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Blackfoot At The Sun Dance Analysis

307 Words2 Pages

Unlike Eli, Lionel continues to struggle within the liminal space between the ‘white’ and ‘Native American’ worlds. His desire to return to university and educate himself to get a better job suggest his attempt of finding himself. However, before he takes that step, he remains in a conflicted position of being a Blackfoot and not a Blackfoot at the same time. He may look like one, but he does not feel like a Blackfoot. Lionel points out to the reader how he “[feels] completely out of place” due to his appearance while at the Sun Dance (365). Echoing his aunt’s observance of Eli attempting to be a white man in the past, Lionel is also dressed similarly, wearing a “jacket and slacks and dress wing tips” (365). Dressed as a white man, but physically

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