A Time of Change: A note on Chapters 13-17 in *Black Elk Speaks*

In Chapters 13-17, we notice a large magnitude of change in Black Elk.
Black Elkuses his vision to help his people escape an attack from the
Blackfeet, experiences a lot of anxiety surrounding his vision and his ability
to utilize it successfully,overcomes his anxiety with the help of some of his
parents, Black Road and Bear Sings, and becomes one of the medicine
men.He sees another vision, and also sees his group suffer the effects of
the U.S. Government displacing them off their land. We also see Black
Elk become 19 years old and begin his new reputation as a healer.

Chapter 13 is the first place where the reader is able to notice Black
Elk’s anxiety surrounding his vision. It all starts out when Black Elk’s
vision ends up in saving his village.  More specifically, when Black
Elk and some other members of his group are moving towards the
settlement they used to live at.  Black Elk suddenly gets an odd feeling
that this had something to do with his vision when he starts to hear a
clear voice telling him to “Be careful and watch.” He climbs to the top
of a bluff to get a better vantage point, and he notices that there are
Blackfeet Indians planning an attack on his village.  After Black Elk prays
to the spirits and the grandfathers of his vision, he proceeds to warn the
people of his village.  They all flee quickly, and a large thundercloud comes
above.  Black Elk states that he knew it came to protect them, as it did not
have much rain, but was full of lightning and voices, and clearly was a part
of the vision.  He says, “I knew better than ever now that I really had power,
for I had prayed for help from the Grandfathers and they had heard me and
sent the thunder beings to hide us and watch over us while we fled.”
Although this was all a success, now Black Elk has a great sense of anxiety,
as he feels like he has a significant burden now. He even states “A terrible
time began for me,” referring to everyone in his village feeling a sense of
accomplishment and wanting time to celebrate while Black Elk senses
anxiety from his pressure to perform.   When Black Elk sees thunderstorms
he fears that the spirits in the thunder will demand him to know his vision
and to use it to save his people. Black Elk, however, is confused, and this
lack of certainty in deciphering his vision makes him nervous.

Chapter 14 is a place where the vision is talked about more and
is given more importance.  In this chapter, details of the vision
are applied to other things, and we see it as taking intangible
ideas and constructing tangible things that represent parts of the
vision, and all of this happens through collaboration amongst
members of his group.  For one, the vision is used to construct
something physical for the first time - Black Road and Bear Sings
work on a sacred teepee with scenes and symbols from Black
Elk’s vision.  Black Elk also teaches songs of his vision with
others.  Further, Black Elk’s mother and father help facilitate to
enact the vision by getting horses, maidens, and riders all
together and painted.  The enactment works and Black Elk sees
the original vision he had.  There is a lot of singing, and even a
thundercloud comes above.  The sacred pipe is passed along,
and Black Elk is happy, regains his confidence, is no longer
nervous, and is one of the medicine men.

Black Elk receives another vision in Chapter 15, and has many
similarities to the first vision.  Black Elk sees flying men, the herb,
the sacred pipe, the flowering stick, arrows, birds, and the four
quarters of the Earth, and butterflies and dogs. He is empowered
by the spirits to restore his people against the actions of the White
Men.  Black Elk learns that this is a rare vision that has been granted to
him, and that he has twenty days to perform for his people. 

Chapter 16 is all about the actual enacting of the dog vision.  A dog is
killed, it is boiled, and Black Elk rides past the dog and spears it.
In Chapter 17, we see Black Elk digress and talk about a complete
tangent to the story: the discussion of the sacredness of the circle,
and his resentment of square living structures.  Further, we see that
Black Elk is now 19 years old, so we begin to see that he has undergone
significant change.  He performs his first healing, after he finds the
herb that he saw in his vision.  It is a success, and now we see Black
Elk state he is busy most of the time healing people.

So what do you guys think? How else have we seen Black Elk change?


~A.R.

A Note on *Black Elk Speaks*

The most striking images from the opening of Black Elk Speaks come from
the chapter describing his extraordinary vision. He starts out with a
disclaimer stating that the following text is not a story and then begins
telling a tale filled with unbelievable occurrences. He speaks frequently
of animals speaking and changing form, of trees sprouting out instantly
from the ground, and of dying things coming back to life. At first I was
unaware that this was a dream, and I questioned the fact that this book is
intended to be autobiographical. He speaks of this great vision as
something that has indeed happened to him yet the events that occur are
physically impossible as we know it. Not until the end of the chapter did
I realize that this vision occurred during a dream while Black Elk was
deathly ill.

After realizing this vision occurred only in Black Elk’s mind, I was
astonished at his ability to recall the events so vividly. Even though he
had this dream at the age of 9, Black Elk is able to reiterate the events
down to exact words that the “Powers of the World” had spoken to him. The
entire chapter is covered with colorful adjectives and not a single
detail is left out. Black Elk describes every color, every number, and
every event so vibrantly that I question his ability to recall the vision
so accurately when it occurred during a state of comatose.


In the next chapter, Black Elk reassures the reader that even he is
surprised at how much of the vision he can recall. The images often
reappear in his head and he often tricks himself into thinking that he is
in this alternate universe. As he gets older, he is able to draw further
meaning from the vision and better understand the events that happened.
Although Black Elk was able to fully recover from his illness, his
perception of reality was forever changed. I think that this was a
defining moment of his life and it was likely a large contributing factor
for Black Elk becoming a tribal leader and a famous Indian author.

~A.A.