On the Rez by Ian Frazier

On the Rez by Ian Frazier

Discussion Question for SuAnne Marie Big Crow (Chapters 12-14)

Mythologizing SuAnne – How is SueAnne mythologized? Why is she mythologized?
The Lakota shawl dance at the Lead basketball game – “it was like she reversed it somehow.” How did you respond personally to her shawl dance?
Making a leap – “What Su Anne Big Crow demonstrated n the Lead high school gym is that making the leap is the whole point. The idea does not truly live unless it is expressed by an act: the country does not live unless we make the leap from our tribe or focus group or gated community or demographic, and land on the shaky platform of that idea of a good country which all kinds of different people share” (213).
Broken dreams – Why don’t more of the Oglala from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation realize their dreams?
Oglala culture – accepting praise (image of crabs reaching and struggling to get to of the bottom of a basket) How do you define yourself? Are you independent and autonomous, or are you a part of a whole?
How are stereotypes perpetuated? For a bibliography of important Native American figures see http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmai/referenc.htm. What is your response to Native American logos? How many Native Americans do you see on television? In the movies? How are they represented? What or who is the significance of the following:

1. N. Scott Momaday

2. Chief Joseph

4. Mitchell Red Cloud Junior

5. Wilfred Foster Denetclaw http://www.sacnas.org/bio/

Evil – What causes “darkness” to enter sueAnne’s story? What do you think of the passage on page 253: “So much is wrong on Pine Ridge. There’s suffering and poverty and violence and alcoholism, and the aura of unstoppability that repeated misfortunes acquire. But beneath all that is something bigger and darker and harder to look at straight on. The only word for it, I’m afraid, is evil” (253).
Good – How is good defined?

Differences between Native American Culture and Western Culture

Native American Literature (Pikunis) Western Thought (Napikwans)