Does your genetic makeup determine whether you will be a great guitar player, an adventure seeker or if pizza will be your favorite food? Or does your environment mold your personality over time, making you who you into whatever the circumstance demands? From the time of Columbus discovery of the new world well into the mid-twentieth century, American Indians were considered to be “treacherous, vicious, cruel, lazy, stupid, dirty, speaking in ughs and grunts, and often quite drunk” (Marger, 2015, p. 156). While these traits are stereotypes, many people believed that if a person was an American Indian these things were automatically hard-coded into them. However, In The Soft-Hearted Sioux Zitkala Ša shows that these qualities are not pre-programmed …show more content…
Zitkala Ša uses the Sioux boy’s religion to show that he is now intellectually mature and well versed in scripture. The Sioux boy had returned to his tribe as a missionary. When the boy begins preaching to his tribe, he preaches with such passion that sweat forms on his brow and he believes his tribe is considering his message to the point that he says “I was turning my thoughts upward to the sky in gratitude” (Ša, 2013, p. 649). The Sioux boy’s sermon is so convincing that the tribe’s medicine man feels threatened by the boy’s sermon. The medicine man immediately denounces the Sioux boy as a traitor. But he doesn’t feel that this is enough to protect against the boy’s message so the medicine man moves the tribe away, leaving the boy and his family to fend for themselves. Here Ša shows that through his schooling, the boy has become learned enough to persuade a people, who tie much of their identity with their religion, to consider a different way of life. This ability to learn directly contradicts the American Indian stereotypes held by people at the time, demonstrating that it’s not genetics, but the environment that make up a …show more content…
After the tribe leaves, the boy and his family begin to run out of food due to his lack of hunting skills and his father’s inability to hunt. For this reason, the Sioux boy’s father becomes fed up with the boy’s soft-heartedness. After a time, the father begins to shame the Sioux boy into stealing a cow from a heard that is owned by a white man, jeering the boy on saying "My son, your soft heart will let me starve before you bring me meat! Two hills eastward stand a herd of cattle. Yet you will see me die before you bring me food!" (Ša, 2013, p. 650). The Sioux boy is overwhelmed by this statement and he rushes off to the herd of cattle and begins to plan his attack “Twenty in all I numbered. From among them I chose the best-fattened creature. Leaping over the fence, I plunged my knife into it…. Toward home I fairly ran... Hardly had I climbed the second hill when I heard sounds coming after me… A rough hand wrenched my shoulder and took the meat from me! I stopped struggling to run. A deafening whir filled my head. The moon and stars began to move… A great quiet filled the air. In my hand I found my long knife dripping with blood. At my feet a man's figure lay prone in blood-red snow” (Ša, 2013, pp. 650-651). Here Ša shows that when the Sioux boy’s environment changes from the Indian school to his father’s severe illness and abandonment from his tribe, it also
In the Lakota Way, Marshall teaches many different virtues that all are important to being a good person, but respect shines above them all. It is at the cornerstone of every virtue the author puts forth. It is clear in every story told by Marshall and in every lesson taught in The Lakota Way. Without at least a modicum of respect, the virtues taught by the Lakota would be less valuable to us as a society.
According to Tyler Troudt once said, “The past cannot be changed forgotten to edit or erased it can only be accepted.” In the book The Lakota Way, it is talking about all the old stories that no one talks about anymore. Some of the stories are about respect, honor, love, sacrifice, truth, bravery. Joseph M. Marshall III wrote this story so that young adults around the world and mainly the Lakota people know their culture, so they knew all the stories about the people long ago. What the author is writing about is all information that today’s generation will never know about the stories because most of the elder that even knew or know the stories have passed away or the young people just are not interested in listening to them anymore.
Modern day Native American are widely known as stewards of the environment who fight for conservation and environmental issues. The position of the many Native American as environmentalists and conservationists is justified based on the perception that before European colonists arrived in the Americas, Native Americans had little to no effect on their environment as they lived in harmony with nature. This idea is challenged by Shepard Krech III in his work, The Ecological Indian. In The Ecological Indian, Krech argues that this image of the noble savage was an invented tradition that began in the early 1970’s, and that attempts to humanize Native Americans by attempting to portray them as they really were. Krech’s arguments are criticized by Darren J Ranco who in his response, claims that Krech fails to analyze the current state of Native American affairs, falls into the ‘trap’ of invented tradition, and accuses Krech of diminishing the power and influence of Native Americans in politics. This essay examines both arguments, but ultimately finds Krech to be more convincing as Krech’s
When chief Sitting Bull and his people ran away from their native lands to Canada, they lost all the resources they had once relied on. This led to multiple deaths due to the lack of food, warmth, and much more. A little girl of the Sioux died due to hunger and the harsh weather. M...
The rhetor for this text is Luther Standing Bear. He was born in 1868 on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was raised as a Native American until the age on eleven when he was taken to Carlisle Indian Industrial School: an Indian boarding school. After graduating from the boarding school, he returned to his reservation and now realized the terrible conditions under which they were living. Standing Bear was then elected as chief of his tribe and it became his responsibility to induce change (Luther Standing Bear). The boarding schools, like the one he went to, were not a fair place to be. The Native American children were forced to go there and they were not taught how to live as a European American; they were taught low level jobs like how to mop and take out trash. Also, these school were very brutal with punishment and how the kids were treated. In the passage he states, “More than one tragedy has resulted when a young boy or girl has returned home again almost an utter stranger. I have seen these happenings with my own eyes and I know they can cause naught but suffering.” (Standing Bear 276). Standing Bear is fighting for the Indians to be taught by Indians. He does not want their young to lose the culture taught to them from the elders. Standing Bear also states, “The old people do not speak English and never will be English-speaking.” (Standing Bear 276). He is reinforcing the point that he believes that they
The Sioux Indians are a tribe of Native Americans that have endured persecution, segregation, and isolation. Though they suffered greatly, they stuck together and fought for their beliefs and religion. They are a diverse people ranging from warriors to holy men to farmers. The Sioux were a culturally rich and kindhearted people who were not afraid to stand up for what they believed in.
Jim had a rough childhood. His mother and father had 11 children, six of which died at an early age. He had a very close relationship with his brother; they did everything together. They hunted, fished, played sports, and rode horses, and when pneumonia took the life of young Charles; Jim was heartbroken. Due to his death, Jim fell into a depression. He lost interest in athletics and his schooling, and constantly ran away from school. In 1898, his father, who was of European descent, sent him to Haskell Indian Junior College; a government managed boarding school located about 300 miles away from home in Lawrence, Kansas. This school took in young Native Americans and tried to “civilize” them. Jim was not permitted to speak his native Sac and Fox language and was forced to let go of his Indian traditions. Jim still held dear to his heritage despite these circumstances. It was here where he first wa...
“Over the Earth I come.” This is not a statement made in haste but a declaration of war, coming from the mouth of a Sioux warrior, a Dakota. They call him Crooked Lightning. That was the first and only true announcement about the planned uprising from the Dakota Nation. The Sioux Uprising of 1862 was appallingly deadly and destructive considering it may have been avoided if the United States had paid the Sioux their gold on time.
“It is my absolute belief that Indians have unlimited talent. I have no doubt about our capabilities.” --Narendra Modi. Native Americans love life and nature, they often celebrate it. In the stories “The Coyote”, “The Buffalo and the Corn”, and “The First False Face” each of these stories has many similarities, all include nature, and have many differences.
Throughout ancient history, many indigenous tribes and cultures have shown a common trait of being hunter/gatherer societies, relying solely on what nature had to offer. The geographical location influenced all aspects of tribal life including, spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices. Despite vast differences in the geographical location, reports show various similarities relating to the spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices of indigenous tribal cultures.
The Dakota sioux is a Native Indian Tribe. Their are just over 21,000 Dakota Sioux members living today. In the 19th century, these indians lived in the Great plains. Located in the mid west, this area was filled with grass plains, hills, lakes and rivers. We know refer to this area as Nebraska, North/ South Dakota and parts of Minnesota. Their climate in this area was normal warm summers and cold winters which they relied on each other as a community to help others in need since they did not have a designated doctor until closer to the end of the 19th century. These people relied on their land to support them for food and when the game went scares they travelled around. This is why they are so spread out because of the fact that when some
In old, but not so ancient times, native americans populated our land widely with different tribes diverged. One of the most widely known and popular tribes was named the Cherokee tribe and was formed as early as 1657. Their history is vast and deep, and today we will zone into four major points of their culture: their social organizations and political hierarchy, the tribe’s communication and language, a second form of communication in their arts and literature, and the Cherokee’s religion.
In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will discuss the major themes of the book and why the author wrote it, it will describe Native American society, its values and its beliefs and how they changed and it will show how Native Americans views other non-Natives.
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...
Their convictions were not comprehended and the intricacy of their religion was not seen. This was somewhat the aftereffect of not having a composed arrangement of rules. In the place of ministers and pastors were shaman and medicine men. These men were sometimes said to speak with the divine beings. They were astute and experienced and they delighted in a larger amount of status among their groups. They had essential parts in choices, functions, and customs. "The culture, values and traditions of native people amount to more than crafts and carvings. Their respect for the wisdom of their elders, their concept of family responsibilities extending beyond the nuclear family to embrace a whole village, their respect for the environment, their willingness to share - all of these values persist within their own culture even though they have been under unremitting pressure to abandon them(Berger, paragraph