The World on the Turtle's Back
This world existed before our world was created.
What is the Sky World?
The text describes the disastrous expedition of this Spanish explorer.
Who is Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca?
The poem begins with the speaker waking up to and witnessing this terrifying sight.
What is a house fire?
This is the central theme in the narrative of the two Twins.
What is balance is needed to achieve a stable, natural world?
While other animals failed, this small creature successfully dove to the bottom of the ocean to bring up a paw-full of dirt.
Who is the Muskrat?
Cabeza de Vaca's expedition fails because of these factors.
What is a loss of resources due to starvation, disease, and getting lost?
Despite losing her home, the speaker states that she cannot complain because her possessions actually belonged to this being.
Who is God?
The sky woman and the animals working together reflects this idea from "The World on the Turtle's Back."
What is balance/what is harmony?
Corn, beans, and squash grew from the grave of the this person after they died.
Who was the Mother of the Twins?
To survive, the remaining Spaniards were eventually forced to take on this role within the Native American tribes, performing rituals to cure the sick.
What are healers?
What is grief/sorrow?
This idea is central to the theme in "A Desperate Trek Across America."
What is working together with different cultures?
The right-handed twin is often associated with daylight, truth, and justice, while the left-handed twin is associated with these things.
What are deviousness, violence, and nighttime?
How many explorers had originally embarked on the expedition with Cabeza de Vaca?
What is 600 men?
Bradstreet uses an extended metaphor comparing heaven to a house built by this "Mighty Architect."
Who is God?
The author's opinion of cultural collision is that it provides this feeling to people in desperate times.
What is hope/community?
After the right-handed twin cuts off his grandmother's head, she becomes this celestial body that watches over the night realm.
What is the moon?
This place was the original target for Cabeza de Vaca's expedition before it washed ashore elsewhere.
Bonus: This is where they ended up instead.
What is Florida?
Bonus: What is Texas?
With her material possessions gone forever, this place becomes the new focus for the speaker at the end of the poem.
What is Heaven?
In "Upon the Burning of Our House," Bradstreet's opinion on the idea of grief is this.
What is that people should recognize that everything is within God's plan and that it is God's role to give and take away material possessions? People should focus on bettering their spirit for Heaven.