Black Elk

Niehardt is telling this story as a history of and for the Native American nation. He uses this story as a spiritual testament for all human kind. Going back to the story of Nicholas Black Elk and his development as a Sioux holy man. It is the story that explains a vision, a duty to fulfill the vision, and who is responsible for accepting this vision. It is a peoples scripture and a story of defeat. This story is an affirmation of the past but also is a story of hope for the future and the possibilities that present themselves for the future. As Historical evidence I think the story of battle and defeat is an accurate account. However, I’m not sure how accurate it is for a piece of historical evidence seeing as how no one truly knows who is speaking the book. Black Elk knew no English and John Neihardt knew no Lakota. Obviously this translation was difficult between two different languages let alone two different worlds. In Black Elks world there is no writing or literature so all was translated orally. Meaning many of the stories and visions of Black Elk could be true or could have been fabricated by the writer. All in all I thought the book was well written and very interesting. I think it will help our future because it tells of the consequences that occur when nothing is done. Black Elk exposes himself to the reader and therefore connects.

The history presented here covers the defeat of the Plains Indians by the US Army, the violent change from nomadic life to life on the reservation, and the death of a culture as we watch it go from a way of life to a Wild West show to be presented in large cities.
I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A