In M. Scott Momaday's work The Way to Rainy Mountain, where does Momaday's journey begin and end?

This is an interesting question, as the text itself is
rather nebulous and unclear when it comes to trying to work out where it begins and
ends. The use of flashbacks and the omission of transitional passages makes it very
difficult to determine. However, the two main views about this text are as
follows.

Firstly, some critics argue that after the death
of his grandmother, the narrator first goes to her home in Oklahoma, which is near Rainy
Mountain, a site of vital importance in the history of his Kiowa ancestors. From there,
having evoked the birth of his grandmother, he retraces an earlier journey his ancestors
made from northern lands to Oklahoma, where the narrator ends up at the end of this
piece for the second time.

Other critics believe that the
narrative is actually based on one single pilgrimage by the narrator, and that he does
not reach his grandmother's home until he has retraced the footsteps of his
ancestors.

The uncertainty surrounding this issue actually
leads us to believe that specific questions regarding why and where are not the focus of
this tremendous narrative. Momaday's reflections on natural wonders and his memories of
his grandmother are the focus of this piece, and we understand that this is not a
precise narrative of a geographical journey, but rather a journey back into the mists of
time.