Fools Crow by James Welch
1. What code of conduct do the characters follow? What makes a Pikuni feel pride? Shame? What behaviors are honorable and dishonorable? Think of specific examples from the book.
2. Sometimes non-Native Americans say, “Why should I feel guilty about the deeds of my ancestors? I didn’t take away the Indian’s land.” How would you guess Native Americans would feel about the deeds of their ancestors? Does this help to explain why Native Americans might expect non-Native Americans to bear the guilt for what happened generations earlier?
3. Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, said Fools Crow may be the closest we’ve come to entering the life of the plains Indians in the buffalo days. Do you agree?
4. Why do the Pikuni pay such close attention to their dreams? Where do the Pikuni believe knowledge and power come from? Where do members of the dominant American culture believe knowledge and power come from?
5. When Heavy Shield Woman wanted to be the Sacred Vow Woman for the Sun Dance, she is cautioned by Chief Three Bears, “If you are successful, the Pikunis will prosper and enjoy favor with the spirit world. If you fail, if you are not strong or virtuous enough, great harm will come to us.” In other words, one person’s errors or misdeeds can cause suffering to everyone. How does this notion guide individual conduct? Use specific examples from the story.
6. Is this book successful for you as a story, a “good read?” Why or why not? Comment on characters, relationships, animals.
Native Americans still honor and respect their ancestors, sometimes even more so then when they are alive. This does explain how Native Americans expect non Native Americans to take responsibility for their ancestors actions.
ReplyDeleteIt's programmed in modern culture to not claim responsibility for other's actions. Therefore, non-Natives wouldn't understand that they expect us to bear the weight of our ancestor's actions.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't easy to take responsibility for your own actions, much less your ancestor's. We feel as though we're being punished for their misdeeds. However, the Native Americans feel that they're also being punished for the way their ancestors were treated. Maybe we try for a clean slate?
ReplyDeleteChase I like your way of thinking. I agree that we do not like to take responsibility for ourself let alone our ancestors and a clean slate would be a good try. In response to number 3 I think what Dee Brown is correct. There isn't much documentation from those days or stories about them. So Fools Crow provides some good insight to that culture
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point Kyla, since Native American culture is mostly passed down through stories, who better to relate those stories than a Native American? He was probably raised listening to those stories, and has a very good idea of what they mean and all that jazz.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this book because I related to the characters well. The struggle White Man's Dog and Fast Horse went through when deciding their path in life makes me think of my own life and deciding which direction to take. I think in other literature about the wild west the Native Americans are misunderstood. They seem wild and savage and reading this book makes you realize that they are just human beings, with feelings and wants and struggles. Trying to protect their way of life appears in this book as a much more heroic struggle while in others it seems more "stubborn".
ReplyDeleteDea, I agree to a point. There's 2 sides to every story, where the "wild west" stories explain the white man's side of things, books like "Fools' Crow" show us the Native American side of things. It's important to gain both perspectives to form your own opinion.
ReplyDeleteKyla, your view on why Native Americans think that we should feel more responsible for our ancestors really opened my eyes! I did not consider that at all. I agree with the clean slate idea proposed by Chase as well. As non-natives raised in a "just world" we can not feel like it is "our fault" because we today did not punish the Natives but people of our past.
ReplyDeleteDea I see what you mean on the perception of the Native Americans. However I did not enjoy this book. It was a good story line with good information, but I found it to be a little confusing with all of their spiritual beliefs especially the turnip lady at the end.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, I am siding more with the Native Americans after Fools Crow though. While I do not agree with the reservation system today, I kinda feel that we do deserve the blame. What do you guys think?
ReplyDeleteI'm a fairy tale kinda guy. So I agree with you Kyla, I don't want to hear about turnips, I want to hear about fairy godmothers and dances that stepdaughters can't attend and all that good stuff.
ReplyDeleteThere is a pumpkin in Cinderella!
ReplyDeleteI feel that we don't necessarily have to make up for our ancestor's mistakes, Dea, because we had no part in it. Rather, I feel that we should just treat them as equals and not discriminate by race or think about the past. Like I said, "clean slate."
ReplyDeleteI like pumpkins. If she would've ridden in a turnip, we would have some problems.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that we do deserve some of the blame, however there were some Native Americans take for example Fast Horse that were totally against the non Native Americans. And they took the revenge out on the non Native Americans so I think there is some blame there too. It is easy to say that this all could have been settled with one agreement but in that time period things were more complex.
ReplyDeleteI think that is a good idea Chase. We should all live together in society :) Americans have been unjust to quite a few people, for example the Chinese,the African Americans, the Japanese, the Irish ect. If we held on to all the hate of the past can you imagine what it would be like today?!
ReplyDeleteA giant turnip would have changed the entire story line!
ReplyDeleteAnd don't even get me started on radishes!
ReplyDeleteDea and Chase I see what you are saying... We should all live happily ever after like Cinderella!
ReplyDeleteMy dog just got into my neighbor's yard. He's an old white man and my dog is a chocolate lab. He kicked my dog off his "land." Coincidence? I think the Native American ancestors are trying to tell me something.
ReplyDeleteYay unrealistic endings that make us feel happy inside!!!
ReplyDeleteI just had a literal LOL moment when I read that comment Chase. There needs to be an abbrv for real laughing out loud moments because lol is too overused, LLOL might work.
ReplyDeleteI'll help you think of it tomorrow, I need to go get my dog out of his yard. See ya guys tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteI LLOL to both of Chases and the unrealistic endings! Great abbreviation Dea!
ReplyDelete:) I enjoy these blog sessions! See you guys here next Sunday for some more LLOL moments.
ReplyDeleteOk, so I only skimmed through this and I saw that you guys discussed the reservation system. I personally believe that the reservations are getting too much money. We are rewarding them too much. I mean, yes, we took their land. However, we cannot be held responsible for our ancestors actions. It's not like we can just travel back in time and be like, "NO! Your going to change the way people live! Don't take their land... Yaddah yaddah."
ReplyDeleteListening to my mom and how they take advantage of the system when companies build buildings for them. (That sounded funny.) I think the reservation system needs to be adjusted.
I really enjoyed the story overall. However, the way the story was written made it difficult to follow. Thank God for Spark Notes. The whole Feather Woman part of the story was just flat out difficult to follow... And I found myself feeling uncomfortable quite often. However, I could really connect to some of the characters, which made the story so great.
ReplyDeleteThe ending of Fools Crow was so... Anticlimactic. There was tragedy after tragedy! Then the ending was basically.... The sickness did not kill everybody! Yay! Red Paint gave birth to Butterfly! Yay! White people are taking over and there is no solution.... That last part, right there, was the changing if the pumpkin to the turnip or radish. I just wanted it to be all ok. I did not care if it was unrealistic, it just made the ending extremely disappointing.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the character of Red Paint. She seemed to live in the moment and yet think towards the future. She was a loving family person and was able to account for her faults. Optimism was the trait I noticed the most though. She was optimistic for her brother's health, for her father to finally return, and for the birth of her child. She brought a light to the story that no other character could have.
ReplyDelete