struggle to make the world a better place.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> death and resurrection – several characters die (or at least are on the very brink of death) and miraculously are brought back to life by Alvin, saving them from the clutches of death; Ta-Kumsaw during the battle against Jackson's forces or Measure after being tortured by Mike Fink. Even Alvin had a brush with death, after stonemill crushed his leg.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> '''But Measure didn’t hear him. Measure was beyond hearing. If Measure wasn’t dead he was half an inch from being dead, and that was sure. Alvin went to his heart first. It was still pumping, but there wasn’t much blood left in the veins; it was all lost in Measure’s chest and belly. That was the first thing Alvin had to mend, heal up the blood vessels and get the blood back where it belonged, flowing in its channels. Time, it all took time. All the broken ribs, the cut-up organs. All the bones, joining them without so much as a hand to help move something into the right place—some of the bones were so out of line that he couldn’t heal them at all. He’d have to wait until Measure woke up enough to help him. So Alvin got inside Measure’s brain, the nerves running down his spine, and healed it all, put it back the way it had to be.' ''- Alvin healing his brother Measure.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> importance of choices – seemingly unrelated characters make choices that have a huge impact on the outcome of the story, send the wheels in motion. Paths taken by characters and the conseqences of their choices evolve upredictably, affecting a wider range of people they initially imagined.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;">

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;"> '''He closed his eyes and let some heat build up inside him. A spark. And then he sent that spark outside himself. It was like what doodlebugs said they did, sending out their bug to go searching underground and see what it could see. He set his spark to searching and pretty soon he found what he was looking for. Governor Bill’s own house. His spark was too far away by now for him to find some particular spot in the house. And his aim couldn’t be too tight. So instead he just pumped all his hate and rage and pain into the spark, built it hotter and hotter and hotter. He let himself go like he never done before in his life. And he kept pushing it and pushing it until he started hearing that most welcome sound. “Fire! Fire!” The shouts came from outside, from far away, but more and more people took up the cry.' ''- Hooch sets Harrison's house aflame out of revenge, killing his wife and a child. It makes Harrison even angrier and more determined to wipe the Reds out, triggering a terrible conflict.

<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-left:1.26cm;margin-bottom:0cm;border-style:none;padding:0cm;line-height:150%;">