Black Elk Speaks Essay
Personal Essay Black Elk Speaks
Before reading Black Elk Speaks I thought that Native Americans were all the same they fought wars and rode around on horse. They either won or lost the wars they fought in and they all lived in teepees. I really didn’t have much knowledge on them. I’ve always know that they had a very deep spiritual connection to nature and their world around them but I didn’t know the reasons why. Before reading I didn’t think about things as much like the world and animals; I just thought they were here just as we are and that we only used them for food and different things we need over time. I didn’t have a great appreciation for nature and what it actually gives us. I started to think about what the world thinks to be important in life and I started looking at what the Native Americans to be thought as important. It made start to question my own ways and look at the bigger picture, the world and what’s on it.
When I read Black Elk Speaks, I thought about how they thought about things, how their views on the world and life can be so different or even so close to our own. Their views on the world is that we are equal, the same, or even lesser then the animals and nature itself. They worship and respect them as if they are a part of our community. I always knew that they felt this way but I never knew the depth behind it or the reason why they chose to think this way. “There was a bush and a little bird sitting in it; but just as I was going to shoot, I felt queer again, and remembered that I was to be like a relative with the birds. So I did not shoot.” (BES 39) I realized that they were a lot smarter than us in some ways, like preserving the land and keeping things natural. It made me start to respect nature more and be thankful for the things nature has given us not just to sit there and eat a piece of meat and just think of it as food but instead a living breathing animal at some point that is helping me live by dying to become someone’s
Before reading Black Elk Speaks I thought that Native Americans were all the same they fought wars and rode around on horse. They either won or lost the wars they fought in and they all lived in teepees. I really didn’t have much knowledge on them. I’ve always know that they had a very deep spiritual connection to nature and their world around them but I didn’t know the reasons why. Before reading I didn’t think about things as much like the world and animals; I just thought they were here just as we are and that we only used them for food and different things we need over time. I didn’t have a great appreciation for nature and what it actually gives us. I started to think about what the world thinks to be important in life and I started looking at what the Native Americans to be thought as important. It made start to question my own ways and look at the bigger picture, the world and what’s on it.
When I read Black Elk Speaks, I thought about how they thought about things, how their views on the world and life can be so different or even so close to our own. Their views on the world is that we are equal, the same, or even lesser then the animals and nature itself. They worship and respect them as if they are a part of our community. I always knew that they felt this way but I never knew the depth behind it or the reason why they chose to think this way. “There was a bush and a little bird sitting in it; but just as I was going to shoot, I felt queer again, and remembered that I was to be like a relative with the birds. So I did not shoot.” (BES 39) I realized that they were a lot smarter than us in some ways, like preserving the land and keeping things natural. It made me start to respect nature more and be thankful for the things nature has given us not just to sit there and eat a piece of meat and just think of it as food but instead a living breathing animal at some point that is helping me live by dying to become someone’s