A Note on Marriage and Femininity in *The Life of Black Hawk*

In the chapter "Black Hawk's Tower", the author describes several types of human interactions in his tribe. There's a cute passage about the marriage selection process: the man would carry a torch into the tent where the women sleep. If the woman agrees to his courtship, she would blow out the torch, if not, the torch would stay lit, and the man will be playing flute outside the tent the next day, and he would try again the next night. This process shows that women absolutely had the power of choice when it came to marriage. It's not like the forced arranged marriage scheme that many Westerners would imagine when it comes to the selection process.

There's also the relationship between the young warriors and their fathers who were veteran warriors. At the crane dances they young warrior would proudly recount his experience in war, and this makes their fathers proud. This shows a strong sense of family, where the father is emotionally vested in nurturing the sons to become brave warriors.

There's also a line about "women plant the corns, and when they're done we make the feast." This shows that women don't always do the cooking. Sometimes cooking, such as for a feast, is a masculine behavior. This is a departure from the stereotypical minority gender role where women do all the cooking.

~Y.J.