Culture In John Neihardt's Book 'Black Elk Speaks'

Black Elk Speaks The Oglala people were very spiritual and believed in another world and higher being. The Oglala Sioux Nation’s rituals, traditions, and ways of life are reflected through the story of Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux medicine man, who shared his life stories with the poet John Neihardt in an attempt to preserve the history of the Sioux traditions. Neihardt’s book, Black Elk Speaks, also depicts the struggles of the Lakota Indians (Oglala Sioux Nation) as they defend their land against the “Wasichus,” or white-man, during the gold rush and they fight with the American government for their property and land. Through Black Elk’s accounts, the reader gains a knowledge of the Oglala traditions and witnesses how the culture evolves
with the increase of westerners and the gold rush. Since the book, Black Elk Speaks, is written primarily from Black Elk’s perspective, the reader gets a better understanding of Black Elk’s character and how he interacts with the Oglala people, being from the Oglala Nation himself. At the age of nine, Black Elk is granted a vision that empowers him to lead his people, and especially maintain the “sacred hoop”—their cultural identity and coherence as a tribe. Black Elk 's growing anxiety about carrying out the promise of the vision is evident throughout the narrative, as he struggles to hold onto his Sioux culture throughout the battles for territory. In the immediate aftermath of the vision, he repeatedly felt "queer" because he had been marked for a special destiny, and this makes him feel separated from other members of the tribe. Black Elk develops a confident-but-modest sense of himself; and in his late teen years, enacts his great vision within a public ritual in order to validate his tribal role. He performs individual healings, but often, Black Elk specifies that the power he is given is not his own, and that he is only an instrument of much greater work. Black Elk once said, "I cured with the power that came through me. Of course, it was not I who cured, it was the power from the Outer World, the visions and the ceremonies had only made me like a hole through which the power could come to the two-leggeds." This quote is an example of the Oglala belief, as well as Black Elk’s, that there is a higher being, and this is also evident in their traditions. Unfortunately, with the encroachment of westerners in Native American territories, the Oglala Nation’s culture began to decline and be stunted with their growth.
The end of the traditional Sioux hunting practices is a striking example of this loss of culture. The bison that roamed the prairie were considered sacred, and was a source of food that was a reminder of the providence of the Great Spirit. The Transcontinental Railroad, established when Black Elk was a child, split the bison herd into two halves. Even though the herd was half as small as it was before, it didn’t seem like much of a threat because, as Black Elk says, “…half of the herd was still more than they could use.” Every part of the bison was used, by Oglala traditions, after a hunter on horseback displayed their courage and bravery in the hunt. The butchering, food preparation, and the hide-and-bone-processing practices that followed the hunt allowed for the tribe’s sustenance. After every part of the bison has been utilized, the community celebrated with a feast, dancing, and singing. With the addition of the railroad system and settlement expansion, the “Wasichus” began to hunt the bison for sport, drastically decreasing the bison herd size. “They just killed and killed because they liked to do that,” said Black Elk, referring to the characteristic of the white-man hunting bison. Indians were ordered onto reservations on January of 1876, making food supply a way that the American government could control the Native Americans’ behavior. Native Americans were forced to rely on government rations with the bison herd diminishing and the confiscation of horses and guns, as well. When Native Americans seemed hostile, as when Sitting Bull refused to come out of Canada and live on the reservation, the government decreased rations. Starved and sickened, Native Americans had no choice but to be compliant with the American government. When the bison herd became extinct, so was contact with the
sacred along with a sense of Sioux independence and identity. Another example of a loss of culture is the Sioux loss of nomadic way of life. With the Native Americans being forced to live on the reservations, there was no moving with the change of weather, as much as learning to survive in it. The Native Americans lost their interdependence with nature. No longer could they move voluntarily to pursue the bison, or harvest plants and rootcrops, or fish. With the lack of mobility and concentration to nature, the Sioux Native Americans sense of identity was decreased and stunted. Black Elk calls particular attention to the loss of the circle, which is considered to “the Power of the World” because the “World always works in circles.” The World is round, the moon is round, and the seasons return to repeat themselves cyclically. To reflect upon the circle, the Sioux tradition was to construct the structure of the community in a circular image, also considered the “sacred hoop.” “Our tepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.” Black Elk reflects on how he would cut poles for tepees as a child and construct them into circular frames. When being forced onto the reservation, the Oglala/Sioux Native Americans lost the power of their circle traditions. Native Americans were forced to trade in their circular tepees for square houses. "When we were living in the power of the circle in the way we should, boys were men at twelve or thirteen years of age. But now it takes them very much longer to mature." Black Elk calls the houses "square boxes" and characterizes the Native Americans as "prisoners of war." Throughout the gold rush and the restrictions of living on the reservations, the Sioux Native Americans still managed to hold onto some of their important practices. For example, Black Elk held onto his sacred pipe, and when he speaks to Neihardt, Black Elk uses the ritual of the pope smoking to affirm their relationship. (On this, it should also be noted that Neihardt shared his cigarettes he brought with Black Elk; this is a significant gesture that is not lost on Black Elk, helping to solidify their relationship.) By relocating the Native Americans to reservations, the cultures had to evolve and adapt to their current situation and environment. Some may argue that the Sioux culture was never lost, but that it transformed itself. Photographs, for example, of an older Black Elk, illustrate him addressing the Great Spirit while wearing long red underwear instead of the red paint that he wore as a young man. Other photographs depict Native Americans with other ritual objects, such as small drums that have been made out of mild cans as opposed to buffalo hide or wood. Many may see this as a positive sign of a culture that is striving to survive, but Black Elk’s tone in the narrative represents a culture that is lost. Despite the wars over territory, the Native Americans are peaceful people who believe in fairness. This is evident in Black Elk’s stories and in how he treats other white-men. When Black Elk first saw a white-man, he believed that the poor man was sick due to the paleness of his skin, but only later did he discover differently. Even after discovering that the “Wasichus” was just another representation of his skin, he never judged the white-man as a whole, but individually. The Native Americans wanted nothing, he says, but to stay on the land he had lived on for centuries; the Native Americans did not want to make war on the whites just for the sake of making war. Native Americans only fought for what they rightfully deserved, and were never greedy about the situation. Unfortunately, I believe that the Oglala culture and traditions hindered their response to war. The Sioux Nation, and many other Native American nations, were too trusting of the westerners, until it was too later for them to do anything about their situations, and they allowed themselves to be taken advantage of by the white-men. Had the Oglala culture been more greedy and defensive, representing that of the invading western culture, then the Sioux culture possibly would have had a chance of surviving, but in Black Elk’s eyes, the Sioux culture died with the sudden increase in white-men.

Bibliography:

Neihardt, John G. (N)
2008 Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux. State University of New York Press, Albany

“The Great Sioux Nation." The Great Sioux Nation. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2014. .