Black Elk Speaks The division in the world among the races always was and will be one of the biggest issues that the people have to deal with and solve. Many cultures, Indian culture is one of the examples, were affected by the persecution of the people who were though to be “superior” to others. Indian culture was persecuted by whites, which wanted to wipe off the Indian civilization from the face of the world. The Native Americans wanted the same as anyone would, peace and freedom for their people. The Native Americans did not consider “white way of living righteous” for them, they were spiritual and had a different outlook on life, and did not want interference from outside world. In the book Black Elk Speaks, being the life story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux as told through John G. Neihardt, an Indian boy then a warrior, and Holy Man describes the life his people had in the lands that belonged to them that were seized by invaders. As a little boy, Black Elk witnessed his village being invaded by Wasichus, a term that was used by Indians to designate the white man, but having no reference to the color of his skin. Black Elk describes the life of Indians, which is very spiritual and could be very unattainable to understand to the naked eye of a regular person who did not know all the Indians’ beliefs. While still young, at the age of nine, Black Elk had a vision where he was the leader of all his people. Where he was given a gift from Great Spirits to save the Indian civilization by driving a way the Wasichus from their native land. After the dream, he was courageous and willing to go fight the barbarians. The deep spiritual significance of the dream came to him when he was older and wiser. The rituals and traditions of the Indians evince their beliefs in spirits and afterlife. Indians believed that there would be a better life for them after they die, because many of them did not see a way out, but people were still fighting for their lives. Growing up Black Elk and his friends were already playing the games of killing the whites and they waited impatiently to kill and scalp the first Wasichu, and bring the scalp to the village showing how strong and brave they were. One could only imagine what were the reasons that Indians were bloody-minded and brutal to the whites. After seeing their own villages, where... ... middle of paper ... ...that actually experienced it. The author gives a good background of the relationship white settlement and Indian cultures had, which supported by the life experience. An author depicts all the emotions of struggle and happiness at the times when it is hard to imagine it. And it actually not the author who is persuasive, but the Black Elk himself, because he is the one that actually can convey the exact feeling and images to the reader. The ways in which the author could strengthen the book, in my opinion, is instead all the descriptive, to me meaningless points as how they were coloring themselves, the author should have put a little bit more facts in there to make it more documentary. Anyhow, overall the book has strength in letting the reader understand the history from both sides, whites and Indians. Many people have different views on the persecution of Native Americans, some think that it was all Indians’ fault and that they caused their own suffering, which I think is absolutely ridiculous, because they were not the ones who invaded. And Native Americans had every right to stand up for the land that was theirs. Bibliography: Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt
He goes through many challenges, especially not having enough water to drink. He goes through these challenges being very brave, especially when it gets hard for him. Most times it is hard to find water, and the tribes might not even have
She allows her mother to control her and make decisions for her. During their conversation, she asks her mom if she should marry Mr. Jones even if she does not love him. Her mother does not seem to care until Helen mentions that he is Vice-President of the company. Her mother says that she should marry him whether she loves him or not because he will be able to take care of her and Helen. They continue to discuss how Helen can marry this man that she doesn’t like so she will never have to work again and he can support her mother, or she can say no at the risk of losing her job and not being able to support her mother anymore. Helen ties in how life is making her “feel like I’m stifling!” (591). Again, I feel this is another representation of Helen not being able to handle the pressures of society. Helen can’t talk about important decisions she has to make without feeling claustrophobic and blowing up by saying things like “I’ll kill you!” (592). I think she blows up because her mother is always nagging her and she can’t handle it in that moment anymore, especially since it is a conversation about
... are the most powerful nation so we can make the decisions that benefit our country the most. Since the white settlers in the 1800’s were more powerful than the Indians, they should take their land. This explains why species evolve and change over time. Many people feel that these changes are a good thing. It is possible that the stories told by Black Elk have been altered since his story was passed down for so many years. Any text that has been through the process that Black Elk Speaks has raises questions of authenticity.
... many setbacks and problems for the Natives, including poverty, alcoholism, and underperformance in education. With better acceptance of the Native culture, and aid from America as a whole, the Native American idea of freedom to self govern, roam freely, and preserve the Native culture can greater be aligned with that of American Freedom.
It is also made clear that the savage atrocities blamed on the Indians. When looked at historically truly must be blamed on the whites. They paid up to twenty-five dollars as a bounty for Indian scalps, before the Indians ever took a single one for trophies. The whites were also responsible for the first mutilations of corpses, the Indians just folowed suit off the method’s they witnessed for interrogation and trophies.
Mary Rowlandson’s “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” and Benjamin Franklin’s “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” are two different perspectives based on unique experiences the narrators had with “savages.” Benjamin Franklin’s “Remarks Concerning the Savages…” is a comparison between the ways of the Indians and the ways of the Englishmen along with Franklin’s reason why the Indians should not be defined as savages. “A Narrative of the Captivity…” is a written test of faith about a brutally traumatic experience that a woman faced alone while being held captive by Indians. Mary Rowlandson views the Indians in a negative light due to the traumatizing and inhumane experiences she went through namely, their actions and the way in which they lived went against the religious code to which she is used; contrastingly, Benjamin Franklin sees the Indians as everything but savages-- he believes that they are perfect due to their educated ways and virtuous conduct.
Before the introduction of the “pale face” Native Americans lived a calm and serene life. They lived in big communities and help one another in order to survive. They had a form of religion, poly-theistic, that would be their main form of salvation. They had chiefs and warriors. They had teepees that would allow them to quickly pack up and move. The Native Americans were a nomadic, primitive people that did not live up to the whiter man’s view of “civilization”. However, the white man, pale face, felt the need to change the Native Americans barbaric ways of life. The Americans were smart in their efforts in trying to convert the Indians. They would go after the kids because they were still young and gullible. “Yes, my child, several others besides Judewin are going away with the palefaces. Your brother said the missionaries had inquired about his little sister... “Did he tell them to take me, mother” (40). The children were impressionable. In this first story, the daughter gets hooked on going with the missionaries because they said they had apple trees and being that she has never seen an apple tree, she begged her mother to go not knowing that her mother did not want to send her away. Some Indians enjoyed leaving with the Americans; others did not because of what the Americans had done to the Indians. The mother in this story had told her daughter stories of what the paleface had done and how they had killed most...
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were
Ohiyesa’s father, Jacob “Many Lightnings” Eastman was instrumental in his assimilation into the white man’s culture, beginning with his education. Unlike many other Native American children in boarding schools, Charles learned to read and write in his native language. This progressive program of learning was often criticized because of the fear felt among American settlers after the Great Sioux Uprising. The settlers, as well as the government agencies, sought only acculturation of the Indians into the w...
Author and Indian Activist, Vine Deloria makes compelling statements in chapters one and five of his Indiana Manifesto, “Custer Died for Your Sins.” Although published in 1969 this work lays important historic ground work for understanding the plight of the Indian in the United States. Written during the turbulent civil rights movement, Deloria makes interesting comparisons to the Black struggle for equal rights in the United States. He condemns the contemporary views toward Indians widely help by Whites and argues that Indians are wrongly seen through the historic lens of a pipe smoking, bow and arrow wielding savage. Deloria forcefully views the oppressors and conquerors of the Indian mainly as the United States federal government and Christian missionaries. The author’s overall thesis is that Whites view Indians the way they want to see them which is not based in reality. The resulting behavior of Whites towards Indians shows its affects in the false perception in law and culture.
Kate is surprised that Annie is so young but Annie to that says “I mean to try… They can’t put you in jail for trying” (23), even though no one has ever taught someone like Helen. Annie may be young and may seem to be unskilled, but she doesn’t let that stop her. She gets this job to teach a deaf and a blind child so she will give it her all even though it is not believed to be possible. To actually get some work done with Helen, Annie says “...leave me alone with her” (50) because she wants her to get away from all the pity from her family. Annie thinks all the pity from Helen’s family is draining out all that she is teaching Helen. She does not think that Helen is learning anything with her family letting her do whatever she wants without consequence. Despite what Helen’s family thinks of Annie, she doesn’t give up doing what she knows is right for
Climate change has negatively impacted the production of coffee beans in Central America. Coffee tree’s are accustomed to a temperature between 59-75 fahrenheit in order to produce coffee beans. The slightest change in temperature such as half a degree can negatively affect the crop. Extreme droughts and intense rainfall have been occurring due to climate change. This has created a decrease in production by at least 30% in all Central America producing coffee countries. The rise in temperature has also allowed coffee tree diseases such as roya which is a leaf rust fungus to break out. Roya infects the leaves on the coffee tree’s causing them to fall off. The less amount of leaves on the tree’s the less amount of energy the tree is receiving,
The effect of this is that the Keller Family is more healthy. James can’t always do what he wants, nor can Helen. Annie keeps Captain Keller from having all the power in the family,
Michel Foucault’s objective is to demonstrate that the authors keep going to achieve a few crucial roles despite their declared death. At that moment, Foucault cannot take his eyes from the author functions. There are four author functions according to him. To begin with, first one is related to both objects of appropriations and shapes of properties. This refers to the idea of ownership of works and the idea of copyright rules. ...
Even though many people see renewable energy sources as the future of gathering electricity, they do not know whether renewable sources are as efficient as people think. As a thriving species, humans need to find more ways to live. One of these ways includes the ability to gather energy that they need to survive. Renewable energy is a rather new concept and not much people know about it but finding ways to harvest this energy is also difficult (Konrad).