Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee Sparknotes

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The book “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” written by Dee Brown, the author illustrates the dark past of the Native Americans. The issues addressed by the author ensure that the reader gets emotional when analyzing the matters covered in the book. The book narrates the various experiences that Native Americans went through such as killings committed against them by the government. It shows the massacres, humiliating diplomacy, and discriminatory policies used by the white settlers on the Native Indians. A critical analysis of the description based on unexploited sources such as firsthand descriptions and government accounts shows that Dee Brown intended the reader to react emotionally towards the issues addressed in the book. The author intended …show more content…

To achieve this, the author aimed to incite the sense of the people and alter the way the people viewed and thought about the inhabitants of the country. Brown therefore describes how the Native Americans who had a different viewpoint from the rising white settlers were brutally murdered. To incite the reader, the author states that many innocent natives lost both their land and lives to the white settlers. For instance, Brown uses the example of the massacre of Sioux men, women and children in South Dakota (Brown, 2007). The author also aims to use the betrayal to alter the thinking of the reader. He states that most of the promises made by the government to the natives were never met. The land belonging to the natives was given to the white settlers. The natives were mercilessly pushed into reservations. Those who opposed the move were either killed or starved. An evaluation of the book shows that white settlers out their disrespect ignored the treaty they had made with the natives on Native American territory. In an attempt to maintain peace, the Cheyennes and Arapahos met with the White Governor. However, instead of having a meeting, the natives are killed. The governor forces them to enter into a contract. Betrayal by the local government is also experienced when it promises to purchase transportation rights to Powder River country. However, before the treaty could be discussed and completed, the settlers send soldiers to the

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