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Dances with wolves summary and analysis
Dances with wolves analysis
Dances with wolves analysis
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Dances with Wolves Summary
“Dances with Wolves” is a movie that seeks to deliver a message of the need for cultural diversity. The story follows the main character Lt. John James Dunbar, played by Kevin Costner, from the battlefields of the Civil War to the barely touched western frontiers that house the Sioux people. Once Dunbar arrives at his post, Ft. Sedgewick, he sets out to find his place in his new home. However, due to two plot moving events, the suicide of the officer who dispatched Dunbar to Fort Sedgewick and the murder of the coach driver who took him there, no one else is alive that holds knowledge of Dunbar’s placement.
Dunbar eventually encounters the “infamous savages”, the Sioux, who are just as curious about him as he is them. Over time a rapport is built between the people and Dunbar which culminated in their allowing him entry into their tribe. This pleased Dunbar due to
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Why do you think Dunbar requested to be posted on the frontier?
There is something special about being first, about going somewhere or doing something that no one else has. He specifically states wanting to see the frontier before it is gone so I am inclined to believe he has an adventurous spirit akin to the famed Lewis and Clark who not so long before this time period trekked across the same area.
2. The movie portrays Indian aggression after whites misuse natural resources. Was this type of interaction common?
To the Native Americans, the misuse of natural resources caused a disruption in the natural order of the environment. They lived in harmony with nature treating it with the mutual respect that it deserved. After all, abusing the land and wildlife could cause lasting repercussions that would be detrimental to their existence as a people. That their attack was directed at whites is purely arbitrary. The Sioux also executed an attack against the Pawnee who also threatened their way of life, simply in a different
The Native Americans saw what the Europeans were doing to their land, they wanted their old way of life, and they wanted the Europeans to leave.
On one hand some say Native Indians in New England had ritual practices that created a stable self-regulating system. It balanced the human impact upon the surrounding ecology. On the opposite hand, one could say there is no stable way to interact with the environment. An unstable reaction can always be found. The riddle compels the reader to explore both the differences between Native Indians and Colonials way of living and how they impacted the land and its ecology. Through this study one can determine not only what exactly happened, but also how the land was before such changes
From the Deep Woods to Civilization should be an intriguing read for anybody interested in Native American history. It gives an introspective look into the adjustments to society many had to make at that time. Eastman's own identity follows a parabolic curve from the beginning to the end. He rediscovers his Sioux identity after questioning it. The book implores us to consider the tactics, struggles, and other problems that Indian people have had to go through to achieve success despite the odds being stacked against
The Native American’s way of living was different from the Europeans. They believed that man is ruled by respect and reverence for nature and that nature is an ancestor or relative. The Native American’s strongly belie...
The Sioux and other Native Americans have always been treated poorly by some people. They had to deal with the same racism that the African Americans were dealing with in the South. No one was fighting a war for the Sioux though. The truth is white supremacy runs amuck everywhere and wreaks havoc on society. Racism separated the Sioux from the settlers, but the tipping point was something else entirely. The US made a binding contract, a promise, to pay the Sioux a certain amount of Go...
As a result, both films represent Native Americans from the point of view of non-Native directors. Despite the fact that they made use of the fabricated stereotypes in their illustrations of the indigenous people, their portrayal was revolutionary in its own times. Each of the films adds in their own way a new approach to the representation of indigenous people, their stories unfolding in a different way. These differences make one look at the indigenous not only as one dimensional beings but as multifaceted beings, as Dunbar says, “they are just like us.” This is finally a sense of fairness and respect by the non-native populations to the Native Indians.
When the fur traders encountered a Natives man’s hut they had a seemingly calm interaction of trading items for fur. Only Leonard mentioned that the man was “filthy and naked”(8), showing that the outwards appearance of Natives played a role in how a large portion of whites perceived them. When the Natives approached the camp of the fur traders, the whites reacted in paranoia as they believed that the Natives were only there for revenge of their fallen comrades. However, according to Leonard’s recollection of the event, I was lead to believe that the Indians seemed more curious in the company rather than seeking vengeance. Of course, considering the circumstances, being completely surrounded by someone that you believe to be an enemy can be perceived as
One such instance was with Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Tribe. Chief Joseph refused to sign treaties with the government and after some rogue tribesmen attacked some white settlers, he and his tribe tried to flee to Canada but were caught and forced onto a reservation. The battle of Little Bighorn is also known as Custer’s last stand was also a prime example of the cruelty towards the Native Americans. The battle of Little Bighorn took place in 1876 in Montana. The government was falling back on a treaty they signed with the Sioux and Cheyenne Tribes. They were already placed onto a reservation, but when gold was discovered on the reservation Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer was sent to trap them and then wait for backup to force the Native American’s from the land. Custer disobeyed orders and attacked instead. Chief Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull of the Sioux tribes knew of the plan and set a trap for the army regiment and killed all of them. This battle was one of the greatest victories for the Native
Beginning in the 1860s and lasting until the late 1780s, government policy towards Native Americans was aggressive and expressed zero tolerance for their presence in the West. In the last 1850s, tribal leaders and Americans were briefly able to compromise on living situations and land arrangements. Noncompliance by Americans, however, resumed conflict. The beginning of what would be called the "Indian Wars" started in Minnesota in 1862. Sioux, angered by the loss of much of their land, killed 5 white Americans. What resulted was over 1,000 deaths, of white and Native Americans. From that point on, American policy was to force Indians off of their land. American troops would force Indian tribe leaders to accept treaties taking their land from them. Protests or resistance by the Indians would result in fighting. On occasion, military troops would even lash out against peaceful Indians. Their aggression became out of control.
Neil Diamond reveals the truth behind the Native stereotypes and the effects it left on the Natives. He begins by showing how Hollywood generalizes the Natives from the clothing they wore, like feathers
Native Americans lived on the land that is now called America, but when white settlers started to take over the land, many lives of Native Americans were lost. Today, many people believe that the things that have been done and are being done right now, is an honor or an insult to the Natives. The choices that were made and being made were an insult to the Native Americans that live and used to live on this land, by being insulted by land policies, boardings schools and modern issues, all in which contain mistreatment of the Natives. The power that the settlers and the people who governed them had, overcame the power of the Natives so the settlers took advantage and changed the Natives way of life to the
When Columbus and Hariot first came into contact with these natives, they seemed different (even strange) at times because they lived almost completely naked. For a long period of time, the Native Americans lives had to change as they adapted too many different environments. As a matter of fact, the American Indians were very creative. They were able to found ways on to how to live in deserts, forests, along the oceans, and on grassy prairies. The Natives people were great hunters and productive farmers, for they built towns and traded over large distances with other tribes.
As the Sioux become cautious and concerned about Dunbar, Dunbar too starts questioning his post and commitment to the army, “I realize now that I have been wrong. All this time I have been waiting. Waiting for what? For someone to find me? For Indians to take my horse...Since I arrived at this post I have been walking on eggs. It has become a bad habit and I am sick of it” (Dances with Wolves). As Dunbar becomes more involved with the Indians and starts conversing with them, learning their ways and their language he finds it harder and harder to see them as, “beggars and thieves. They are not the bogeymen they have been made out to be” (Dances with Wolves). As time progresses Dunbar is given a proper name, “He thanks Dances With Wolves for coming. Who is Dances With Wolves? It is the name which everyone is calling you now. Dances With Wolves…that’s right” (Dances with Wolves). As more time goes by Dunbar is no longer known by Lieutenant John Dunbar but Dances With Wolves, with his new name he is not seen as a, “white soldier. I see only a Sioux named Dances With Wolves” (Dances with Wolves). As Ten Bears explains, Dances With Wolves may be seen as a traitor to the white army but the only traitor Dances With
Charles Eastman made great strides to bridge the gap between the Native Americans and the white man. Born a Santee Sioux, Eastman excelled in his assimilated life, thereby gaining the respect of the white man, which he used to assist the Native American. He was able to give a voice to the culture and its people, which was quickly being silenced by a Eurocentric government. Eastman exemplified the abilities of the Native American through his accomplishments as an author, lecturer, physician, and activist. His capacity to live between two diverse cultures furthered his unprecedented endeavors.
The Native Americans or American Indians, once occupied all of the entire region of the United States. They were composed of many different groups, who speaked hundreds of languages and dialects. The Indians from the Southwest used to live in large built terraced communities and their way of sustain was from the agriculture where they planted squash, pumpkins, beans and corn crops. Trades between neighboring tribes were common, this brought in additional goods and also some raw materials such as gems, cooper. seashells and soapstone.To this day, movies and television continue the stereotype of Indians wearing feathered headdresses killing innocent white settlers. As they encountered the Europeans, automatically their material world was changed. The American Indians were amazed by the physical looks of the white settlers, their way of dressing and also by their language. The first Indian-White encounter was very peaceful and trade was their principal interaction. Tension and disputes were sometimes resolved by force but more often by negotiation or treaties. On the other hand, the Natives were described as strong and very innocent creatures awaiting for the first opportunity to be christianized. The Indians were called the “Noble Savages” by the settlers because they were cooperative people but sometimes, after having a few conflicts with them, they seem to behaved like animals. We should apprehend that the encounter with the settlers really amazed the natives, they were only used to interact with people from their own race and surroundings and all of this was like a new discovery for them as well as for the white immigrants. The relations between the English and the Virginian Indians was somewhat strong in a few ways. They were having marriages among them. For example, when Pocahontas married John Rolfe, many said it has a political implication to unite more settlers with the Indians to have a better relation between both groups. As for the Indians, their attitude was always friendly and full of curiosity when they saw the strange and light-skinned creatures from beyond the ocean. The colonists only survived with the help of the Indians when they first settler in Jamestown and Plymouth. In this areas, the Indians showed the colonists how to cultivate crops and gather seafood.The Indians changed their attitude from welcome to hostility when the strangers increased and encroached more and more on hunting and planting in the Natives’ grounds.