Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt Essay

colored Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt is the accounting told by an Ogalala Lakota Sioux of his vivification in the latter part of the 19th carbon. Yet Black Elk is indisposed(p) to tell his story because he does not separeat himself from both life, my friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life, It is the story of all life that is holy and practiced to tell (Neihardt 1).Within the Lakota thither is a sense of friendship that is both unobjectionable and refreshing. For Black Elk the federation includes all life, of us two-leggeds sharing it with the four-leggeds and the wings of the circulate and all green things for these are the children of champion mother and their paternity is 1 constitution (Neihardt 9). The residential area was the earth and everything that lived on it and the outstanding spirit above.Prior to the arrival of the Waischus, the Ameri female genitalias despicable from the east, the Lakota life seems idyllic, once we were happy in our ow n country and we were seldom hungry, for indeed the two-leggeds and the four-leggeds lived together like relatives, and there was throne for them and for us (Neihardt 9).Contrast this universal community with that in O Pioneers by Willa Cather. The community of the pioneers in Nebraska was much to a greater extent than tightly focused into increasingly little groups the community, the neighbors, the family and the individual. This smallness of community did not learn to a community of satisfied concourse sharing a life together. Instead, it seemed to perish to a desire to compete for to a greater extent and more impose. Yet, when they had worked hard for their land, they didnt watch happiness, they werent satisfied, they good cute more.When deal begin to talk about Alexandrias friend Carl who was staying with her and people are say that Alexandria is going to give him her coin. Her brothers are angry, they had aforethought(ip) that Alexandria would leave her property to her nieces and nephews. Give him? Lou shouted. Our property, our homestead? (Cather 142). It wasnt their land but they precious 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 bedevil it (Cather 140-147).The Lakota did not own property, but they were happy. They lived with it. They took what they needful and left the rest.Despite the prominence of the community in Black Elk Speaks, there is an acceptance of what is different. When Black Elk told his father of his vision, his father accepted it immediately and began service him develop his power. Contrast this with the treatment of pallid Ivar in O Pioneers. Crazy Ivar was a man who chose to live alone in a sod house, wore no shoes, ate no meat and spent his clock reading his Norwegian Bible or building a pond where migrating birds could rest. mint were afraid of Crazy Ivar because he was different. They w ere stir of him and wanted to put him in an founding (Cather 84-5).Unlike the Lakota, the Waischus wanted to acquire land and they fought to change 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 many ways the ideal American pioneer who worked hard and gained her fortune. Even nowadays the American public is much more likely to admire a successful millionaire than they are a man who leads a simple life and is happy.Despite this attitude, the fast life of the hardworking American straightaway seems to lead to anger, road rage, and frustration. The damage that has been make to the planet in the last century will 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, 1 997.