The Raven By Bill Reid Summary

OED defines a myth as “a traditional story involving supernatural beings or forces or creatures”. In this sense, “The Raven and the First Men” by Bill Reid is a myth because it involves the raven, which is a supernatural creature that encounters the first humans. The raven is featured prominently in First Nations mythologies and coaxes the first humans out of the clamshell. OED also states that a myth must have a justification of a “religious belief or ritual, or a natural phenomenon”. Accordingly, “The Raven and the First Men” is a creation myth that justifies the beginning of humans according to the Haida First Nations.

Cultures create myths for the purpose of explaining events or concepts outside the realm of human understanding, which was why mythology and storytelling was a prominent feature of the Haida society like the cultures of other early humans. One such concept is the origin of humans, which “The Raven and the First Men” explains in the Haida culture. A common aspect of the different myths of cultures is that the explanations that they give are not scientific since science rejects the
The trickster character has a driving curiosity to breaks rules that ultimately leads to unexpected positive results. In the Haida First Nations mythology, the raven is the trickster character and cultural hero that creates the world by stealing, exchanging, and other works of trickery. The raven is established as the trickster character in the first paragraph, where it is described to be “curious” with the urge to “meddle and provoke things.” The raven’s inquisitiveness, intrusiveness, and desire for trickery is depicted as a necessity similar to its need for food or water, which leads it to the shell that contains the humans with whom the raven cajoles and plays