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
After quitting school, Mary spent a lot of time in various “reservation towns without hope.” Poverty and alcoholism were severe problems in these towns, where a common family fight was whether to spend the little money they had on either food or alcohol, the latter of which was usually prioritized. With no one but one another to take out their frustration and depression on, drunken brawls are frequent.
Mary again addresses how the poverty and lack of opportunities on reservations drove many Native Americans to drink, which once again illustrates how government-constructed reservations hurt Native American communities. While Mary understands the hopelessness that leads many Native American residents to fight each other, she implies that this division does not help the community.
Themes
At age 12, Mary was drinking copious amounts of hard liquor. But she eventually quit, crediting the American Indian Movement and traditional Native American religion for giving her a sense of purpose. But while she doesn’t drink now, she still has plenty of friends who do. All the same, she never judges them—she understands their feelings far too well.
Joining the American Indian Movement changed Mary’s life so profoundly that she overcame her alcoholism, which shows how activism is empowering and boosts one’s morale. Mary also says that embracing Lakota and (more generally) indigenous traditions also changed her life for the better and gave her a sense of purpose, which suggests that practicing cultural traditions helps Native Americans feel secure in their identity.
Themes
When Mary started drinking at age 10, it felt natural to her, as everyone around her was drinking. In fact, the first time that she got drunk was with relatives at a party. Throughout her drinking days, Mary’s older sister Barbara did her best to look out for her, sometimes taking away Mary’s cigarettes and alcohol. This led to fights between the two sisters, but Mary knows that Barb was always motivated by love.
Mary contrasts the ways that Barbara and some relatives reacted to her (Mary’s) drinking as a young girl. Many of Mary’s relatives actively encouraged her to drink, which speaks to both the pervasiveness of alcoholism in in Mary’s family and social circle, as well as how her relatives appeared to passively accept that alcoholism would be Mary’s fate. On the other hand, Barbara tried to stop Mary from drinking and smoking, even though it led to fights between the two sisters. In retrospect, Mary respects Barbara’s efforts, as she knows that Barbara was only trying to protect Mary. Although Barbara didn’t stop Mary from drinking as a teenager, it is clear that Mary now sees Barbara’s actions—no matter how unwelcome they were to Mary at the time—as proof of her love. It’s possible that Barbara’s fighting to protect Mary helped solidify the girls’ close relationship.
Themes
By the time Mary was 17, she no longer lived at home with her mother and stepfather, and she spent most of her time drinking and smoking weed. In retrospect, Mary counts herself lucky that she survived all the drunk driving that was such a central part of her life at the time, especially given that the cars were in such a dilapidated condition, often without working brakes or doors. She had lost many friends and relatives to drunk-driving accidents.
Drunk-driving has claimed the lives of many of Mary’s friends and family, which demonstrates another way in which alcoholism—and the depression that comes with the poverty that prompts the drinking—takes a toll on Native American communities.
Themes
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Drunken brawls are common on the reservation; Mary has participated in several. One day while at a bar in Rapid City—which many Sioux consider the most racist and anti-Native-American city in the U.S.—a white woman made a racist comment at Mary. In response, Mary broke a nearby ashtray and used the sharp edge to cut the woman’s face.
This white woman’s racist comment is just one of many racist incidents that Mary has experienced throughout her life. By telling this story, in which a white woman was racist, Mary illustrates how, although she confronts sexism as well, the racism that she experiences (sometimes from white women) creates obstacles that white women do not have. Mary’s violent response shows how drinking made encounters like this one even more volatile.
Themes
A good number of the drunken fights that Mary has witnessed are motivated by anti-Native American racism. One such hate-fueled attack happened when Mary was visiting her friend Bonnie. While Bonnie was trying to make a phone call in a street-side phone booth, a drunken white man tried to squeeze into the booth, all the while yelling at Bonnie to get out and “use a tom-tom” instead. Bonnie tried to fight the man off, but he hit her with a beer bottle until she fell, her face dripping with blood.
In this anecdote, Bonnie is the victim of racism and physical violence. Given the man’s racist comment that Bonnie should “use a tom-tom” instead of a phone, it is clear that the man targeted Bonnie because of her race. While white women are also victims of physical violence at the hands of men, Native American women suffer from physical attacks at a disproportionate rate. The man’s assault of Bonnie is reflective of the racially motivated violence that Native American women suffer from.
Themes
A white woman rushed toward Bonnie, pushing Mary to the side and announcing that she was a nurse and could help her. Mary ordered the woman not to push her. When the white woman insisted that Mary get out of her way—adding that “those Indians are really something”—Mary pushed the woman against a car. When the police arrived, they arrested Mary and didn’t attempt to find the drunken white man. Mary is so accustomed to violence and unwanted sexual advances that she, like so many other Native American women, often defensively attacks even when no harm is intended.
A white woman interrupted the scene to try to help Bonnie, but the woman’s racist comment set Mary off. Mary defends her action of pushing the woman, pointing out that all the violence targeted toward Native American women forces them to live on edge; they especially cannot trust authority figures to protect them (in this case, the police officer let the white man go while arresting Mary). The implication is that white women do not understand how consistent, racially motivated violence affects Native American women’s mental health and ability to trust others, including white women.
Themes
Now, Mary tries to avoid fighting, but sometimes it’s impossible to avoid. One evening, while Mary was in Washington State with her husband Leonard, her son Pedro, her friend Annie Mae, and another Lakota leader, two white men approached Mary’s group while they were packing up their car. The men started making racist comments and pulling on Leonard’s braids. Speaking calmly, Leonard tried to deescalate the situation, but the men attacked him.
Mary gives another example of a racially motivated attack. In this story, Mary’s Lakota husband tried to avoid a fight, but a group of white men attacked him anyway, which points to how, even when they try to avoid it, Native Americans often experience violence. In this case, being passive wasn’t an option; the men attacked Leonard despite his attempts to pacify the men.
Themes
Several Native American friends saw the attack and joined in the fray, but more white men arrived, some armed with bats. Catching sight of nearby police officers, Mary approached them and demanded their help, but they refused and simply watched the scene until gunshots rang out. At this moment, they kindly told the white men to go home and started arresting the Native Americans.
This anecdote again shows how Native Americans cannot rely on government officials—like the police—to come to their aid in a violent situation. In this case, Mary and the Native Americans she and her husband were with had no option but to fight back in order to avoid getting seriously injured or killed.
Themes
Looking back at her teenage years, Mary notes that it seems like “just one endless, vicious cycle of drinking and fighting.” Although she avoided becoming a life-long alcoholic, many of the Native Americans she knew were not so lucky. But while people say that there is an “Indian drinking problem,” she counters that it’s “a white problem.” After all, it is white people who make liquor and sell it to Native Americans, and they’re to blame for the grim social and economic conditions that prompt Native Americans to drink.
Alcohol and violence played a central role in Mary’s teenage years, which she says were representative of those of many of her Native American friends and family. She then blames white society for making alcoholism such a pervasive problem in Native American communities. Not only do white people profit off the manufacturing and selling of alcohol to Native Americans, but the U.S. government stripped Native Americans of their culture and resources, shunting them into impoverished and hopeless conditions that breed alcoholism as a means of coping.
Themes
