He uses these two things to give the eyewitness accounts as much impact as possible. The chiefs, who are often depicted as strong in the beginning and middle of the chapters when they are fighting for their land and people, end up bury my heart at wounded knee essay, in prison, in exile, or on a reservation with the rest of their people. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee becomes complicated and could lose probable readers because of the lack of understanding of the used text. In most cases, the tribes win some battles but end up losing the war. Access Full Document Please Sign Up to get full document.
How to cite Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee essay
Book: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. It is known how the cowboys won the West, as it is seen in so many films and TV shows that it seems impossible that anyone would not know about these tales. White civilized soldiers moving out of the East coast of the USA, having the wild natives and lands tamed. The wild natives who threatened the sovereignty and peace of the white Americans, on the contrary, Dee Brown paints a different picture, bury my heart at wounded knee essay, a story told from the other side of the fence, this tale is known as Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee was first published in and contains the history of Native Americans belonging to the West side of America in the late 19th century. The story narrates how the Native Americans were displaced and slaughtered by the Federal Government of United States.
Brown, 5 Though, this did not seem to impress Columbus for long as the author states that Columbus saw this as a sign of weakness on the part of the Native Americans and being a European, he was convinced that the people should be made to work and do everything essential to adopt our ways. The massacre then continued for the next four hundred years until almost the total extinction of the Native Americans culture and civilization had been carried out. The opening chapter of the book is a broad introduction to the hardship to follow, starting with Columbus and the entrance of Europeans in the Caribbean and down the Eastern seaboard. After the introduction, in which Brown explains that massacres and genocide have deep roots in the history of the American continent, even before the Wild West period, we reach the topic itself.
Most of the documented history is of the thirty year period among the s to s. Fresh from the most gruesome era of USA history, when the self caused death count rose to the highest ever the country would experience, the Civil War of America reached a revolving point. As the now unified and stable government had returned, most of the population was charged up with the pioneering spirit and went into the unknown areas of the West, searching for new lives, freedom and quick riches. It was this migration which landed the white man at the doors of an ancient cultured establishment. Even though the Native Americans of the East, who were village based farmers, had been dealt with a long time back, the Native Americans belonging to the West coast were a diverse breed altogether and more dire measures had to be undertaken to deal with them.
The Native Americans believed that nothing was ever personally owned by them, as the land, the homes and everything that had been given to him were only loans to him and could be taken back anytime. Therefore, how could the Native American population sell the land that could not be owned by anyone? Yet, the white men took the land anyway, dislocating the Native Americans and setting up their own homes and families and brimming over the land in his place in a sign of bury my heart at wounded knee essay and bloodshed. The USA adopted such policies making the Native Americans indebted to the government; this was done by transferring the Native Americans to low quality land and reservations and by the methodical destruction of the buffalo.
The tribes would have to relay on the supplies from the white government and the only thing the Native Americans had to bargain was the land they resided at, bury my heart at wounded knee essay. Brown has used ancient manuscripts and actual texts of the white men and dominated Native Americans of that time to portray the route taken to acquire the land of the west by false arrests, kangaroo courts, unprovoked attacks, broken treaties and round-ups of Native Americans, forcing them onto desolate lands.
Brown also narrates stories of particular Native Americans using certificated information; the great warrior known as Geronimo who battled the white men and the peaceful leaders of Native Americans known as Black Kettle who would try to sort out treaties through dialog and understanding. The author ends the book with descriptions from the Native Americans who survived the carnage at Wounded Knee, a creek in South Dakota, bury my heart at wounded knee essay. As this was the last major butchery of the Native Americans by the USA soldiers. Many series of misunderstandings and blunders contributed to the mass killing of unarmed Native Americans that took place at Wounded Knee, bury my heart at wounded knee essay.
At that 29th December ofas much as Native American men, woman and children were butchered. The following is a paragraph from the book, describing the events that took place at Wounded Knee Lake. and after most of them had been killed a cry was made that all those who were not killed or wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Brown, 83 As all 19 chapters of the book narrate the battles, bury my heart at wounded knee essay, events and certain tribes, it is easy to say that Brown wished to go deep into detail which is also obvious with book consisting of pages. However, some might say Bury my heart at Wounded Knee seems text-book like which bores the reader. Although the book seems to be appealing for me, as little is known about the genocide that took place in the West of USA and therefore, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee seems to be a magnificent and attractive learning instrument.
The author has included elements such as quotes, songs and portraits throughout the book to attract the reader. These elements play a strong part by breaking the chain of monotony of pages of texts. The quotes seem to be well chosen and positioned, so are the portraits and help present a well informed picture of the history. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee assists us to look into our shady past and examines it; the book explores how the white men tried to fulfill our Christian manifest destiny in American history. The white men are shown as discriminators, murderers and sadists, bury my heart at wounded knee essay, with the exemption of a few soldiers and civilians.
These white men would kill Native Americans despite of gender or age, often mutilating and scalping the bodies, and sometimes even committing horrendous acts such as cutting the genitalia of Native Americans. These extraordinary and appalling revelations give the reader a horrifying image of the birth of the great country known as the USA. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee has its share of drawbacks such as any other book. I believe one bury my heart at wounded knee essay the greatest shortcomings is the language the author has used in some parts of the book. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee becomes complicated and could lose probable readers because of the lack of understanding of the used text.
Although the book is an essential for any reader who is interested in history as the book reveals a lot, the vocabulary and writing techniques used may challenge the readers at times. The next drawback is that the book narrates similar tales, just with different tribes, which sends a monotonous tone through the book. Although, by writing in such a way, Brown indicated and clearly conveyed this influential point that no matter where the Native Americans turned to, they were butchered. With the shortcomings intact, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee remains a book which wins the heart of readers bury my heart at wounded knee essay telling a tale that is not really understood or identified, a nasty yet important part of the American history.
The book is inclusive, yet only narrates the starting of what was being done in the name bury my heart at wounded knee essay war profiteering and manifest destiny. The author asks the reader to confront our history that may make us feel uneasy. There are always two sides of a story and the author has decided to tell us the story of the side that is rarely heard and spoken of. Brown has indeed achieved the goal he set out when he decided to write an account of this appalling mark of American history in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Dee Brown wrote this book over thirty five years back, to redress and balance the history. This is the tale of the Apache, the Navaho, the Comanche, the Sioux and the story of Sitting Bull, of Geronimo and others.
It is hard headedly researched and extremely detailed, at the same time interesting. These words indeed carried an intellectual, beautiful and expressive imagery of these cultural people. Yet, bury my heart at wounded knee essay, we must carry on to the future, with our evolving societies, knowing that no one can turn back the hands of time. Even though there is a need for testament for history and for the preserving of knowledge, customs and culture. There is no other way to learn from the past and go forward to our future if there is nothing to build upon. Bibliography Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West.
Pocket Books, United States This material is available only on Bury my heart at wounded knee essay. The whole doc is available only for registered users OPEN DOC. Book: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West Pages: 8 Words: Views: 2. Access Full Document Please Sign Up to get full document. We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. Sorry, but only registered users have full access. How about getting full access immediately? Become a member. This material doesn't solve your task?
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and after most of them had been killed a cry was made that all those who were not killed or wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Brown, 83 As all 19 chapters of the book narrate the battles, events and certain tribes, it is easy to say that Brown wished to go deep into detail which is also obvious with book consisting of pages. However, some might say Bury my heart at Wounded Knee seems text-book like which bores the reader. Although the book seems to be appealing for me, as little is known about the genocide that took place in the West of USA and therefore, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee seems to be a magnificent and attractive learning instrument.
The author has included elements such as quotes, songs and portraits throughout the book to attract the reader. These elements play a strong part by breaking the chain of monotony of pages of texts. The quotes seem to be well chosen and positioned, so are the portraits and help present a well informed picture of the history. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee assists us to look into our shady past and examines it; the book explores how the white men tried to fulfill our Christian manifest destiny in American history. The white men are shown as discriminators, murderers and sadists, with the exemption of a few soldiers and civilians. These white men would kill Native Americans despite of gender or age, often mutilating and scalping the bodies, and sometimes even committing horrendous acts such as cutting the genitalia of Native Americans.
These extraordinary and appalling revelations give the reader a horrifying image of the birth of the great country known as the USA. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee has its share of drawbacks such as any other book. I believe one of the greatest shortcomings is the language the author has used in some parts of the book. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee becomes complicated and could lose probable readers because of the lack of understanding of the used text. Although the book is an essential for any reader who is interested in history as the book reveals a lot, the vocabulary and writing techniques used may challenge the readers at times.
The next drawback is that the book narrates similar tales, just with different tribes, which sends a monotonous tone through the book. Although, by writing in such a way, Brown indicated and clearly conveyed this influential point that no matter where the Native Americans turned to, they were butchered. With the shortcomings intact, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee remains a book which wins the heart of readers by telling a tale that is not really understood or identified, a nasty yet important part of the American history. The book is inclusive, yet only narrates the starting of what was being done in the name of war profiteering and manifest destiny. The author asks the reader to confront our history that may make us feel uneasy.
There are always two sides of a story and the author has decided to tell us the story of the side that is rarely heard and spoken of. Brown has indeed achieved the goal he set out when he decided to write an account of this appalling mark of American history in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Dee Brown wrote this book over thirty five years back, to redress and balance the history. This is the tale of the Apache, the Navaho, the Comanche, the Sioux and the story of Sitting Bull, of Geronimo and others. It is hard headedly researched and extremely detailed, at the same time interesting.
These words indeed carried an intellectual, beautiful and expressive imagery of these cultural people. Yet, we must carry on to the future, with our evolving societies, knowing that no one can turn back the hands of time. Even though there is a need for testament for history and for the preserving of knowledge, customs and culture. There is no other way to learn from the past and go forward to our future if there is nothing to build upon. Bibliography Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. Pocket Books, United States This material is available only on Freebooksummary.
In addition, Brown refers to prominent American historical figures by their Native American names. Brown also uses Native American naming systems for natural processes like time. Because Americans during this time divide the year into twelve months and refer to these months by names like May and June, however, Native Americans referred to these time periods by their relationship to nature. By using distinctly Native American interpretations like these in his narration, Brown takes his readers deep into the Native American experience. In the process, the reader begins to identify with the Native Americans.
When readers identify with characters, they tend to feel sympathy for them. Brown establishes a three? part structure for most chapters, which demonstrates again and again that Native Americans lost no matter what they did. Typically, the chapter begins with a discussion of a chief or tribe who has lost something, generally a piece of their land and still has more to lose. Following the discussion of what has been already lost; Brown introduces the second part, the struggle. For Native Americans in the nineteenth century, the struggles were many, whether they decided to go to war or did not.
Many tribes in the book do choose to fight to retain their remaining land and freedom. In most cases, the tribes win some battles but end up losing the war. The U. soldiers are too advanced and numerous to be defeated, something that the Native Americans begin to realize. For example, Little Crow is cautious about fighting at first, because he had been to the East and seen the power of the Americans. They were everywhere and with cannons they would destroy everything in their path. Even when the Native Americans outnumber the whites, the military technology can be the decisive factor in the victory.
As many Native Americans learned, even though they had bravery, numbers, and massive charges all of that would mean nothing if the Native Americans were armed only with bows, lances, and clubs. In cases where the Native Americans try to remain peaceful, Brown shows many ways that they are provoked into war. During the Civil War, Native Americans were sometimes provoked into fighting because it was the safer of two options for white, male citizens. For example, Brown says there was political pressure on soldiers from Coloradans who wanted to avoid the military draft of by serving in uniform against a few poorly armed Indians rather than against the Confederates farther east.
Even after the Civil War, when the draft was no longer an issue, some drafted soldiers used lies to provoke Native Americans and kill them because peace was not profitable for the settlers. Due to the massive struggles that Native Americans faced whether or not they chose to remain peaceful, most chapters end badly. The chiefs, who are often depicted as strong in the beginning and middle of the chapters when they are fighting for their land and people, end up dead, in prison, in exile, or on a reservation with the rest of their people. The book starts out with many Native Americans living free and retaining parcels of their land. As the story progresses and the white emigration start to take over, large armies and groups of white settlers cut down the various tribes.
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