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
Mary stresses that AIM was a spiritual movement, with traditional Native American beliefs playing a central role. Because their religions had been banned and threatened by forced conversions, holding onto traditional beliefs was a way for Native Americans to protect their identity and culture.
Mary argues that practicing and celebrating one’s indigenous culture is a political act of resistance, as it ensures the survival of cultures that white society has tried to eliminate. She also says that it is only through participating in cultural traditions that Native Americans can connect with their indigenous identity.
Themes
While active in AIM, Mary, along with many Native Americans, turned back to Native American traditions. She adds that “Jesus would have been all right,” only white society had twisted his teachings to serve them. Native American religions, however, “had not been coopted” by white people, which added to their appeal.
Again, Mary argues that practicing Native American religious traditions helps Native Americans feel more connected to their identity as indigenous people. Turning away from Christianity, a religion that white society has imposed upon Native Americans, is a way to resist the cultural genocide against Native American religions. Mary even adds that the teachings of Jesus weren’t the problem so much as the fact that white society used Christianity as a weapon to wipe out Native American ways of life.
Themes
To learn more about spiritual traditions, Mary sought out “full-bloods,” as she considered her “half-breed” relatives as corrupted by the selfishness of white society—she says that “half-breeds” are the kind of people willing to sell their land to white people for a profit. While Mary’s Catholic mother regretted Mary’s desire to drop the Christian faith, Mary went to her Grandpa Dick Fool Bull, an old man who practiced traditional Lakota rituals. He was the one who took Mary to her first peyote meeting.
Mary associates “full-blood” Native Americans with the maintenance of indigenous traditions, while “half-breeds” (people who are of mixed race ancestry) try to assimilate to white society. Mary makes it clear that this assimilation harms the Native American community as a whole; not only does it disrupt the maintenance of cultural traditions, but it also aids white society in colonizing Native American land. In this instance, individuals seeking to make a profit collaborated with white people to get money by selling their land. But by selling their land, the U.S. government and white society only gained more power and resources, which they then leveraged against all Native American people. Mary maintains that “full-bloods” are instrumental in maintaining indigenous cultures, as they refuse to assimilate to white society. In Mary’s life, her mother assimilated to white society and Christianity, while Mary’s older relative Grandpa Dick Fool Bull refused to assimilate; it is from him that she learned about Lakota traditions.
Themes
At her first peyote meeting, Mary took a lot of the medicine. Upon taking peyote, she felt in the power—hearing the voices of dead relatives and sensing messages from the staff, drum, and feathers. With the herb, she united with the earth, as that is where the herb comes from. To Mary, “peyote was people, was alive, was a remembrance of things long forgotten.”
While participating in her first peyote meeting, Mary felt connected to her ancestors and to her ancestral lands. The implication is that Mary feels in tune with her Lakota identity by practicing Lakota religious traditions. Even though she didn’t grow up with those traditions, they help her remember “things long forgotten.”
Themes
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Two weeks later, Mary had a dream that she believes the peyote and its spiritual power caused. She dreamed of white soldiers attacking a Native American camp, killing and raping the Native Americans. Mary then saw an old woman, who was singing an ancient song while carrying a heavy pack. The white soldiers attacked and killed her. After the dream, Mary felt depressed for weeks. Over and over, she wondered why her people suffered so much, but she never found an answer.
The peyote meeting that Mary attended had a strong effect on her. A few weeks after taking peyote, she had a dream that she believes came from the peyote. This dream depicted the oppression that Native Americans experience at the hands of white society. The implication is that the peyote strengthened her awareness of the suffering that Native Americans have endured since colonization.
Themes
Mary believes that she only fully understood the meaning and significance of peyote after she married Leonard Crow Dog. Leonard is a peyote priest, as well as a Sun Dancer, a yuwipi, and a Lakota medicine man. While some people criticize him for practicing so many different beliefs and ceremonies, he believes that all traditional Native American religions are “part of the same creative force.” The Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka, takes many forms.
Leonard Crow Dog’s spirituality reflects his desire for intertribal unity. He is a leader of many different Native American religious ceremonies—not just traditionally Lakota ceremonies. His belief that all Native American religious enrich an indigenous person’s spiritual experience and cultural identity corresponds with his belief that intertribal unity strengthens the fight for Native Americans’ civil rights. In both cases, individuals benefit from the support of many. For a person who wants to feel more spiritually connected to their indigenous culture, Leonard believes that practicing diverse Native American rituals will help a person achieve their goal. For the activists who advocate for Native Americans’ rights, they will benefit from the help of all tribes, not just their individual tribes.
Themes
Mary asserts that visions are of paramount importance in all indigenous religions, from North America to the Arctic Circle. Visions are obtained in a variety of ceremonies, from fasting and staring at the sun during a Sun Dance to using mushrooms or herbs.
Mary also adds that indigenous religions share similarities, such as the importance of visions. The implication is that all indigenous vision-seeking ceremonies can be helpful for an indigenous person—regardless of their tribe—who is searching to connect with their cultural identity in a spiritual way.
Themes
Peyote is once such herb that Native Americans use for spiritual purposes. Peyote doesn’t grow north of the Rio Grande, so many believe that the tribes on the Plains first got peyote from Mexico. What is known is that, when the Kiowa and Comanche people established the Native American Church in the 1870s, peyote was used to pray. Mary inserts that the plains tribes first received peyote at the most critical time, as they were suffering from disease and starvation at the hands of white government and settlers.
In providing the history of peyote, Mary illustrates how intertribal cultural exchanges are beneficial to Native Americans. In this instance, the plains tribes adopted the use of peyote as a spiritual herb from other tribes. Mary stresses that the herb was a great spiritual help to the Native American plains tribes.
Themes
While it is legal for Native Americans to buy and use peyote for their religious ceremonies, many people exploit the Native American Church’s use of peyote by selling the herb at heavily inflated prices.
The inflation of peyote prices is another way that Native American cultures are threatened. In this case, people sell the spiritual herb at ridiculously high prices, making it difficult for Native Americans to obtain it.
Themes
Mary sees peyote as a great unifier among the Native Americans. Although each tribe has different rituals when using the medicine, she feels that these differences melt away as soon as they begin the ceremonies.
In this passage, Mary argues that intertribal cultural exchanges—like participating in various tribes’ peyote ceremonies—fosters intertribal unity and helps her feel connected to her Native American identity. She acknowledges that each tribe has unique ceremonies regarding the herb, but, in participating in a Native American religious ceremony together, the various attending Native Americans can feel connected to each other as a community of people who share similar experiences and beliefs as indigenous peoples.
Themes
The songs of peyote meetings incorporate the voices of the items used: the pebbles in the rattle, the magpie and scissortail birds whose feathers make up the fan, and the water bird for the water drum. Although women were originally banned from singing or praying with the staff (the staff is a masculine item), women now sing during the ceremonies. To Mary, Leonard is the most exceptional peyote singer, as he knows hundreds of different songs that he has collected from various tribes—he has even made up his own.
Mary illustrates that peyote rituals are ceremonies that evolve over time. For one, women now sing during peyote ceremonies, even though they were not traditionally permitted to sing. This change also shows how gender roles are being challenged within the Native American community. Second, the songs within a peyote meeting can change. Mary writes about how Leonard adopts and incorporates songs from different tribes to use in the ceremonies he puts on. The implication is that Leonard sees spiritual value in the songs of other tribes; although these songs might not be songs that the Lakota traditionally used in peyote meetings, he finds that they are useful for him and his participants, regardless of their tribe. He also invents his own songs, which means that he is adding something completely new to the rituals.
Themes
Government agents and missionaries persecuted the first followers of the Native American Church because they complicated white society’s efforts to “whitemaniz[e]” the Native Americans. Leonard Crow Dog’s father, Henry, was one of the victims of this religious persecution. After white priests discovered that Henry was hosting a peyote ceremony, government officials drove Henry from his home in the middle of a blizzard, which resulted in the death of his two-year-old son. But persecution didn’t cause Henry and other Native American Church followers to turn away from their religion. In fact, it did quite the opposite—they held on even tighter.
Henry Crow Dog resisted the government’s efforts to erase the Native American Church. It is thanks to the resistance of people like Henry Crow Dog that the beliefs of the Native American Church were perpetuated and carried on to the next generation.
Themes
After marrying Leonard, Mary made several trips with him to purchase or harvest peyote from the south. During these trips, Mary and Leonard often stayed with southern tribes, such as the Pueblos. Mary thanks these cross-cultural exchanges for broadening her perspective and even undoing some prejudices she had against southern tribes, whom she had thought of as too peaceful. When staying with Pueblo families, she appreciated how they adapted to the changing society and federal government, all while practicing their traditional farming and craftsmanship.
Mary explains how visiting other tribes, such as the Pueblos, was an educational experience for her. In learning about the lifestyles and cultures of different tribes, she began to appreciate the various ways in which each tribe adapted to white society and colonization. She realized that her prejudices were unjust—while she had thought that Pueblos should be more rebellious, she learned that, by adapting economically, the Pueblo people achieved some amount of success in protecting their culture against white society. The implication is that this cross-cultural exchange with the Pueblo people taught Mary a different way to resist assimilation.
Themes
Mary was also interested in how, in Pueblo families, women had a significant role: they owned their houses, and their children typically took their mother’s last name. Mary also recognizes that, unlike the Lakota people, the Pueblo people had not been forced onto contained reservations. All the same, the Pueblo people also have to advocate for their land rights and protect it from developers.
Mary also appreciates how women have more influential roles in Pueblo families than in Lakota society. In this way, Mary suggests that the Lakota people could learn from the Pueblos to make their society more equal for women. She adds that, while there are differences between Pueblo and Lakota societies, both nations suffer from colonization, as white society tries to take away their land. The implication is that, while the Pueblos have managed to adapt to white society, their cooperation doesn’t protect them from being targeted by white people wanting to take their land.
Themes
While it is now legal for members of the Native American Church to harvest peyote, it was not always this way. One significant court case happened when a sheriff tried to arrest everyone participating in a peyote meeting. When the case went to trial, Leonard—who had been at the meeting—argued that the sheriff had no jurisdiction on the reservation, as only tribal police can make arrests. He even argued that the sheriff didn’t commit any crimes in taking peyote, as he was doing so as part of a religious ceremony that is open for all to participate. The Native American Church won the court case.
By going to court and actively arguing for the Native American Church, Leonard won a court case that protected Native Americans’ legal authority on their reservations. His victory is evidence that fighting for one’s cause is preferable to passively accepting one’s situation. Had he not argued in court for the Native American Church’s right to use peyote, the U.S. government might have punished the Native Americans who participated in the peyote meeting. As part of his argument, Leonard stresses that the Native American Church is inclusive: all people can participate. His insistence on the inclusive nature of the Native American Church reflects his firm belief in the value of unity and inclusion—the fight for equal rights has more success when all people (regardless of race or beliefs) join together.
Themes
Recently, Mary and Leonard have harvested peyote, rather than purchasing it from a dealer. Not only do they avoid the inflated prices that way, but harvesting adds more meaning to the collection of the medicine. This is true despite—or perhaps because of—the scratches that one gets when trying to collect peyote, which is a cactus. Generally, they are sure to only harvest the tops of the plant, leaving the root so that it will continue to grow.
Mary finds that harvesting the peyote herself is more meaningful than buying it. The implication is that the traditional method of gathering peyote helps her feel more connected to the herb and the spiritual experience that comes with using it—it feels more authentic to her.
Themes
After one harvest, Mary and her companions were driving their car—which was filled with peyote—from Mexico to Texas when someone exclaimed that they needed to get rid of all the visible peyote, lest they get arrested at the border. Instead of throwing it out of the car, Mary and another woman ate all the extra peyote, getting exceedingly high in a way that one doesn’t during a proper ceremony. Later, Mary discovered that she and her companion ate all that peyote for nothing—Leonard had all the proper paperwork to get them across the border.
Mary’s story suggests that the religious rituals are necessary for peyote to have its spiritual influence. When she ate it outside of a ceremony, she got high instead of feeling the spiritual power that the ceremonies inspire. In this way, Mary shows how peyote can be used recreationally or spiritually, and that the ceremonies are necessary to experience peyote in the traditionally spiritual way.
Themes
