Corn is sacred to the Cherokee Nation; in Pushing the Bear corn represented their way of life. Corn was how they supported themselves, it was their main crop and it was also part of their legends. At the beginning of the novel Maritole tells the story of Selu, she states: “Didn't the soldiers know that we were that land? The cornstalks were our grandmothers. In our corn story, a woman named Selu had been murdered by her children. Where his blood fell, corn grew.” This can be considered a creation story because Selu gives his life to create food for the corn. The fact that Selu was a self-sacrificing mother can also be interpreted as a connection between Cherokee ideals of a matriarchal society. Throughout the book many characters struggle with the loss of corn. At a certain point Maritole's father goes so far as to say that corn is their life. When Knobowtee loses his farmland, he essentially loses his identity and mentions several times in the novel how he misses planting corn. Corn is what gave him purpose in life and without it he felt like he had lost his livelihood. Corn was not only vital to the Cherokee for agricultural purposes, but was also part of their culture itself. Glancy mentioned this creation account in order to show the great loss the Cherokee felt during the forcing