Dances With Wolves Essay, Research Paper

Dance With Wolves

In reality, Native American Life doesn?t differ from our life as much as people believe. When compared the beliefs and customs are somewhat similar. Native Americans have tribes in which determine their place in life, we have social classes which determine the people whom we interact. Many thought the Native Americans were different because they had different customs or rituals, but we actually take after the Native Americans in our own different freedoms of religion and beliefs. When the two different groups are actually compared in detail the results are fascinatingly similar.

GOVERNMENT

In the Native American ruling system there is a leader which everyone acknowledges as the chief and commander in charge. The people of the tribe confer with him on important decisions, which involve the tribes well being, and they propose ideas to him, which he in turn grants. The tribe refers to him as the wise man and put their lives in his hands. Ten-bear in Dances With Wolves was the governing body of the Sioux. The people of the tribe put all of their faith in him and always looked to him for the answers. This idea is similar to that of a president in our society. The people of the United States look to the president for the permission to pass new ideas and laws for the people. They also trust him to protect them from other groups or ?tribes.? In many ways the two systems of government were improved with the knowledge from each other.

RELIGION

Native Americans believe in many different spirits. The people of the Sioux participated in special ceremonies, which included dances in request for rain, food, and wisdom. The people believed if they participated in this the spirits would hear their cry and praise them with the object requested. Many different tribes danced for many different reasons. This resembles a normal church service, in which we go and pray for wisdom and strength or even miracles. In our society we also people praying for things in many different places of worship just like the different tribes.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

In a typical Native American family the men were in charge of the hunting, building, and the involvement in tribal meetings and the head of the family. In Dances With Wolves, the men are the only ones present at the meetings with the leader, Ten-bear. The women were in charge of the gathering and preparation of the meals, taking care of the children, and satisfying the husbands needs. The children just listened to their parents requests but were required to help do work and mature at an early age. In our society men are still considered the head of the household, but women also compete for job roles with the same prestige of the males. The women traditionally still do the cooking, cleaning. And take care of the children. Children are not required to mature as quickly, but are expected to take on a considerable amount of responsibility.

CULTURE-CUSTOMS

The members of the tribe all live in identical teepees, dresses in uniform hides and all had the same place in life except for the leaders of the tribes. They used horses as transportation and ate fish, buffalo, and plants. They used berries and plants to paint their skin and feathers for special headdresses for rituals. They used arrows made form stone for hunting and bows made from wood. When the buffalo became scarce, in the area which they were living, the tribe would pack up and move on to a new area where they could live once again off the fat of the land like in Dances With Wolves. In our society we all live in different houses none identical. We all look different from the vast amount of clothes present. We have many different forms of transportation and eat a variety of different foods. Our culture is much more advanced than that of the Native Americans. We use computers for everything and rely on technology for our everyday needs.