The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday

The concept that N. Scott Momaday conveys in his essay The Way to Rainy Mountain relates to personal experience, making it a powerful essay. The rainy mountain has the harshest weather, and it is explained that way: “The harshest weather in the world is there.” (Momaday 1). Because of the detailed description and excellent writing, I find the article to be excellent and fascinating. This essay has taught me a lot about natural occurrences, which is one of my favorite topics to write about. Coherence, presence, and its purpose are the three factors that give it power. One of the elements that make the essay powerful is the coherence, which refers to the smooth flow of arguments created through proper transitional sentences that allow ideas to flow from one to the next. This makes the essay easy to read and understand the content. For instance, paragraph 3 starts by describing the writer’s grandmother “I like to think of her as a child” and the 4th paragraph start by giving more information about her “Her name was Aho…” (Momaday 1). In this case, there is coherence because of the excellent transition from the third to the fourth paragraph. The description of the old woman has some flow creating more interest in the reader who has a thirst to know more about this special woman. The leading sentences are followed by well thought descriptions that help the reader to connect the story and understand it better. The element is powerful since it allows a reader to move from one paragraph to the next with high anticipation and thirst to know more about the narrative.

Another element is the presence that refers to the sensation of life in a written work through investing one’s mind and focusing on the subject. An essay that employs the element of presence is well developed avoiding the use of easy ideas, stock phrase, or sentiments. In this essay, the writer has described life throughout the writing with descriptions of places and people in a manner that brings out the picture of the actual happening. For instance, in paragraph six L1 the description depict the presence of the writer at the location he describes “...a region of deep lakes and dark timber, canyons and waterfalls…” (Momaday 1). The statement shows the strength of the essay in creating a picture of the actual sceneries without sparing any detail. The element is powerful because the words used attract the attention of the reader bringing out the image of the region and the attitude of the writer.

Motive is another element used in the essay that makes it very powerful. It refers to the reason for writing or committing time to create an interesting piece. In the essay, the motive of the writer is to inform and influence people to love nature and its beauty through vivid descriptions of physical features, people, and other phenomena. The essay also describes the memories of the past with great emotion that captures the interest of the reader. For instance, in the last paragraph the statement at“ the end of a long and legendary way” reveals the motive of the writer of describing his past memories (Momaday 3). In this case, the essay is a story of past experiences, love of nature, and other aspects of life. The element is powerful since it draws the interest of the reader to the reason the writer has to spend time writing a story of past experiences.

A powerful essay leaves a reader with more anticipation for more from the writer. The piece The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday is a great one because of the manner in which it describes events and experiences of the writer. The elements, motive, coherence, and presence make the work more creative, captivating, and easy to understand. Reading it created a feeling of love for nature and brought back past memories of events and place in my life.

Work Cited

Momaday, N. Scott. The Way to Rainy Mountain. UNM Press, 1969.