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Navajo
Dinetah, simply meaning “among the people,” refers to the traditional Navajo homeland. It encompasses northwestern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, southeastern Utah, and northeastern Arizona. Traditionally, four mountain peaks corresponding to the four cardinal directions mark the boundaries of Dinetah.
Dinetah Quotes in Code Talker
The Code Talker quotes below are all either spoken by Dinetah or refer to Dinetah. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 2
Quotes
It was not always easy for me to understand what those other boys and girls were saying. Even though we all spoke in Navajo, we had come from many distant parts of Dinetah. In those days, our language was not spoken the same everywhere by every group of Navajos. But, despite the fact that some of those other children spoke our sacred language differently, what we were doing made me feel happier and more peaceful. We were doing things as our elders had taught us. We were putting ourselves in balance.
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Chapter 29
Quotes
It was not easy and I did not do it quickly. For one thing, I still had to be healed. Those of us who came back to Dinetah from the war were all wounded, not just in our bodies, but in our minds and our spirits. You know that our Navajo way is to be quiet and modest. So when we Navajo soldiers came back, there were no parties or big parades for us as there were for the bilagáanaa G.I.s in their hometowns. We Navajos were just expected to fit back in.
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Dinetah Term Timeline in Code Talker
The timeline below shows where the term Dinetah appears in Code Talker. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: Boarding School
...does not always understand the other children’s dialects, since they come from far-flung areas of Dinetah. But the greeting exchange makes Ned feel peaceful, because they are following their elders’ ways...
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Chapter 15: Field Maneuvers
...Hawaii’s Big Island. Half of that island is desert. Ned thinks the Hawaiian desert resembles Dinetah. The lieutenant, Stormy, orders the platoon to cross the desert in two days with an...
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Chapter 29: Going Home
...His mind and spirit are still wounded from the war. When he gets home to Dinetah, there are not celebratory parades or other recognitions like the ones white soldiers often receive....
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