Braiding Sweetgrass Evalutation

Betsey Walsh

Professor Santos

ENGL 102_037

13 February 2018

Evaluation of Braiding Sweetgrass

            Braiding Sweetgrass is a nonfiction book written by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Kimmerer talks about nature and her observations between the relationship of humans and nature. She talks about stories as a teacher, as a mother, and as a Potawatomi woman. While reading Braiding Sweetgrass, I did not know if I would enjoy reading the book or not, but I did end up enjoying it and learning a lot from it. One of my favorite stories is the first chapter we read about the creation story. I never heard of this version of the story, so I thought it was really interesting learning about it. Kimmerer talks about how there is the sky world and that a hole opens up in the sky and a woman falls down from it. There are animals below her and they decide to call her Sky Woman. It also talks about how the many brave animals that would dive into the water in order to grab some mud for her, but were unsuccessful. But then, there was a muskrat that decided to dive and give it a try. He was down there for awhile and you then see air bubbles come up and see the muskrat slowly float up to the surface. They then noticed that its fist was clenched and inside was a small handful of mud. The Sky Woman then takes the mud and rubs it on the turtles back, creating turtle island. I thought this was very interesting because the only creation story I heard about before this one was the one about Adam and Eve.

            Another story that I enjoyed was The Three Sisters. It talks about how these three plants can survive on their own, but when all together their bond is much stronger. For example, if they were planted, grown and eaten all together they would have a bigger impact. They got their name by being able to thrive together, just like sisters and how they are inseparable. The three sisters consist of corn, beans, and squash, which in the 1600s were considered a “gift from god.” As older sisters do, the corn offers the beans support on anything they would need. Growing all the crops together will minimize the nutrient depletion.  As the beans grow their vines and branches tangle into the corn stock which keeps them in check and in like just like a sister would keep her fellow sisters in line. The squash represents the defense mechanism in the circle because it has prickly thorns that can prevent rodents and other harmful animals to stay away. All in all, even though I did not think I was going to like this book, I really enjoyed learning about the different views of nature and I hope you all will too!