How Does John Dunbar Create Identity In The Film Dances With Wolves

One of the themes used in the book is of racism towards the Natives. An example used in the book is of Edward Sheriff Curtis who was a photographer of 1900s. Curtis was interested in taking pictures of Native people, but not just any Native person. “Curtis was looking for the literary Indian, the dying Indian, the imaginative construct” (King, 2003; pp. 34). He used many accessories to dress up people up “who did not look as the Indian was supposed to look” (King, 2003; pp.34). He judged people based on his own assumptions without any knowledge of the group and their practices. Curtis reduced the identity of the Native Americans to a single iconic quintessential image of what Native meant to white society. The idea related to the image of this group of people during the 1900s consisted of racism in terms of the “real looking Indian”. This is not

When John Dunbar goes out to find the Lakota Sioux, but he first stumbles upon Stands with a Fist. When he sees that her arms are bleeding; his immediate reaction was to use his U.S. flag, something that he carries with pride, as a tourniquet. This shows the audience that Dunbar is an ardent person and is willing to help another at his own cost. At one point in the film Dunbar finds himself not wanting to sleep at eh tribes’ camp, but not wanting to be an American soldier. When the Lakota Sioux attacks their rivals, the Pawnee, Dunbar claims to a sense of pride. Dances with Wolves remembers his journal that he kept when he was living at Fort Sedgwick, and rides Cisco back to retrieve it; he is captured by the Army and is interrogated for information about the tribes in the area. Dances with Wolves’ transition is complete when he refuses to cooperate with the Army and is sent

"My People the Sioux" is a good literary work written in 1928. This book leaves an everlasting impression with some because it definitely intensifies the sympathy for the Indians. Luther Standing Bear, also known as Plenty Kill, portrays the dramatic and traumatic changes about the Sioux throughout their traditional way of life. As a young boy growing up, he experienced many of these hardships first hand between his people and the whites. This autobiography is quite valuable as it helps allow us to envision what really happened in the battling times of the Indians. Luther stated this quote, which to me, is unforgettable and very well said. It reads:

The Sioux Grass Dance is considered to be the most popular style of Native American Music. As one dances to this music, they follow a pattern known as “toe-heel.” This consists of the individual placing the left foot in front of the right and repeating with the other foot. Each male dancer makes many

In John Smith’s The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles, his portrayal of the Native Americans is that of a tradition-driven people, who were willing to trade and occasionally aid the colonists, but were ultimately considered barbarians. The traditional aspect of the native’s culture can be found in their descriptions of fighting and dancing, with one of Smith’s first hostile encounters describing the Native Powhatan warriors being painted in different colors while “singing

The Lakota tribe was very humane and had fairly strong familial bonds. It wasn't easy to be accepted by their tribe at first but once you were accepted then you were considered to be one of the family. In the film, Jon Dunbar tries to make friends with the Lakota Indians but is unsuccessful at first. Being a very persistent and kind hearted man he slowly gains the acceptance of the tribe. The first witness of this is when some tribesmen pay a visit to Jon Dunbar's soldier's fort. To welcome them and to show them that he wanted to get to know them, he introduces them to coffee and sugar and even lets the tribe take some home. In return, an Indian named Kicking Bird, gives Jon some buffalo hides as a gift. This exchange of gifts showed that the Indians did have a sense of manners and trust. Also the

Native Americans make up less than .9% of the United States population. With this trivial number, it is difficult to keep its culture and traditions alive as generations progress. In the short story “War Dances,” author Sherman Alexie morns the loss of Native American identity through a deprecating tone which illustrate a divide between generations.

Everyone has a preconceived opinion of how a certain ethnic group is in terms of the way they live, the morals they hold, the way they deal with people different from them, and how they deal with one another. We come to these conclusions by what we have seen in the media, heard from other people, or actually experienced ourselves. Most people would consider these opinions to be stereotypes. Dances with Wolves is a motion picture that deals with and touches on all sides of personal stereotypes we as American and American Indians have about each other. John Dunbar takes us through and allows us to see how it is to come into a situation he was not familiar with and then eventually the

Before reading this book, I honestly knew little about Native American. I knew that many lived on reservations, but I knew nothing about those reservations. By being brutally honest, Sherman Alexie provided incite to how the everyday life of a teenage Native American is like. This book opened my eyes to the problems that Native American’s face, that I was in the dark about before.

This movie was pleasantly surprising. It was an enjoyable watch and told a story that kept the plot line and details close to the real history of the Sioux Indians’ lives, starting with The Battle at Little Big Horn.

John Fire Lame Deer was a Sioux Indian tribal leader, medicine man, rodeo clown, and storyteller amongst other things. A selection from his autobiography Seeker Of Visions: The Life Of A Sioux Medicine Man titled “Talking to the Owls and Butterflies” is a short piece regarding nature and man’s relationship with it. The piece was intended to make an impression on white people in order to help salvage what is remaining in the environment. Lame Deer reprimands the “white world” for its negative outlook towards nature and the treatment of animals, he converses how man has changed and reshaped nature in order to make it more profitable. Stating that Caucasians have gone and altered animals in order to create

really experienced any of these things as im not a Sioux. I do think though that this story can be related

From the very beginning you can see a glimmer of spirit in some of the Indians living on the reservation. The local radio personality, for example, made light of their situation nearly every time he was on the screen. His weather and traffic man is a jovial Indian, comfortably seated atop a van out in the middle of nowhere. He has an umbrella set up to shade him from the harsh rays of the sun, and it looks like he sits there on the roof of his van day in and day out. He speaks to the radio announcer over a cell phone, and his reports are given in a humorous way. When asked about the traffic, he replies that about a half an hour ago a car drove by and that's about it. He didn't seem to mind at all that he was away from the hustle and bustle we associate with life in this day and age. When they spoke about the impoverished conditions of the Indians, it was almost as if they had accepted their lot in life, and was doing the best they could under the conditions given to them. Not once did even a hint of anger at the white man enter their his voice.

Most of the men of the tribe sent out one day trying to make peace with another tribe. Dances with Wolves was assigned to watch the chief’s family. While the men were gone, the tribe was attacked me other Indian’s. Dances with wolves provided rifles to the Indians who were there and they defeated the other Indians.

In this movie, one may observe the different attitudes that Americans had towards Indians. The Indians were those unconquered people to the west and the almighty brave, Mountain Man went there, “forgetting all the troubles he knew,” and away from civilization. The mountain man is going in search of adventure but as this “adventure” starts he finds that his survival skills are not helping him since he cant even fish and as he is seen by an Indian, who watches him at his attempt to fish, he start respecting them. The view that civilization had given him of the west changes and so does he. Civilization soon becomes just something that exists “down there.”