Black Elk Speaks: An Analysis

Black Elk explains the Lakota ideology and what it means to be native. Black Elk falls very ill. While ill, Black Elk has a vision known as “The Great Vision”(Neihardt 17 footnote 1). The Wasichus, a name for white people, start building the iron road, and the start of treaties being made. “Wherever we went the soldiers came to kill us”(Neihardt pg 105), this quote was spoken by Black Elk at the beginning of destruction of the Lakota Nation. Black Elk and his tribe leave for Grandmother’s land (Canada). While in Canada, the Lakota perform the Horse Dance. Cuts-to-pieces’ son was the first human to be healed by Black Elk, and after this miraculous deed happens his tribe performs the Heyoka ceremony. After the Heyoka ceremony, Black Elk performs the final part of his Great Vision. Black Elk travels over the big water and when Black Elk recovers from being sick, he then returns home to find his people dying from starvation and sickness. The messiah is introduced, and rumors are spreading that this man promises a new “better” world is coming, where all their loved-ones are alive and buffalo still roam. Historically known as the Massacre of Wounded Knee, Wasichus came into the native camp, at this time there were so few native tribes left that multiple tribes banded together and slaughter men women and children. This is when the Lakota Nation has one final battle against the U.S. Army. “Brothers, this is a very hard winter. The women and children are starving and

Black Elk plays a major role in retelling the history of the Lakota Native Americans. Having witnessed the Battle of Little Bighorn and living through the transfer of Native Americans to the Pine Ridge Reservation, Black Elk can attest to the treatment endured by Native Americans. Black Elk tells the story of a people injured in war and subject to sufferings for the years to follow.

New historicism is premised upon an ideological attempt to wed the practice of history and literary criticism. In this type of textual analysis, the literary work is juxtaposed with historical events (characteristic of the time period in which the work was produced) in an effort to understand the implications within the text. This line of inquiry serves to recover a "historical consciousness" which may be utilized in the rendering of literary theory. "Poems and novels came to be seen in isolation, as urnlike objects of precious beauty. The new historicists, whatever their differences and however defined, want us to see that even the most unlike poems are caught in a web of historical conditions,

When reading literature we often attempt to use particular threads of thought or lenses of critique to gain entry into the implied historic or legendary nature of literature. To accurately process a tale in the light in which it is presented, we have to consider the text from multiple viewpoints. We must take into consideration intentional and affective fallacies and the socioeconomic circumstances of the presenter/author/narrator. We also have to consider how our personal experience creates bias by placing the elements of the story into the web of relationships that we use to interpret the external world. There also is the need to factor in other external pressures, from societal norms, cultural ideals, and psychological themes, and how

Archery season was just ending, so the elk had experienced some pressure. The bulls were in full rut and their bugles could be heard for miles. On the 2 days we spent scouting, we had spotted a few bulls from far away that were well worth shooting, so we felt like our chances of getting one on this hunt was good. It was unlike anything else to experience going from hearing nothing but a gentle breeze flowing through the trees on the ridges broken by the deep tone of an elk bugle from a mile away.

This will help my writing by encouraging me to incorporate facts where they seamlessly fit in the text, as opposed to placing historical elements in careless, literary locations that create a lackluster reading experience. By continuing to read texts from the historical fiction genre, an aspiring (as well as current) writer can monitor the various ways historical research affects a piece, whether it be in a positive or negative

A little background I found on the author, John G. Neihardt, was that when he was little he moved around in the west a lot. While he was travelling in the west, after meeting his wife, he ran into Nicholas Black Elk, the Ogalala holy man, and would bring his visions to the world. The original book was published in 1932, and sold millions all over the world. The idea of the book was to recognize that not all Native Americans are going to kill you, and that it could introduce the idea of dreams with perceptive understandings. Standing Bear was in the room where the writing was taking place as a witness to tell that everything was true. While Neihardt was writing the book him and Black Elk became incredible friends and their friendship lasted

In the end, such works that indeed provided versions of reality that documented life being lived, live on not necessarily because of their artistic or literary merit but because of their rendering of actuality during a specific time and place. They have become, in effect, cultural documents (Connery).

The story of Nicholas Black Elk was one that was reluctantly told, a Lakota medicine man, a visionary of his own sort. Written by John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks captures the essence of what the Lakota culture based its teachings off of, as well as exhibiting who Black Elk really was. When Neihardt began his dialogues with Black Elk he knew which questions to ask, his plan was clear from the beginning. There were choices made by Neihardt that seem controversial, such as why he decided to end his book at the Battle of Wounded Knee instead of continuing through Black Elk’s life and his conversion to Catholicism. The steps taken by Neihardt succeeded in portraying Black Elk’s own story, and the importance of his vision on his life.

Some key images and symbols of Black’s Elk’s vision: bay horse moving in circular movements in all four directions. There was twelve horses in each direction. All horses on the north were all in white, to ones on the east were sorrel, the horses on the south were all buckskin color

The elk (Cervus canadensis) is one of the largest species of the Cervidae family in the world, and one of the largest land mammals in North America. Early European explorers in North America, who were familiar with the smaller red deer of Europe, thought the larger North American animal resembled a moose, and consequently gave it the name elk, which is the common European name for moose (Wikipedia 2014).

The two books that I read for the assignment was “The Hiding Place” and “The Black Elk Speaks”. I also listen to the video that was provided called "Letting Go of God". The one book that I’m going to talk about is “The Black Elk Speaks”. Reading the book they have made an impact on me. The reason I have decided to just to concrete on this book in particular is because it’s the on the really spook to me and I felt more of a connection to it compared to “The Hiding Place” and “Letting Go of God”.

Written by Jeffrey Eaton, an Open Letters editor, this source is reliable because the magazine speciality is to critique many works of art and literature. Rather than merely summarizing the main events of the memoir, Eaton actually expresses his dislike about it by providing

As a small child of five, I would believe everything I read or saw. Whether it was a painting or photograph, a fairytale or book, fiction or nonfiction, did not matter to me at such a young age. Sometimes the true and false is obvious and effortless to pick out, while other times, it can be much more difficult. Depending on the genre of literature, it can be easier or harder to learn information about the topic. Learning history through literature is different from learning through informational text because literature can be interpreted diversely, it includes the creator’s perspective, and literature has artistic licence.

New Historicism is a modern literary theory that focuses on how events, culture, and places within a society influence a written work. New Historicists analyze allusions to characteristics of the time period in which the work was written. By definition, new historicism seeks to discover the significance in a text by taking into account the work within the construction of the established ideas and assumptions of its historical era. Literary texts are entrenched with historical context and the author is seen as subject to the forces of the culture that he or she works within. New Historicists reject the New Critical principle that texts are autonomous and should be read without any comparison to history, and instead argue that texts are