Power

In reading Linda Hogan's "Power", the narrator, Omishto, talks about two different characters early on in the book: her mother and Aunt Ama. The stark differences between these women show some type of struggle that may exist within Omishto about being a Taiga person and deciding if she will follow the new world virtues or still rely heavily on older Taiga ways and traditions. Her mother represents the modernized life and ideals. Aunt Ama represents the old Taiga ways and graceful simplicity. Through her interactions and opinions of these characters, I believe she uses the conclusions made about them to discern what her particular lot in life will be.


Omishto seems to despise her mother, but still respects her. She talks about her mother's constant need for love, the sketchy man she's chosen to be her stepfather, and how she tries to "pass for white". She seemingly does not see anything admirable in her mother. If she does, the reader is not privy to that information just yet. With Aunt Ama, she has a "love hate" relationship with her opinion of her. I think she likes Ama because she seems to be a lot like her and she doesn't need "love" and she doesn't try to be something she's not. Ama is more interesting than her mother and exudes strength and the old ways of the Taiga people that are dying out with the influx of modernity. She mostly "loves" Ama in my opinion and says that she only thinks Ama is not beautiful after being in the "modern" world at school and such. Silence and sheer mystery add to the facade that Omishto's mind has built of Ama. I think ultimately that Omishto struggles a little with her identity as a young Taiga woman in a world that seemingly shuns the traditions and old practices.