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Chapter 4
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
The generational differences between Mary—and Mary’s siblings—and her mother made life at home difficult. Mary’s mother had strict Christian beliefs, and she was apprehensive of her friends’ judgment. When Barbara got pregnant in high school, Mary’s mother told Barbara that she was disowning her; later, when Sandra got pregnant, Mary’s mother reacted in a similar way. All the same, Mary knew that her mother would always defend them, if need be.
Mary’s mother’s assimilation to white society caused tension in the family home. Mary’s mother’s anxiety about her friends’ judgment suggests that pressures to assimilate fostered antagonism and competition between Native Americans, as those who assimilated to Christianity and white society judged those who didn’t as inferior. Mary’s mother’s desire for her Christian friends to accept her led her to disparage her own daughters, whom she spurned for getting pregnant. This instance also highlights the sexism that Native American women face within their communities. By shaming them for their pregnancies, Mary’s mother expressed the expectation that women shouldn’t have sex before marriage and that those who do are unworthy of respect.
Themes
Eventually, tired of the generational rift between her and her mother, Mary left home and started traveling with a band of kids, drifting around the country and stealing food when they needed to. Drinking and drug usage was common among these groups: Mary liked smoking pot, and Barb took a lot of acid. Mary now sees that there was an “emptiness underneath all this frenzied wandering,” as though she and the other travelers were waiting for a sign or message.
Unlike her mother, Mary refused to assimilate. To escape the pressure to assimilate, she found a group of like-minded youths to roam with. While Mary recognizes that their traveling was purposeless, she never seems to regret her decision to rebel against her mother’s strict rules, which suggests that, for Mary, defying her mother’s demands to assimilate and leaving the toxic home environment were the right choice.
Themes
To sustain themselves, the groups of roaming youth shoplifted—or “liberated” items—from stores. They didn’t feel guilty about stealing; in fact, they saw it as a form of justice. After all, white store owners and white government officials had been stealing from the Native Americans for decades. For example, agents who were supposed to distribute government goods often stole them for themselves. Later, when trading posts were established, store owners would inflate prices because they had no competition—typically, there was only one store per area.
Themes
Another reason that Mary never felt guilty for shoplifting was that the store owners provoked it—white store owners would follow Native Americans around the store, watching their every move and expecting them to steal. Stealing started to feel like a challenge, and Mary got very good at it.
Themes
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Mary got caught only twice, but after getting caught the second time, she realized that shoplifting wasn’t worth the risk of getting imprisoned. If she was going to get arrested, she wanted it to be for a more significant reason. Plus, she realized that there were more effective ways to fight for her and her people’s rights.
Themes
But, more often than not, Mary and her fellow travelers weren’t arrested for what they did, but rather because they were Native Americans. One evening, while traveling, Mary’s group got a flat tire. They pulled to the side of the road for the boys to fix it and, in the meantime, the girls made a fire. Suddenly, police arrived and arrested them all, saying that a farmer charged them for attempted arson and trespassing, among other similar, trumped-up charges. The police jailed the group of kids for two days before declaring them not guilty. Discriminatory arrests deeply affect a person—they make one want to commit the crimes they’re charged with.
Themes
Within the bands of travelers, having sex with multiple partners was common. In fact, many of the young men had an entitled attitude toward the women, simply expecting the women to have sex with them on request. Barb and Mary didn’t appreciate this attitude—both of them wanted more commitment in their sexual relationships.
Themes
Mary notes that while Lakota men speak eloquently about the important role of women within a tribe, many men do not treat women with respect. Women are expected to do a lot of domestic chores and craftwork. When young Lakota men claim that this is because men need to keep their hands and arms free to protect the women or go on hunts, Mary sarcastically retorts that they should “get [her] a buffalo” if they insist on being traditional.
Themes
In Lakota lore, there are important female figures and heroines, like Grandmother Earth and White Buffalo Woman, the woman who brought the Lakota the sacred pipe. Menstruating women are banned from rituals because they are considered to possess a powerful force that can make ceremonies ineffective. But in modern-day Lakota society, the traditional celebrations for a girl’s first menstruation are gone—instead, menstruation is viewed with disgust.
Themes
A man raped Mary when she was about 15 years old. The violent incident traumatized Mary, who felt so ashamed about the incident that she didn’t tell anyone what had happened.
Themes
Tragically, it’s not uncommon for Native American women to be raped. White officers often arrested Native American women on sham charges in order to rape them in jail or in their cars. Any legal complaints raised by Native American women are often dismissed by judges, which only encourages women to stay silent about the sexual abuses they suffered. Mary notes that this is changing, as more Native American women are courageously stepping forward to fight against the rapes and forced sterilizations that they endure.
In the groups Mary traveled with, the men typically wanted to have commitment- and responsibility-free sex with women. Once, she played a joke on a Native American man who climbed into her sleeping bag without waiting for her to give him permission. Mary was eight months pregnant at the time but didn’t say a thing—she stayed silent as her groped her breast and slid his hand down her body. As soon as his hand touched her swollen belly, he stopped, shocked and confused. She exclaimed that she was starting to go into labor; he leapt out of her sleeping bag in a hurry.
Themes
On the whole, Mary respects Native American men for their dedication and bravery in the fight for Native American rights and in protecting Native American women from “outsiders,” even though they could be cruel to women at the same time.
Themes
For instance, Native American men are protective of Native American women when white men sexually harass them. Once, while staying in Pierre, South Dakota for the trial of some AIM (American Indian Movement) members, some white men sexually harassed Barb while she was walking to a motel parking lot. She ran back into the motel she was staying at, where she found Tom Poor Bear, an Oglala boy who was also staying at the motel. He walked out to the parking lot with her and ordered the white men to apologize. They refused, one of them saying, “I don’t apologize to her kind ever.”
Themes
Tom Poor Bear started fighting the white man, and the white man’s friends started beating up Tom Poor Bear. But, with a sizeable group of Native American men at the motel, Tom Poor Bear had reinforcements, as several other AIM supporters rushed out of the motel to help him, as soon as they realized what was happening. They beat up the white men until the latter either fled or collapsed.
Themes
Shortly afterward, several squad cars pulled into the parking lot of the motel and, using a loudspeaker, they ordered the Native Americans within the motel to exit, as they were being charged with assault and battery. Aware that their lives were on the line—the police have a reputation for carelessly firing at Native Americans—one of the AIM members phoned one of the trial’s lawyers who was staying in another room in the motel. The lawyer then called the sheriff and eventually persuaded him to drop the charges.
Themes
In retrospect, Mary isn’t sure whether her days of traveling left a positive or negative effect on her life. Nonetheless, they gave her a broader idea of “what being an Indian within a white world meant.” And when she joined AIM, the aimlessness that plagued her disappeared.
Themes
