Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lakota Woman, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Activism and Resistance
Assimilation, Tradition, and Identity
Unity, Inclusion, and Equality
Racism and Sexism
Summary
Analysis
At the beginning of April, Leonard Crow Dog left Wounded Knee to go to Washington, D.C., where he hoped (in vain, it turned out) to have better luck in his negotiations with government officials. Mary was aghast that he would be leaving—she knew she’d be having her baby soon, and she had expected Leonard to be around. Looking back, Mary recognizes that her attitude was “belly-centered.”
Mary interjects her narration of the activists’ activities at Wounded Knee to remind the reader that, throughout the occupation, she was pregnant. Her participation in the occupation despite her late-term pregnancy illustrates her dedication to the political mission of the occupation. As she approached the end of her pregnancy, Mary’s focus switched to the fact that she was going to give birth, which shows that, as a soon-to-be mother, she had a lot on her mind: she had to prepare for motherhood and child-rearing while also fighting for Native American civil rights. These multiple priorities—personal and civil—speak to the humanity of activists like Mary, all of whom had private lives in addition to their political missions. As a woman and a mother-to-be, Mary’s concerns are also linked to her gender—she was preparing for a child while fighting for a more equitable world. The overlapping factors of her gender and race speak to how Mary’s life experience is complicated by the oppression that she faces as a Native American woman: she has the burdens that women and Native Americans bear in a world that prioritizes white people and men.
Themes
Mary was determined to have her baby at Wounded Knee. Not only did she not trust white doctors—she could never forget how white doctors had sterilized her older sister, Barbara—but she also wanted to follow Native American traditions.
Mary chose to have her baby at Wounded Knee for two reasons: one, she knew that, as a Native American woman, she was a target for forced sterilization; and two, she wanted to incorporate Native American traditions in her birth-giving. Mary’s fear of forced sterilization reflects the very real threat of reproductive violations that Native American women face. Because of white society’s racism, Native American women are targeted for forced sterilizations in a way that white women are not, as Native Americans (and not white people) were victims of a racially motivated genocide that put women’s reproductive rights at risk. In addition to this, Mary wanted to have a more traditional birth, which reflects her desire to embrace her Lakota and Native American identity.
Themes
For better or for worse, there were some traditions that Mary knew she wouldn’t be able to follow through on. For example, she had no desire to give birth while squatting and gripping an upright stick, as the ancient traditions suggested. But she regretted the fact that her baby would not receive turtle or lizard amulets—amulets that are supposed to ensure longevity for the baby—particularly as the woman who could do this, her aunt Elsie Flood, was dead. But Mary still wanted to incorporate Lakota traditions where she could, like burning sweetgrass, praying Lakota prayers, and having the aid of Native American women.
In this passage, Mary explains the limitations on her plans for incorporating indigenous American birthing traditions. On one hand, there are several traditions she didn’t wish to follow, which reflects how some traditions are dropped over time because of personal choice (for example, Mary suggests that she wanted some more modern comforts). But primarily, the reason why Mary could not incorporate some traditions was because these traditions’ existences were threatened. For example, Mary could not acquire the turtle and lizard amulets for her baby because the one woman Mary knew who could perform this tradition—Elsie Flood— had died. Elsie Flood’s death is significant because it symbolizes the extinction of the cultural knowledge she possessed. Because the U.S. government forced so many Native Americans to assimilate to white society, many cultural traditions were lost. Around the time of her labor, Mary mourned the loss of these traditions, as she wished she could have incorporated them. She nonetheless resolved to incorporate as many traditions as she could, which reflects how she sought to embrace Lakota and Native American cultural traditions to connect with her indigenous identity.
Themes
Cheryl Petite, another woman at Wounded Knee, was also in the last stage of pregnancy. She went into labor just a few days before Mary did, and while Cheryl also wanted to have her baby at Wounded Knee, she and her husband decided to go to a hospital as her labor dragged on. After Cheryl left, many of the activists approached Mary to urge her to hold onto her hope of giving birth at Wounded Knee.
The activists’ desire to have a baby born during the occupation suggests that they valued the symbolism of having the next generation of Lakota born at a site where white soldiers perpetuated the U.S. government’s genocide of the Lakota people. In the face of the racism and persecution that white society leveraged against indigenous people, Mary’s giving birth during the Occupation of Wounded Knee symbolized how Native Americans were still resisting and fighting against a government that oppressed them.
Themes
Get the entire Lakota Woman LitChart as a printable PDF.
A few days later, Mary’s water broke, and that morning, she heard the ghostly wails of the murdered women and children who were buried in the nearby ravine. The next day, Mary went into labor, during which she was in so much pain that she didn’t pay attention to the incessant gunfire outside the trailer she was in.
Mary was keenly aware of the act of resistance she was performing by giving birth at Wounded Knee: on the site where the U.S. government massacred nearly 300 Lakota, she would bring into the world a Lakota child, the newest member of a nation of people that the U.S. government had waged war against.
Themes
During the excruciating labor, Mary found herself feeling alone, wishing for her mother, sisters, and a father for herself and the baby. Yet she was comforted by the fact that she had many devoted friends staying by her side. Annie Mae Aquash and Josette Wawasik acted as midwives, and Pedro Bissonette checked in on her throughout the birth.
Mary’s loneliness speaks to the challenges that indigenous women—and political activists—experience. Mary’s choice to fight for the rights of Lakota and Native Americans means that she sometimes had to compromise some aspects of her personal life, such as living in proximity to family. In this moment, because Mary chose to protest with other AIM activists at Wounded Knee, she had to give up being near her mother and sisters during the time of her birth. In addition to this, Mary is one of many Native American women who was left with the burden of raising a child on her own. As Mary previously explained, Native American men leaving their partners and children was not uncommon, as there was a gendered expectation that women should take on the responsibility of raising the children. Yet despite this loneliness, Mary took comfort in knowing that she had many Native American women—and men, like Pedro Bissonette—remaining by her side. Their solidarity aided Mary in knowing that she wasn’t truly alone.
Themes
When Mary at last gave birth, Josette Wawasik held up the baby to the window of the trailer to the cheers of the activists outside. As the Native Americans at Wounded Knee celebrated, Mary had the sense that she had done something very important for her people. She named her son Pedro, after her dear friend, Pedro Bissonette.
The activists at Wounded Knee celebrated the birth, as it symbolized the continuation of the Lakota people—and Native Americans as a community—despite the attacks that they endured on their culture and people.
Themes
A few days after Mary gave birth, Leonard returned to Wounded Knee. He gave Pedro a Native American name and held a peyote meeting, which Mary participated in. It was around this time that some California supporters sent Mary a sacred pipe for Pedro.
As she had hoped for, Mary was able to incorporate Lakota and Native American cultural traditions into her son’s infancy. By raising Pedro in a community of Native Americans, Mary ensures that the Lakota culture—and indigenous American culture—live on.
Themes
Shortly afterward, Buddy Lamont was shot and killed. Buddy’s relatives wanted Mary’s help with the funeral process, so she agreed to leave Wounded Knee with them. When she left the siege, she and Pedro only had the clothes they wore, a blanket for Pedro, a few diapers, and Pedro’s new sacred pipe.
Mary was very poor when she gave birth to Pedro. As she has previously explained, poverty was a major problem in indigenous communities across the U.S., as they did not receive ample governmental resources. Mary’s poverty is representative of the systemic poverty that affects Native American communities, and it highlights another way that Mary’s identity as a Lakota woman affects the problems she faces; while poverty also affects white women, Native American women experience poverty and single parenthood at higher rates than white women.
Themes
Although the government officials had promised not to arrest Mary, the arrested her anyway and took away Pedro, saying that she was an unfit mother, and that Pedro would be sent to a foster home. Luckily, Cheyenne, Buddy Lamont’s sister, persuaded them to let her care for the baby until Mary was released from jail. Mary is still grateful for Cheyenne’s help, especially since Cheyenne was grieving her brother’s death.
Once again, the U.S. government officials break a promise—this one to Mary—illustrating why Native Americans felt that they could not trust the government to uphold promises when they (Native Americans) cooperated with them (the U.S. government). The government officials judged Mary to be an unfit mother based on the little they knew about her: her poverty, her race, and her participation in the Occupation of Wounded Knee. None of these things actually made her an unfit mother; rather, it reveals the government officials’ racism and aim to separate indigenous children from their families, after which they would place the children with white foster families, ensuring the children would be raised apart from their indigenous culture. As Mary noted earlier in her memoir, forcibly separating indigenous children from their families was not uncommon, and this form of government-sponsored kidnapping was another systemic issue that Native American women faced. Luckily for Mary, Cheyenne—in an example of female and indigenous solidarity—helped Mary by looking after Pedro for the duration of Mary’s imprisonment.
Themes
The officers held Mary in jail for 24 hours, during which they didn’t let her talk to a lawyer or call anyone. Unable to nurse, Mary’s breasts swelled up and ached painfully. At last, the officers released her, apparently because they worried about the bad press they would get by imprisoning a nursing mother and keeping her from her child.
Mary’s post-birth imprisonment speaks to the racism and sexism that indigenous women like Mary experience. Dismissive of the emotional and physical pain that Mary experienced as a new mother who could not nurse, the officers only let her go to protect their own image. The implication is that Mary was targeted because of her race and gender: the government officials do not treat indigenous women with the same amount of dignity and respect that they afford white women.
Themes
When they let Mary out of jail to nurse Pedro, Mary’s mother was waiting for her. At first, Mary’s mother ranted at Mary, shouting that she should have never spent time with AIM members. But she suddenly switched topics and raged about the cruelty of the officers who had so horribly mistreated her daughter and grandson. Mary calmly responded that she was now a mother, and that her mother was now a grandmother. Mary interjects to say that, since that moment, she and her mother have been able to understand each other better.
Mary began to understand her mother’s thinking and behavior as soon as she became a mother. Although Mary doesn’t explicitly explain what she came to understand about her mother, the implication is that their shared identity as mothers—and, specifically, Lakota mothers—means that they would have similar experiences and, even though they may have different reactions, they at least understand the unique problems and situations that Lakota mothers experience.
Themes
But Mary was not free to go. The officers sent her to another jail in Rapid City, where they questioned her for several hours. When Mary didn’t give them the answers they were after, they finally let her go. Alone with Pedro, she hitchhiked over a hundred miles to get back home. At one point, one of Wilson’s goons picked her up and tried to rape her. She escaped by leaping from the car with her baby and hiding in some bushes until he gave up. After this terrifying ordeal, she met a kind Native American man who drove her home without issue.
Mary’s horrifying hitch-hiking experience captures the threat of sexual violence that Native American women face. Research shows that Native American women suffer disproportionately from sexual assault.
Themes
The siege of Wounded Knee officially ended when Leonard signed an agreement with the federal officers. Many of the activists were upset with his decision, as they assumed that the government would simply break this agreement as they had broken so many others. This is indeed what came to pass, when the federal officers were suspicious of the surprisingly small number of firearms that the AIM activists turned in.
The activists were upset with Leonard because they assumed—correctly, it turns out—that the government would drop the activists’ political demands as soon as the activists stopped protesting. This incident is another example of how resistance—and not passivity or cooperation—can be the most effective way to achieve political change.
Themes
After the siege, government officials bulldozed all that was left on Wounded Knee. Mary suspects that they wanted to remove every trace that a group of Native Americans once defied the government on that hill. But she knows that the memory will live on among Native American people, who will pass down the knowledge of the event to the next generation. Lastly, Mary considers that it is perhaps only right that Wounded Knee now looks the way it did before white settlers arrived.
Mary suggests that the government removed all trace of the occupation to deter future generations from following in their ancestors’ footsteps in resisting the U.S. government. But Mary knows that Native Americans will remember this act of defiance, and that it will inspire younger generations for years to come, thus showing how activism is valuable not only in that it can achieve political change, but also in that it can inspire others.
Themes
