Black Elk Speaks Essay

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The eyes one looks through into the world of the story is the eye that matters most, for there is no other place to look. The perspective that the story is told is pivotal to what is expressed. In the Story Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt, the protagonist is used as a handy tool to convey the themes and symbols the author wanted the reader to understand. Not only is the protagonist Black Elk a useful tool, but the author also ensures hs messages are portrayed through the use of descriptive and unique word choice to reflect the mood and themes of the book, as well as accurate and first-hand information on the characters and events happening. Black Elk Speaks isn’t alone in that the book Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, includes some of the same techniques. Brown also ensures that the information and people are accurate and reflect the story. Although the similarities between Black Elk Speaks and Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee are plentiful in numerous effective ways of telling a story, Black Elk Speaks uses perspective, language and resources that correspond to the theme and message of the book and reflect it in the more refined way of the two. The perspective of the narrator often affects the quality of which the story is portrayed, and can actually determine whether or not the reader understands what the message is. In Black Elk Speaks, because the narrator is a Native American boy who is at the time going through all the commotion first hand, he gives a different outlook on the situation than say. At one point Black Elk reveals his uniqueness: “The boys tried to hit the swallows with stones and it hurt me to see them doing this, but I could not tell them. I got a stone and acted as though I were going to throw, but I did not. The swallows seemed holy. Nobody hit one, and when I thought about this I knew that of course they could not”

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