Black Elk Speaks Summary

Heyoka Ceremony from Black Elk Speaks, by Nicholas Black Elk is a story dedicated to the Indian nation and the Hayoki - a religious people intrinsically connected to nature through their visions of thunderous creatures who were once part of this nation. Traditionally, Hayoki participates in religious ceremonies where this particular ceremony involved the sacrificing of a dog, a seemingly foolish act done with great reverence to the thunder beings of the west, that not only demonstrates their faith, beliefs, and traditions but also keeps them connected to the spiritual realm. It's important to note that as inhumane as it may seem to Western cultures, this sacrifice was done in the most respectful way possible, as Lakota promotes the respect of mother earth and everything in it. Even though the sacrificial killing of a domestic animal like a dog can be seen as controversial, in order to understand the Heyoka Ceremonies, we must first understand its origins.

These Grandfathers presented Black Elk with gifts to help him on his journey. A wooden cup, a bow and arrows, a white wing of cleansing, an herb to heal, a sacred pipe a flowering stick and the power to make live and to destroy were the tools that were given to him. Then, the Grandfathers showed Black Elk what was to become of his people. He was shown a holy tree which once had been flowering and was now gone. The people he was supposed to lead were thin and starving, and Black Elk cried as he saw the fate of his people.

Without that initial statement, why would we think him mad? Then he says; "Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing." How does he know that madmen know nothing? I wrote in my own journal once; "Insanity is not madness. Sanity is madness, if one can distinguish the difference between sanity and insanity, does that not then make you sane?" So then, if the narrator questions our thoughts on his sanity, he must then know the difference or that there is a difference between sanity and insanity, does that not then create some question as to his own sanity? I think from the very beginning he questioned his own sanity to himself thereby creating the question of insanity to the reader! Isn't that insane? (ha ha) But was he insane? Insane is defined in Webster's New Concise Dictionary as: "Not Sane; mentally deranged or unsound. Set apart for demented persons. Not Whole." OK, well we still cannot prove that he was or was not insane. Was he a psychopath? Some would say yes, most definitely. But what is a psychopath? Psychopaths have a character type that enables them to pursue pleasure with indifference to the suffering they cause others. Psychopaths are completely lacking such virtues as benevolence and compassion. In this story, the narrator says; "I loved the old man.

The Omaha Chief Big Elk commented on the effect of the white migration to the West across the Overland Trails while visiting Washington D.C. He stated eloquently, “there is a coming flood which will soon reach us, and I advise you to prepare for it.” An estimated 500,000 people made the journey West to California and the Willamette Valley between the years 1840 – 1870. However, much like the first rains in a wet season, benefits were found in the first storm of white emigrants heading west. Native people were able to cooperate with white emigrants and benefit from trading with them. But the storms continued, emigrants as plentiful as rain drops came through the Indian lands and eventually, the prophecy of a great flood Chief Big Elk spoke of came true. Overtime, whites used up the limited resources of the plains tribes, depended on one another instead of Indians for help, and used force rather than compromise to clear the way for the expansion of the West.

As a child, I have always been intrigued about the vast traditions and the colorful histories of various Indian Tribes. I choose Dee Browns “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” in order to be further educated about the Native American nations. I was familiar with the piece long before I even knew it was a book by watching and love the HBO special on “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee”.

Black Elk seemed disgusted by the behavior of the United States government. Black Elk had lived through the government’s unlawful slaughter of Chief Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. He had seen the Battle of Little Bighorn where an attempt was made to forcibly take their sacred land. Black Elk had witnessed the massacre of men, women, and children at the Battle of Wounded Knee. Black Elk went as far to say that “I did not know then how much was ended….I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream.” Black Elk experienced the true injustices done by the government, and lived long enough to see their negative impact (“Black Elk”).

When Black Elk was older and wiser, he started to realize how wrong he was in following his visions

The book Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee was written by Dee Brown. Dee Brown wrote a handful of books and the central theme around those books were tales of Native Americans and civil war stories. He spent a long time studying different tribes all around the United States. He has brought out the voice of the Native Americans which was muffled and silenced by the army and government. This book brought much awareness to a cause many had forgotten about, and to the shock of many when they realized he was not a Native American. Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee tells the stories of many Native American tribes and their hardships when facing the government, army, and settlers. While reading this book, I came to quite a shock. I learned the point of view that was hidden in history books, the loss instead of the win, and the sadness felt throughout the book that made it unpleasant to read. I believe this book has brought to light the mistreatment of Native Americans in the past, the main hardships including countless false treaties, harsh treatments from the settlers, and the unjust massacres. I found this book to be quite a difficult read but incredibly worth it. It is written in such a manner that you feel immersed, you feel the all the emotions and imagine how everything came to be. It is figurative, but also incredibly factual. In the beginning of almost every chapter, before the actual start, there is small paragraph with the year and the events in that following year, a quote, or

A Hunkpapa Lakota chief named Sitting Bull and the history of the Lakota nationhood was the chosen subject of Gary C. Anderson to write a biography on. Although most of the history about Sitting Bull took place back in the eighteen hundreds, Anderson did not come out with his book tell around 1995. Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers published the book in 1996. The book follows the history of Sitting Bull and the native Indians fight with the "white man" over land.

Though he knows it’s impossible, he does not want to face the reality that some things just occur naturally and that it is perpetually changing anyway.

     Throughout Ceremony, the author, Leslie Silko, displays the internal struggle that the American Indians faced at that time in history. She displays this struggle between good and evil in several parts of the book. One is the myth explaining the origin of the white man.

After the death of his parents, Bear’s Brother is convinced by Blue Elk to go to the school for indian kids. Blue Elk does this by telling Bear’s Brother that the old days of the grandmothers are gone. That Bear’s Brother should come with Blue Elk to the school so he could learn the new ways. Bear’s Brother did not want to do this.

Insanity Author’s Note I am not a perfect writer. And I know that I cannot possibly live up to Stephen King’s talents when it comes to writing a good horror novel. This is hopefully just the beginning to a great series of horror novels. This novel is a unique tale of a person going from slightly deranged to completely insane.

Whither, then, could these holy men be journeying, so deep into the heathen wilderness? Young Goodman Brown caught hold of a tree, for support, being ready to sink down on the ground, faint and overburthened with the heavy sickness of his heart. He looked up to the sky, doubting whether there really

Before I started reading the book, I had kind of a negative view of what the main character would. Since we can see that the book is of the horror category before we even start reading it, it gives the illusion that the main character is probably a lost soul looking for a way to redeem himself. In our culture there are alot of factors that play into us stereotyping another human being, we normally see the flaws that others have tagged them with.