Lakota Woman

Lakota Woman

by

Mary Crow Dog

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Lakota Woman makes teaching easy.

Mary’s Mother Character Analysis

Mary’s mother is a Lakota woman whose husband, Bill Moore, abandoned her shortly after she got pregnant with Mary. Mary explains that single-parenting is not uncommon for Native American women—many Native American men abandon their families due to the poverty and hopelessness that’s common among indigenous people. Mary’s mother became a nurse, but because she could only find work far from home, she recruited her mother and stepfather, Louise Flood and Noble Moore, to raise her children. Mary had a poor relationship with her mother for years, as her mother was convinced that assimilation to white society was the only way to prosper, while Mary longed to reconnect with her Lakota heritage and advocate for Native Americans’ rights. After becoming a mother herself, Mary’s relationship with her mother greatly improved, as she could better understand the pressures and challenges that Native American mothers face. Although Mary has no intention of letting go of her activism—which she finds more rewarding than her mother’s passive acceptance of her circumstances—she better understands how the sexism and racism that Native American women experience can affect a person’s thinking.

Mary’s Mother Quotes in Lakota Woman

The Lakota Woman quotes below are all either spoken by Mary’s Mother or refer to Mary’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Activism and Resistance Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

After my sister Sandra was born the doctors there performed a hysterectomy on my mother, in fact sterilizing her without her permission, which was common at the time, and up to just a few years ago, so that it is hardly worth mentioning. In the opinion of some people, the fewer Indians there are, the better. As Colonel Chivington said to his soldiers: “Kill ‘em all, big and small, nits make lice!”

Related Characters: Mary Crow Dog (speaker), Mary’s Mother, Sandra
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mary’s Mother Quotes in Lakota Woman

The Lakota Woman quotes below are all either spoken by Mary’s Mother or refer to Mary’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Activism and Resistance Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

After my sister Sandra was born the doctors there performed a hysterectomy on my mother, in fact sterilizing her without her permission, which was common at the time, and up to just a few years ago, so that it is hardly worth mentioning. In the opinion of some people, the fewer Indians there are, the better. As Colonel Chivington said to his soldiers: “Kill ‘em all, big and small, nits make lice!”

Related Characters: Mary Crow Dog (speaker), Mary’s Mother, Sandra
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis: