Questions:
- Why does Black Elk tell the story of his life to Mr. Neihardt?
- What is religious about Black Elk’s way of looking at the world?
- What is Black Elk’s vision about? Do you think the vision is “real”? What does his vision say about the existence of goodness and evil? Why does Black Elk feel that it may only have been a dream? Why does he feel that he failed the vision?
- Why do the Sioux prefer circles to squares?
- Why does Black Elk join Buffalo Bill’s traveling show? What does he learn from the Wasichus? Who are the Wasichus and what does the word mean literally?
- Once they are on the reservation, why do the Indians begin to dance the Ghost Dance?
- Do you think that Black Elk was praying to a different God than Christians pray to? Why or why not? Do you think Black Elk’s religious experience differs from religious experience in the modern world? Do you think his religion is possible today? Does it offer us anything? Why or Why not?
Answers:
Black Elk felt that the telling of his story was “. . . incumbent upon him. His chief purpose was to ‘save his Great Vision for men (preface – xix).’” This is why he decided to tell his tale to Mr. Neihardt, because it is not just his story, it is the wisdom of his people and of his vision. The lessons gained in Black Elk Speaks are some that are as relevant today as they were almost two-hundred years ago
According to Raymond DeMallie in his book The Sixth Grandfather, Black Elk had a strong desire to study other religions, and around 1888, Black Elk began studying Christianity (14). Around 1904, Black Elk was baptized and became a Catholic. DeMallie mentions that there were a couple reasons for Black Elk’s conversion. One was in 1903; Black Elk wasn’t sure what to do with a certain part of his vision. This part of the vision gave him the power to use Soldier Weed to wipe out his enemies, “men, women and children” (14). Another event was the death of Black Elk’s wife in 1903, but the “final straw” came in 1904. Black Elk was healing a sick person when a priest entered, grabbed Black Elk’s sacred things, threw them out, and then grabbed Black Elk by the neck and screamed “Satan, get out!” (14). The priest prayed over the boy, then invited Black Elk to the Holy Rosary Mission. Black Elk began to believe the priest’s powers were stronger than his, and a couple weeks later, he became a Catholic (DeMallie 14).
Black Elk is eating when he hears a voice telling him to hurry because his Grandfathers are waiting. He grows sick and cannot walk. His legs, arms, and face swell up. The Indians are moving camp, but he is so ill he has to be carried. When he is laid down to rest in his parents’ tepee, he sees through the opening in the top the same men he had seen in the sky four years before. They call to him that his Grandfathers are waiting for him.
The Sioux believed in the circle of nature. They were physically surrounded by the circle of the horizon, the circle of their village, the circle of their councils, the circle of the tipi, the circle of their shield. They looked up at the circles of the sky, the circle of the sun and the circle of the moon. They lived through the circle of birth, childhood, adulthood, old age, second childhood and death.
In the 1880s, Black Elk toured with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show before returning to the Pine Ridge Reservation established for the Oglala in South Dakota. After the massacre of more than 200 Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek in late 1890 effectively put an end to Native American military resistance in the West, Black Elk remained at Pine Ridge, where he later converted to Christianity. In 1930, he began telling his story to the writer John Neihardt; the result was “Black Elk Speaks” (1932), a vivid and affecting chronicle of Lakota history and spiritual traditions.
After returning to Pine Ridge Reservation in 1889, he became involved with the Ghost Dance movement, which held that spiritual rituals such as dance and song would cause the white men to leave, the buffalo to return and the Native American way of life to be reestablished. This movement swept across the Great Plains, reaching the Sioux at Pine Ridge by early 1890.
I do believe Black Elk was praying to a different God than christians do. Most stories of indians and their communities talk of Gods that relate to the nature of the earth and the stories they prefer also connect more to the earth and the stars rather than the God that died on the cross and saved. Traditional beliefs are usually passed down in the forms of oral histories, stories, allegories and principles, and rely on face to face teaching in one’s family and community.
Black Elk Speaks Paper
Black Elk tells his story to Mr. Neihardt because he wanted to preserve his purpose to ‘save his great vision for men’. It is true that most of Black Elk’s lessons from the book are purposeful today as they were back in the 1800’s. Black Elk’s religious views mostly corresponded to the vision of embracing other religions and learning more about other cultures out of his own. Black Elk went on to discover Christianity, and went on to get baptized and converted into the Catholic religion. He did this mostly because of his vision and he felt like he had a purpose to do this. Black Elk’s vision came alive while he was eating, he began hearing voices telling him to hurry because his grandfathers were waiting on him. He goes on to get sick, so sick he is unable to walk. His legs, arms, and face swell up and he became so ill he had to be carried. The group was moving camp, he laid to rest in his parents tepee and he looks up out through the top opening of the tepee to see the same men he had seen four years prior in the sky looking down on him. They call to him again to tell him his grandfathers are waiting on him. I do not believe his vision was real, but a short existence of hallucinations, most likely from the stress of the current situations at the time, and the move. Black Elk probably believed the vision was a dream because he was communicating with a greater voice, which was unexplainable and too young to decipher at the time.
The Sioux prefer circles to squares because they believe in the circle of nature and the natural ability. They were physically surrounded by nature and the circle of their horizon, village, and of their counsels. They looked up at the circle of the sun, sky, and and the circle of the moon. They also spoke of living through the circle of life, through birth, childhood, adulthood, old age, second childhood, and death. That is why the Sioux prefer circles to squares. Black Elk began to tour with Buffalo Bill’s wild west show before coming back to the Pine Ridge Reservation. The reservation was formed by the Oglala, in South Dakota. At this time, Black Elk successfully put an end to the Native American military resistance in the west. He later converted to Christianity at Pine Ridge like I had mentioned before. Wasichus ironically means “non-indian” in Dakota and Sioux. The Wasichus are the first European people to meet Lakota. Wasichus then makes sense as to why they are referred to as “non-indian”. They were believed to be especially greedy, and to tell lies. Once the Indians are on the reservation, they begin to do the Ghost Dance. This spiritual ritual was used with dance and song to preserve their area from the white man, causing them to leave. They then believed if they performed the Ghost Dance the Buffalo would return, and the Native American way of life would be reestablished and back to the way it was before. The Ghost movement exceeded the area from the plains and made its way over to the Sioux and the Pine Ridge.
I do believe Black Elk was praying to a different God than christians do. Most stories of indians and their communities talk of Gods that relate to the nature of the earth and the stories they prefer also connect more to the earth and the stars rather than the God that died on the cross and saved. Traditional beliefs are usually passed down in the forms of oral histories, stories, allegories and principles, and rely on face to face teaching in one’s family and community.
Citations Page
- Neihardt, John Gneisenau, Philip Joseph. Deloria, and Raymond J. DeMallie. Black Elk speaks. Lincoln and London: U of Nebraska Press, 2014. Print.
- History.com Staff. “Black Elk.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 23 Apr. 2017. <http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/black-elk>.
- Setting the Record Straight: Wasicu. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.