Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve's The Medicine Bag

765 Words2 Pages

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve’s story, “The Medicine Bag,” takes place in Iowa in the 1970s. The point of view is from a boy named Martin, who is half Lakota. His Grandfather, who is Sioux, shows up unexpectedly. Martin has been lying to his friends about his grandfather, making him seem “better” than what he was. He was embarrassed for this reason. His Grandfather went through a lot and had a long journey to get there for a reason. The reason was to give his Grandson “the medicine bag.” Martin's Grandfather told him a story about the medicine bag. Later in the story, his friends come over and meet his Grandfather and they love him. Martin then realized that his Grandpa had nothing to be ashamed of. Near the end of the story, Martin's Grandpa gives him the medicine bag. Martin is secretly worried about what other people will think of him wearing it, but his Grandpa is one step ahead. As he gives him the medicine bag, he tells Martin that he does not have to wear it because no one in this time and place will …show more content…

Some evidence on page 761 is, “We never showed our friends Grandpa a picture. Not that we were ashamed of him, but because we knew that the glamorous tales we told didn't go with the real thing. Our friends would have laughed at the picture, because Grandpa wasn't tall and stately like TV Indians. His hair wasn't in braids, but hung in stringy gray strands on his neck, and he was old. He was our great-grandfather, and he didn't live in a tepee, but all by himself in a part log, part tar-paper shack on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.” This detail shows how he begins to feel a little embarrassed because his Grandpa wasn’t as “great” as he was telling his friends. This evidence also shows that he feels embarrassed because his Grandpa is not as “interesting” as other Indians and how he should not be embarrassed because it’s his Grandpa and culture which should not be something to be ashamed

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