Black Elk Speaks
Chapters 4 & 5 Overview
Chapter 4: The Bison Hunt
• Black Elk recovers from his vision
• Whirlwind Chaser (medicine man) “cures” him…but
knows there is something special about Black Elk.
How does this make Black Elk feel?
• Intuitive or extrasensory experience is revered by
Black Elk’s people…not shunned or thought of as
criminal. How does that compare with our western
society?
• A passage into manhood came upon killing a mature
buffalo or yearling…
The Bison Hunt…con’t.
• The Crier (scout) plays a significant role in the
lives of the Sioux…they did not keep livestock for
food.
• The hunt and its rewards is cause for great
celebration. Would you eat raw buffalo liver?
• Symbolism of butchering at the site of the
hunt…and the ensuing celebration and role of the
advisors. How do the advisors display their
generosity?
• Black Elk’s inability to shoot a bird while out
hunting. How does that tie to his vision?
• The Native Americans are happy as long as they
can pursue their traditional life and patterns…and
practice their heritage of cultural significance.
The Bison Hunt: Ch. 4
Key Element of Black Elk thus far:
• The Native Americans are happy as long as
they can pursue their traditional life and
patterns…and practice their heritage of
cultural significance.
Chapter 5: Soldier’s Town
• After the hunt, the Lakota bands disperse…
• Black Elk joins his relatives near Fort Robinson; Crazy
Horse refuses to associate with the Wasichu. Why would
there be this division?
• Black Elk goes deer hunting with his father, and falls
back into the realm of his vision
– Caused by the sound of the spotted eagle
– Tells his father that the deer will come to them
• Black Elk is becoming more accustomed to his
vision…growing more comfortable with it.
– Thunder makes him feel happy
– “queer” feeling when he hears the sound of the eagle.
• The time at the fort is one of the last happy times Black
Elk’s people have…What is the significance of this?
Chapter 6: Wasichu In The Hills
• Very much a turning point in Black Elk’s story
• Black Elk is now 11 years old…1874
• Significance of the flock of sparrows and squirrel hunt…The
Vision and Grandfathers’ prophecy
• The threat of Pahuska…Long Hair…General Custer. Why does
Custer wear his hair so long?
• 1875, Col. Dodge arrives with 400 men and 75 wagons on a
geological expedition
• 1868 Treaty and the Black Hills territory.
• The meeting with the “Grandfather at Washington” and
leasing the Black Hills to mine for gold. Consent or we’ll take
the land anyway. What is the impact of this?
• Black Elk meets his relative Crazy Horse…first chief to come
from Black Elk’s family.
• The U.S. Cavalry ultimately raids Crazy Horse’s
village…killing men, women and children.
• This chapter further marks the tension between the whites
and Native Americans
• Began making treaties with the Sioux in 1851; in 1871, Congress
stopped recognizing the N.A. tribes as sovereign nations.
• The economic greed of GOLD…and notable efforts to civilize
the Native Americans…led to the establishment of agencies
to manage/control the tribal populations.
• Square houses (p. 8 Drinks Water’s vision) were built for the
Native Americans…
• Taking away the power and significance of the round teepee
• Confined the heretofore nomadic peoples
• What would be the mental and physical impact of this?
• Some cooperated (e.g. Red Cloud) while others resisted.
• Courage v. self-preservation?
• Note: significance/symbolism of the dead
Indian…foreshadowing numerous deaths to come
Chapter 10: Walking the Black Road
• Wherever we went, the soldiers came to kill us, and it
was all our own country. It was already when the
Wasichus made the treaty with Red Cloud, that said it
would be ours as long as the grass should grow and
the water flow. That was only eight winters before,
and they were chasing us now because we
remembered, and they forgot (p. 102)
– What does this say about the integrity of Treaties?
•
How could men get fat by being bad, and starve by
being good? (pp. 105-106)
Chapter 16: Heyoka Ceremony
• You have noticed that the truth comes into this world with
two faces. One is sad with suffering, and the other
laughs; but it is the same face, laughing or
weeping.(p145)
» What is significant about this quote?
Chapter 17: The First Cure
• It is a bad way to live, for there is no power in a
square…birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the
same religion as ours. (p.150)
• But the Wasichus have put us in these square boxes.
Our power is gone, and we are dying, for the power is not
in us any more. (p.151)
Chapter 19: Across the Big Water
• The Wasichus did not kill them (buffalo) to eat; they killed
them for the metal that makes them crazy, and they took
only the hides to sell. Sometimes they did not even take
the hides, only the tongues… (p.164
» Ah, the delicacy of the bison tongue…from roughly
30,000,000 to 300 in 1894!
• There have been many lies, but we could not eat them
(p.165)
» How do you think this ultimately impacted Black Elk
and his people?
• …but I was like a man who had never had a vision. I felt
dead, and my people seemed lost and I thought I might
never find them again…they had forgotten that the earth
was their mother. (p.167)
» Why do you think Black Elk was so “down” on himself?
Chapter 24: The Butchering at Wounded Knee
• Dead and wounded women and children and little babies were
all scattered along where they had been trying to run away. The
soldiers had followed along the gulch, as they ran, and
murdered them in there…at it was one long grave of butchered
women and children and babies, who had never done any harm
and were only trying to run away. (pp.199-201)
• A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream. And I, to
whom a great vision was given in my youth, you see me now a
pitiful old man who has done nothing, for the nation’s hoop is
broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the
sacred tree is dead. (p.207)
» What is the irony in Black Elk’s closing words?