ng child displaced them in seniority,” (Head, “Deep River”, page 3). Power is a force that can get people killed and is not to be taken lightly. If you interrupt a social order, you open yourself up for a fight to keep things as normal as possible. In a community where all commands come from one man, the battle between his successors may lead to drastic measures taken by the successors to ensure that they keep their spot in line if not move up. This sort of feud for power divides families and communities. “His brothers were forcing him to leave the tribe,” (Head, “Deep River”, page 5). “But the people were still in two camps.” (Head, “Deep River”, page 5). The tribe itself is affected, by the power struggle. In communities where decisions are made for you, one’s life is in array when you don’t know who to listen to. Not only does this concern the community, but the new leader. If the tribe doesn’t know who to take commands from, doesn’t that compromise one’s power?Women too, can gain Social/Political power from their gender. In the stories they have no true power, but can be held in high standings with in a tribe or community. A woman’s role and be perceived as powerful or weak. “From eight-thirty until nearly nine o’clock we waited for Geula. At five to nine Etkin said that he could not imagine what had happened; he could not recall her ever having missed a meeting or been late before; at all events, we must now begin the meeting and turn to the business on the agenda,” (Oz, page 88). This was the angle of one of the characters in this story. From that quote she sounds to be very powerful in this community. But the character has a different perception later to defy the thought he had earlier. “Geula had not arrived, and that was why there was no one there to cool down the temper of the meeting....
