47 pages • 1 hour read
Joseph M. Marshall IIIThe Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons in Living
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Bow and Arrow
The bow and arrow are not simply the tools of the warrior or hunter. They are also, to the author, the symbol of the balance that represents perfect love. A bow cannot exist without an arrow, and an arrow achieves nothing without a bow. To, to this author, symbolizes the balance needed to achieve love and symmetry. In addition, Marshall writes about how the ash wood to create bows had to be dried and cured for many years. However, ash that had been struck by lightning was used to make the strongest bows of all, as adversity (in the form of lightning) results in strength. Therefore, the bow and arrow are a symbol of both balance and strength.
Iktomi
The author writes of Iktomi, the trickster figure in Lakota legend. He convinces ducks to close their eyes and dance while he plays a song and tries to club many of them. Iktomi is a symbol of the illusions that can dog many people and of the ways in which Native Americans have often been the victims of untruths told by whites (for example, the untruth that the Fort Laramie Council Treaty was just the result of whites wanting land for their wagons to pass through on the Oregon Trail).
Red Sash
Marshall tells the story of the Red Shirt Warriors. They were sent to a high shale cliff and asked to recover the red sash on top as part of their trial to join the group. However, there was also a shorter sash halfway along the route. Those who returned with the longer sash (the one at the top of cliff) were deemed honorable, while those who returned with the shorter sash from halfway up were not. The red sash was also given to the woman who sang a song of courage at the Battle of the Little Bighorn (or the battle of the Greasy Grass River). After achieving victory in the battle, many members of the Crazy Dog Warriors placed their red sashes on this woman, and her granddaughter, who had been with her as a little girl, later wore red strips of cloth in her hair. The red sashes symbolized honor and the endurance of the Lakota.
The Circle of Life
Marshall writes about the way in which the circle was important to the Lakota. They used it in their medicine wheel, in their dwellings, and in their sweat lodge. The circle symbolized the interconnectedness of all things and the way in which nothing, including people, is superior to other beings. The Lakota believe in the continuity of the cycle of life symbolized by the circle.
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By Joseph M. Marshall III
