Kristen Storen's Book Portfolio: Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. By: Dee Brown

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, By: Dee Brown. This book Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee shows the Native American point of view on the conflicts caused between them and the "whites", they say that "all of the conflicts that were raised were cased by the Americans. I agree I think that it was caused by both sides and the Native Americans are just as much at fault as the Americans, though it would've never happened if the Europeans would've stayed away. The theme in history would be that the conflicts had caused many smaller though still important wars today, not only that but it had still left landmarks today. Cultural would defiantly be the role of perspective this would be because the Indian culture were told as savages and the Americans as "whites".

Bury My Heart At wounded knee theme is the conflicts and violence that had gone on between the Indians and the Europeans, i do agree that yes we were violent and yes we did take there land, it's not right but we did. Which would lead to my thematic statement which would say, yes the Europeans were the main cause of argument between the two cultures. Yes i could see that the Native Americans would not like us because of our violence though us taking there land is more important. First i would like to show you some context to back up my theory, Chapter 2 Little Crows War. The Europeans trick the Indians into signing a peace treaty and they then invade the Santee Sioux land, this was not right and the chief of the Mdewkanton group chief Little Crow got upset and had to take matters to Abraham Lincoln. Also for another example when the Indians agree to have the Americans have trading routes through there territory they still abuse the matter, even though John Evans declares no one is allowed to hurt any hostile Indian, people just didn't care. Though one of the biggest examples would be the devastating attack led by General Patrick E. Connor. What he did to the Indians up at Powder River was just horrible, he killed all male Indians over the age of twelve. This theme was significant in this book because this is all the Indians had to go by was word, there is no way for them to get the right justice that they deserve.

The theme in history would be that the Americans were the dominant culture at this point in time, if you look today we still have Indian reservation lands though look today anyone can live here really. I would say look we did win though we did it dirty we got what we wanted through the Indians. I could back this up by showing in chapter seven how the Indians took all the tribes they could get for that two year war and all we needed was our own culture and we still ended up hurting them. I would also like to use chapter 10 called The Ordeal Of Capitan Jack, in this chapter Kintpuash (Capitan Jack) and his tribe the Modocs were forced by U.S. politicians to be moved to a reservations land in Oregon. With no apparent reason but that we (Europeans) wanted there land. Third i would like to state that the last though very important fact that when we forced the Utes Indians (chapter sixteen) to be moved from Colorado to the western part of the continent. We did this by a treaty this also let us to be open access to any gold or valuable minerals on this land. All of this led to Wounded Knee, where we took over the camp of Wounded Knee where we killed the Indians and just left them there through the blizzards and everything what discrimination.

The perspective to theme is right the perspective from the Indians may seem harsh and mean to the European race though if you just read through you would see we deserved it. One example would be the violence we not only killed the Men and Women but we killed innocent children! Then there is the rudeness of this all we went and took there land for our own selfish needs, the Indians would barely be making it by and the Americans would only making that much worse. Third i would like to say that the major reason the perspective is right would be how would we feel, honestly if people came and invaded your land, raped your kids and loved ones a and for no apparent reason other then that's what they wanted. This prospective is significant because somebody needed to address the subject the only place we hear about this type of issue is in history class and maybe 1 or 2 novels. That's why i also think people making a movie over this was also a good idea.
All of the conflicts were raised by the Europeans and even though yes the Native Americans fought back who wouldn't. In this siltation the "whites" were the dominate race, we took over everything just because we wanted it and it worked. The role of perspective showed that yeah people were hurt and it helps give a better understanding of what actually went on between the Americans and Indians. The importance of understanding this theme and Event is that the Indians were hurt and mistreated and that they have feelings about this even today, it will never leave there hearts.

By:Kristen Storen