This is a story about the social and cultural world of the Blackfeet Indians, and the threat to their existence posed by the encroachment of white civilization, as experienced by a young brave whose name, White Man's Dog, later gets changed to Fools Crow. The author makes extensive use of magical realism to show us the worldview of the Blackfeet.
People rely on power animals and good medicine. Injuries and illnesses are caused by bad spirits. Earthly existence, dreams, the shadowland, the Below This is a story about the social and cultural world of the Blackfeet Indians, and the threat to their existence posed by the encroachment of white civilization, as experienced by a young brave whose name, White Man's Dog, later gets changed to Fools Crow. Earthly existence, dreams, the shadowland, the Below World, and the Above World are all equally real and have equal authority.
Set in , the story ends with the actual historical incident of the Marias massacre of a band of friendly Blackfeet, already experiencing an epidemic of smallpox, by the U. Thankfully, the story ends with a chord of hope. Interestingly, the author, who is of partial Blackfeet descent, was raised as a Catholic. Despite claiming to now be agnostic, I sense that the spiritual views and customs of the Blackfeet, and what they consider virtuous, are shown through a strong Catholic framework, including that final chord of hope.
Assuming that's true, one could make a number of interpretations of the impact, but for sure the author succeeds in showing the humanity of the Blackfeet. I enjoyed the novel and hope to read additional books by the author.
It is easy to lose yourself in this evocative story of Montana. Welch has written a compelling protagonist in Fools Crow, who embarks on a heroes journey in a time of tumultuous change and ultimately destruction. All of Welch's characters are rounded, and they breathe life into history, without ever feeling like less than individuals. Just a really good read. Apr 01, Jenny rated it it was amazing.
This story absolutely immerses you in the lives of the Pikuni people: their dreams, their medicine and their honor system. It captures the heartbreaking reality as their belief systems begin to crumble in their powerlessness against smallpox and the invasion of white people. Apr 05, Pam Porell rated it really liked it. Beautifully written book. Was almost mystic. The story of the mistreatment of the Native American is so sad. Oct 01, Jenny rated it really liked it.
I liked this more and more as I went, and it was a powerful read alongside my Montana history class. This is a very good historical fiction account of the lives of the Lone Eaters tribe of the Pikunis Blackfoot Native Americans during the mids. The names and language are written in the way that it was spoken. It takes a little effort to get used to but becomes natural.
It is about the customs and beliefs and way of life of these people. It is also about the struggles for survival of the Native Americans as they are being push This is a very good historical fiction account of the lives of the Lone Eaters tribe of the Pikunis Blackfoot Native Americans during the mids. It is also about the struggles for survival of the Native Americans as they are being pushed off of the lands they rely on to survive.
Some of them are resigned to the inevitable and try to make deals to keep the peace. Others know it is unfair and want to fight the Napkiwans white men who will destroy their way of life. A thoughtful and profound read. Jan 10, Devon added it. Welch said that in the first quarter had o focus and no location.
Finally, Hugo pulled Welch aside for some private counseling. What Hugo told him is that his poems needed roots, so he should write what he already knew about. Write about Indians and Indian culture. Write about home. Soon after welch started writing about his life on the Hi-Line and on the reservation. Welch could have not been more wrong. The book is a Historical Fiction book that takes place after the Civil War in , but it is showing the life of the Indians on the Reservation through a characters eyes named White Mans Dog later to be known as Fools Crow.
It shows us his thoughts on how everything went down and how they were against other tribes and how the White Men acted as they took over the Natives on their own land. James Welch writing style. He wrote this book in a way that kept me drawn in by having a cliffhanger after every chapter and making it more suspenseful and make me want to read more and more every time. He also wrote it in a way that described it in detail but no to the point where either it was too hard to understand or it just got straight up annoying and I got bored with it.
He wrote this book through the eyes of the characters, which allowed me to see and kind of feel what the characters were doing at that specific moment in the book. About himself, Fast Horse did not know Pg.
Although the quote is at the end of chapter 5, it kept me drawn in because I needed to know what was happening to the character and what he was about to find out about himself. One last thing is it made me also feel in the book like in my heart and made me think as well. Where I walk, the grasses touch my feet. I stop with my medicine. The ground where my medicine rests is sacred. The weaknesses and the controversies of this book are that it was a very hard book to follow along with because the plot was always going in a separate direction and not in a straight pattern where people may be able to understand what is happening.
It was banned for a very good reason: due to the very graphic sexual content and violence that was used in the book. I would not quite ban it in high school because there are a lot of good things that could be learned from the book like showing us how wrongly we did treat the Natives but also how the Natives lived before we arrived in the country.
I would just use it as a teaching tool for history teachers alone and use it no farther than that and allow kids to have the option to read it or another book about Natives in history class.
So maybe just put a class restriction on it and leave it at that. Sep 16, Lydia Presley rated it really liked it Shelves: fiction , , historic-fiction , native-american-lit , It's always interesting to go back and re-read a book that piqued your interest in something. I read Fools Crow in for a Non-Western Literature course during my undergraduate study as an English Literature student and it was this book that set me on the course I am following today as a first year PhD student in English Literature.
It was Fools Crow that woke me up, that made me question everything I knew and set me out on a journey where the questions far out-numbered the answers. This time It's always interesting to go back and re-read a book that piqued your interest in something. This time, I'm reading the book in preparation for a class in Great Plains literature - and this book along with Charcoal's World and Waterlily are the introductory texts for the first week in class.
Already, after just reading 2 of the 3, I can see the connections and the timeline and the ways through which our discussion will be framed.
Still, I couldn't help but notice the power of dreams throughout Fool's Crow and, after reading Waterlily, their significance stuck out even more. For all the tragedy in Fool's Crow, there is also beauty - beauty in the way the Pikuni people perform their kinship and loyalty, beauty in the rituals medicine, marriage, sacred , and beauty in their names. I mean, I cannot get over how perfectly the names fit with who they were in their lives. Fools Crow also hints at, although it does not fully explore, the budding residential school system.
It interacts directly with the forming treaties, and also points out just how futile those flimsy pieces of written word are when put up against a regiment or group of "Napikwans" who are fully armed and out for blood. Welch does not write for an audience who needs their hand held while reading.
He writes in a way that demands you step into his arena and you listen to the stories of the Pikuni people on the pages.
For those who are unfamiliar with this massacre it was the end result of a series of events involving the Pikuni Owl Child and Major Eugene Baker.
The slaughter covered of the Pikuni, most of whom were women and children. In Fools Crow, we're introduced to White Man's Dog, a young Pikuni man who has yet to distinguish himself within the tribe.
Through a series of events, the major characters of the book are introduced to White Man's Dog, and in a sort of coming-of-age story, we follow the progress not only of White Man's Dog, but also the Pikuni tribe as they struggle against the changes being brought by the United States Government.
Fools Crow provides eye-opening examples of the importance of dreams to the Pikuni culture, the horrors of assimilation of one culture into another, and the injustice of the actions against the Native Americans during the building of the United States as we know it.
Reading this book should be done slowly and thoughtfully, as the story itself while interesting holds so many meanings revealed through careful inspection of the dreams and connections drawn from them to the narrative. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one ». Readers also enjoyed. Native Americans. About James Welch. James Welch. James Welch was a Blackfeet author who wrote several novels considered part of the Native American Renaissance literary movement.
He is best known for his novel "Fools Crow" His works explore the experiences of Native Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries. They will be colonized by white men. The land will dry up and become unproductive. The Feather Woman makes Fools Crow promise to pass on the stories and the wisdom of the ancestors that will be taken from them.
An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback. The Question and Answer section for Fools Crow is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. Fools Crow study guide contains a biography of James Welch, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
Remember me. Forgot your password? Study Guide for Fools Crow Fools Crow study guide contains a biography of James Welch, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
Does it leave readers with hope or despair or neither? What does Chapter 30 reveal about Fast Horse? Is it realistic? Take away one or the other and we have nothing. One feeds us and the other nourishes us How are honor and blackhorns connected? What do the blackhorns mean to the Pikuni people? What is the difference between "feed" and "nourish"? Compare and contrast this account with Welch's. Question: What does storyteller Welch add that only a fiction writer can when the exact details are missing?
What are the truths that his fiction communicates? A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. The novel chronicles the experiences of the Pikuni as they struggle to maintain their traditions in the face of smallpox, violent persecution, and shrinking numbers of buffalo as more white Americans—the Napikwans—move onto their lands.
The novel centers on the coming-of-age of Fools Crow, a young Pikuni man who overcomes his unluckiness as a youth to become a well-respected leader in his community. On the journey to the Crow camps, Fast Horse tells the party that he has dreamed that Cold Maker, the wind from the north, has told them that he will make their raid successful if the men remove rocks from an ice spring.
Although the men succeed in taking many horses on the raid, Yellow Kidney fails to rejoin the group, and the men return to the Lone Eaters camp without him.
He explains that during the raid Fast Horse loudly taunted the Crows, exposing Yellow Kidney to danger; he was forced to hide in a lodge where, to his shame, he raped a young woman before realizing she was dying of smallpox. Soon after, he was captured by the Crows, who cut off his fingers before sending him out of the camp on horseback.
0コメント