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Communal Good Versus Personal Strife Within Fools Crow

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John.Ascher-Roberts 4/9/15 ARLT-100: Emily.Zeamer Communal Good Versus Personal Strife Within Fools Crow In his novel Fools Crow, James Welch depicts the historical conflict in ideals and territory between the native Pikuni tribes and the Napikwans, or whites, in the Montana plains. Through perspectives of different members of the Lone Eaters and their personal progression, Welch presents the dichotomy of acting for the good of the community versus acting for personal gain and wealth. No narratives more accurately describe this internal struggle than the ones provided through Fools Crow’s and Fast Horse’s experiences. Since both start from the same relatively low status, each of their trajectories through the novel explicitly show how different …show more content…

On one hand, during the raid of the Crow camp, Fools Crow never acted for personal gain and everything he did was motivated for his tribe’s success. Thus, Fools Crow experiences great personal success and is honored for the raid with a proper title, wife and horses. It is because of this positive reinforcement that Fools Crow lives his life as an embodiment of how a Lone Eater should act. Contrarily, Fast Horse acts against Lone Eater virtues, which echoes his innately selfish ways that contrasted the tribe’s beliefs. During the raid Fast Horse was boastful and selfishly cried out: "Oh, you Crows are puny, your horses are puny and your women make me sick! If I had time I would ride among you and cut off your puny woman heads, you cowardly Crows” . By ridiculing the enemy, Fast Horse was trying to achieve personal recognition amongst the tribal communities. Instead, it led to the capture and torture of Yellow Kidney, the band’s leader. Fast Horse’s actions eventually cause him great personal suffering as he is banished from the community after the tribe discovers it was him who was responsible for Yellow Kidney’s …show more content…

During a trip to the Black Patched Moccasins, Mad Plume warns Fools Crow of such individualistic behavior by saying: "(the young men) are off hunting for themselves, or drunk on the white man's water, or stealing their horses. They do not bring anything back for their people. There is no center here.” The lack of a “center” illustrates how individualistic ideals can deteriorate a community. The exotic wealth and spoils of the white society blind the young men, and in their pursuit of its pleasures they unknowingly destroy themselves and their people. These desires of wealth tempted even Fools Crow himself when he searches Fast Horse to tell him of the tribe’s desire for his return. Fools Crow, alone at the time, feels the power of the individualistically minded life that Fast Horse converted to. He feels a freedom "from accountability to the group" where he wouldn’t "worry about the consequences of his actions." Although Fools Crow ultimately rejects such a lifestyle, it’s clear that the seeds for the deterioration of the communal ideals have been

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