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The Ghost Dance causes Black Elk to have another vision, which supports the book’s larger claim that ceremonies are transformative. Black Elk’s vision reaffirms the importance of sacred objects present in his first dream, such as the sacred hoop and the blooming tree.
- Wovoka (“The Wanekia”) Character Analysis in Black Elk Speaks | LitCharts
Wovoka is a Paiute Indian who pioneers the Ghost Dance...
- Wovoka (“The Wanekia”) Character Analysis in Black Elk Speaks | LitCharts
In the summer of 1930, as part of his research into the Native American perspective on the Ghost Dance movement, the poet and writer John G. Neihardt, already the Nebraska poet laureate, received the necessary permission from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to go to the Pine Ridge Reservation.
In Chapter 21, Black Elk comes home to an almost totally displaced community, living on reservations, with the bison herd all but extinct. The ghost dance religion revives the Sioux; Chapters 21 and 22 chart Black Elk's participation in that hope for an apocalypse.
Another significant vision in Black Elk Speaks is that of Wovoka, the leader of the ghost dance movement. In Wovoka's hopeful vision of the future, the bison return to the earth, as do the deceased loved ones of the surviving Sioux.
Black Elk suggests that the ghost dance represented the final hope the Native Americans held for restoring their former society. Sacred Hoop and Holy Tree. The sacred hoop and holy tree are two related symbols that feature prominently in Lakota culture and Black Elk’s vision.
Wovoka is a Paiute Indian who pioneers the Ghost Dance movement. Wovoka is called “Jack Wilson” by the Wasichus, and American Indians believe that he is a Wanekia, or messiah.
Black Elk is puzzled because this is not like his vision at all. The first ghost dance is held. Another is to be held at Wounded Knee Creek and Black Elk goes to see it. He sees a ceremony that is like his vision after all — a circle, with a flowering stick, and the faces of the dancers painted red.
