Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt Essay

fatal wapiti Speaks by put-on G. Neihardt is the story told by an Ogalala Lakota Sioux of his sp declineliness in the latter part of the nineteenth century. soon enough Black Elk is reluctant to come apart his story because he does not bring out himself from constantlyy last(predicate) intent, my ally, I am qualifying to recite you the story of my life, It is the story of wholly life that is holy and good to tell (Neihardt 1).Within the Lakota there is a timbre of lodge that is both innocent and refreshing. For Black Elk the community includes all life, of us two-leggeds sharing it with the four-leggeds and the wings of the air and all green things for these argon the children of one puzzle and their initiate is one Spirit (Neihardt 9). The community was the earth and everything that lived on it and the great spirit above.Prior to the arrival of the Waischus, the Americans moving from the east, the Lakota life seems idyllic, once we were happy in our avow country and we were seldom hungry, for then the two-leggeds and the four-leggeds lived unitedly like relatives, and there was plenty for them and for us (Neihardt 9).Contrast this universal community with that in O Pioneers by Willa Cather. The community of the starts in Nebraska was much to a greater extent tightly focused into increasingly smaller groups the community, the neighbors, the family and the individual. This smallness of community did not preface to a community of satisfied people sharing a life together. Instead, it seemed to lead to a desire to compete for more and more land. Yet, when they had worked hard for their land, they didnt find happiness, they werent satisfied, they just cute more.When people come out to talk about Alexandrias friend Carl who was staying with her and people are saying that Alexandria is tone ending to give him her money. Her brothers are angry, they had planned that Alexandria would present her post to her nieces and nephews. Give him? Lou shouted. Our property, our homestead? (Cather 142). It wasnt their land but they wanted it, they wanted if for the money it would make, not because their money and property had made them happy, for it hadnt, but just because they didnt want someone else to have it (Cather 140-147).The Lakota did not own property, but they were happy. They lived with it. They took what they needed and odd the rest.Despite the prominence of the community in Black Elk Speaks, there is an espousal of what is different. When Black Elk told his father of his vision, his father accepted it immediately and began helping him flummox his power. Contrast this with the treatment of Crazy Ivar in O Pioneers. Crazy Ivar was a gentleman who chose to live alone in a sod house, wore no shoes, ate no meat and spent his time reading material his Norwegian Bible or construction a pond where migrating birds could rest. People were unnerved of Crazy Ivar because he was different. They were frightened of him and wa nted to put him in an asylum (Cather 84-5). unconnected the Lakota, the Waischus wanted to acquire land and they fought to miscellanea it and mold it into the way they wanted it to be. Alexandria, in O Pioneers is an admirable woman. She is strong, courageous, and self-sufficient. Alexandria was in numerous ways the ideal American pioneer who worked hard and gained her fortune. Even today the American public is much more apt(predicate) to admire a self-made millionaire than they are a man who leads a unsubdivided life and is happy.Despite this attitude, the fast-paced life of the hardworking American today seems to lead to anger, road rage, and frustration. The damage that has been done to the satellite in the last century lead take years to repair, if it can ever be done. Given these things, one wonders if the Waischus chose the right path.Works CitedNeihardt, John G. Black Elk Speaks. Lincoln University of Nebraska Press, 1932.Cather, Willa. O Pioneers. Los Angeles LRS, 1997 .