The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien - 978 Words

There is only one kind of truth, no matter what author Tim O’Brien may think and say in his novel The Things They Carried. As he explains it, story-truth is more of a way to allow someone to comprehend what he went through or felt. Then, what he calls happening-truth is the nut-and-bolt facts of what really happened. But I find serious fault with his definition. Story-truth is not truth. It is not what happened, it is just a way to lie about what really happened. Happening-truth is what really happened. He states several times that a true war story does not seem true, but the untrue war stories seem the truest. In the chapter â€Å"How to Tell a True War Story,† O’Brien talks about several things that I could address, but for right now, I will focus on Curt Lemon. Curt Lemon was a soldier and friend who was with O’Brien on a mission into the mountains. He accidentally set off his own grenade while holding it, blowing himself up. O’Brien saw this and in his writing described the sight as almost beautiful, visualizing it for us by explaining how it appeared that the sunlight lifted him up when he exploded. Really? Would that honestly be what any sane person would think, notice and choose to share when they see a friend blown to pieces in a fireball explosion? I don’t think so. I don’t think a person would remember what the sun looked like as it reflected off his friend’s limp body and with gore flying in all directions. Most people would be appalled and shocked, focusing on whatShow MoreRelatedThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien892 Words   |  4 PagesThe Vietnam War was a long, exhausting, and traumatic experience for all of the soldiers and those who came with them. The Things They Carried, by Tim O Brien illustrates the different affects the war had on a variety of people: Jacqueline Navarra Rhoads, a former nurse during the Vietnam war, demonstrates these effects within her own memoir in the book, The Forgotten Veterans. Both sources exemplify many tribulations, while sharing a common thread of suffering from mental unpredictability. DesensitizationRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1377 Words   |  6 Pageslove to have it as good as we do. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried discusses many veterans who experience the burden of shame and guilt daily due to their heroic actions taken during the Vietnam War. The book shows you how such a war can change a man before, during, and after it’s over.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As I reflect on the many conflicts America has been a part of, none can compare to the tragedies that occurred in The Vietnam war. As told in The Things They Carried (O’Brien), characters such as NormanRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1457 Words   |  6 Pagesthe theme pertains to everyone regardless of their background. It conveys the same ideas to people from all across our society. Lastly, a classic is timeless, which means it has transcended the time in which it was written. In Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried, he offers a new, intriguing way to view war or just life in general and also meets all of the crucial requirements mentioned above to qualify it as a book of literary canon. Though this book is technically a war novel, many peopleRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1242 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Tim O’Brien is obsessed with telling a true war story. O Brien s fiction about the Vietnam experience suggest, lies not in realistic depictions or definitive accounts. As O’Brien argues, absolute occurrence is irrelevant because a true war story does not depend upon that kind of truth. Mary Ann’s induction into genuine experience is clearly destructive as well as empowering† (p.12) Tim O’s text, The Things they Carried, details his uses of word choice to portray his tone and bias. Tim O’BrienRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1169 Words   |  5 Pagesbut are set in the past and borrows things from that time period. A story that fits this genre of literature is The Things They Carried. The story is about Tim O Brien, a Vietnam veteran from the Unite States, who tells stories about what had happ ened when he and his team were stationed in Vietnam. He also talks about what he felt about the war when he was drafted and what he tried to do to avoid going to fight in Vietnam. The Things They Carried by Tim O Brien was precise with its portrayal of settingRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1004 Words   |  5 Pages Tim O’Brien is a veteran from of the Vietnam War, and after coming home from his duty he decided to be a writer. His work â€Å"The Things They Carried† is about a group of soldiers that are fighting in the Vietnam War. The first part of the story talks mostly about physical items that each soldier carries, and also mentions the weight of the items as well. Though, there is one exception to the list of physical things. Lieutenant Cross is a character of the story, and Tim O’ Brien quickly states theRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien896 Words   |  4 PagesTrouble without a doubt is what First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross c arried around his shoulders because he was out in war, where mistakes happen. Lost and unknown of his surroundings he had to lead his men into safety, while destroying anything they found. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross only holds onto one thing for hope and that is Martha, the woman who he hopes is a virgin to come back to. Tim O’ Brien introduces symbolism by adding a character that has a meaning of purity and a pebble, which symbolizesRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien Essay832 Words   |  4 PagesSummary: â€Å"By and large they carried these things inside, maintaining the masks of composure† (21). In Tim O’brien’s The Things They Carried, the American soldiers of the Vietnam War carry much more than the weight of their equipment, much more than souvenirs or good-luck charms or letters from home. They carried within themselves the intransitive burdens—of fear, of cowardice, of love, of loneliness, of anger, of confusion. Most of all, they carry the truth of what happened to them in the war—aRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1369 Words   |  6 PagesMany authors use storytelling as a vehicle to convey the immortality of past selves and those who have passed to not only in their piece of literature but in their life as an author. In Tim O’Brien’s work of fiction The Things They Carried, through his final chapter â€Å"The Lives of the Dead,† O Brien conveys that writing is a matter of survival since, the powers of s torytelling can ensure the immortality of all those who were significant in his life. Through their immortality, O’Brien has the abilityRead MoreThe Things They Carried By Tim O Brien1407 Words   |  6 Pages       Our introduction stated that in â€Å"The Things They Carried,† author Tim O’Brien tells us not directly of the soldiers of Vietnam, or the situations they find themselves in, but about the things they carry on their shoulders and in their pockets. These â€Å"things† identify the characters and bring them to life.   I find that to be true as the author unfolds the stories about war and the uncommon things one carries in to war both inadvertently and on purpose.  Ã‚  Ã‚  As it was noted: Stories about war –

Letter from Birmingham Jail; Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Use of the Rhetoric Triangle Every writer has some sort of drive when writing a piece of work. Whether that drive comes from a creative source or the need to prove a point, it exists. For Martin Luther King Jr. that drive was the need to put an end to racial injustice that seemed to be everywhere. Martin Luther King Jr.’s â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† is a perfect example. â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† was King’s response to eight clergymen’s â€Å"A Call for Unity.† His drive came from the clergymen’s unjust propositions and accusations. This letter allowed King to not only propose a rebuttal but to justify his own civil disobedience, as well as explain the indecency of racial segregation. Throughout his letter, King†¦show more content†¦We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. (Par. 2) In paragraph 2, King points out the facts as well as his business in Birmingham. Logos required logic, facts, anything that shows flow of logic. In this text, King was informing us, as well as the clergymen that he in fact did have business in Birmingham. â€Å"Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C left their villages and carried their â€Å"thus saith the Lord† †¦ Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.† (Par. 3) A subsection of logos is appeal to authority and by referencing to the Apostle Paul, King uses the same Biblical mentality of the clergymen to get his own point across, as well as justify his reasons for being in Alabama. Just like the Apostle Paul spread the word of Jesus, King is spreading the word of freedom. Briefly, King touched upon nonviolent direct-action in the previous paragraph as in his reasons for being there, however he goes more in depth into these direct-action ‘steps’. â€Å"In any nonvi olent campaign there are four steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action.† (Par. 6) A major element of logos is enumeration. King uses enumeration to lay out a foundation for his counter argument by addressing the essential steps needed to have a successful nonviolent campaign. As King’s tone in the letter begins to shift and change direction, so does his use of the rhetoricShow MoreRelatedRhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail1052 Words   |  5 Pagesracial discrimination is? A Rhetorical Analysis of Letter From Birmingham Jail It is known to all that Martin Luther King is a famous person in America, who strongly goes against the racial discrimination all the time. Here, in this letter, Letter from Birmingham Jail, it is easy for us to realize that racial discrimination appears and the non-violence action is still serious at that time. As a matter of fact, this letter is coming from the people in the Birmingham jail, stating their inner thoughtsRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Letter from Birmingham Jail1517 Words   |  7 PagesDevin Ponder Eng291-001 13 September 2013 Rhetorical Analysis Rhetorical Analysis of â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail,† by Martin Luther King, Jr., is a letter in which King is writing to his â€Å"fellow clergymen† in a response to their recent criticism of the actions he was leading in Birmingham at the time. The letter was written in April of 1963, a time when segregation was essentially at a peak in the south. Birmingham, in particular, is described by King as â€Å"probablyRead Moreâ€Å"Letters from a Birmingham Jail† Analysis of the Rhetorical Appeals1182 Words   |  5 Pagesthis when he wrote an open letter while in his jail cell after a peaceful debate against segregation. His lettered response was guided at a statement by eight white Alabama clergymen saying that segregation should be fought in court and not on the streets. King uses a combination of three rhetorical appeals to accomplish his rhetor; ethical, logical and emotional. The three appeals used together successfully persuade the audience to believe King’s argument . The rhetorical trinity consists of threeRead MoreSummary and Rhetorical Analysis of â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail†1708 Words   |  7 PagesSummary and Rhetorical Analysis of â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested on April 12, 1963, in Birmingham, for protesting without a permit. The same day that King was arrested, a letter was written and signed by eight clergymen from Birmingham and titled â€Å"A Call for Unity†. The letter called for ending demonstrations and civil activities and indicated King as an â€Å"outsider†. On April 16, 1963, King responded to their letter with his own call, which has come toRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail1665 Words   |  7 PagesMartin Luther King’s â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† is a great example of an effective and cleverly written response by a complex but yet sophisticated leader of our time. It was written in response to an editorial addressing the issue of Negro demonstrations and segregation in Alabama at the time. He delivers the message in a way with sneaky superiority. He is inviting and open allowing the clergymen to feel as though they have c ontributed and will contribute. He is not condescending or belittlingRead MoreLetter From Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis1136 Words   |  5 PagesKing Jr.’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail, he addresses eight white clergymen who fill his desk with disagreements and criticism of his acts of attempting to abolish segregation. To give a better understanding to his audience he correlates his speech with religion, signifying himself to be similar to the Apostle Paul, while speaking up about the injustice being done in Birmingham. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks strongly about being unable to stand back and watch the disputes in Birmingham unravel.Read MoreEssay on Rhetorical Analysis of the Letter from Birmingham Jail983 Words   |  4 Pages Letter from Birmingham Jail is a letter that explains the controversy that occurred when the clergymen purportedly criticized Luther’s entrance into Birmingham. Luther King Jr writes this letter to the clergymen who had insinuated that the situation of racial discrimination was in control by the law administrators and was not to be intervened by King and his group, the outsiders. The letter is published by the program of Teaching American History - Ashland University and dated on the day and dateRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther Kings Letter From A Birmingham Jail1488 Words   |  6 Pages Obviously, again my primary motivation for writing my Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King’s â€Å"Letter from a Birmingham Jail† is that this is a requirement for my English Composition Class. My heartfelt motivation for writing my Rhetorical Analysis is the respect I have for Martin Luther King’s intelligence and commitment that he displayed for the equality of the African American population. In analyzing â€Å"Letter from a Birmingham Jail†, I developed an even stronger understanding of the dedicationRead MoreRhetorical Analysis of Letter from Birmingham Jail W/ Focus on Ethos1587 Words   |  7 PagesMLK Letter From Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis- w/ focus on Ethos â€Å"...we are now confronted by a series of demonstrations by some of our Negro citizens, directed and led in part by outsiders†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In this quote, from the third paragraph of the letter written by eight Alabama clergymen, the term outsiders is used. Early on, this creates a label for Martin Luther King, outsider. Throughout his Letter From Birmingham Jail, King is able appeal to ethos in order to refute his title of â€Å"outsider†Read MoreRhetorical Analysis Mlk Letter from Birmingham Jail Essay1308 Words   |  6 PagesMartin Luther King’s inspiration for writing his, â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† was mainly to appeal to an undeniable injustice that occurred during his time. His letter was in response tos eight white clergymen, who objected to King protesting in Birmingham. Dr. King effectively crafted his counterargument after analyzing the clergymen’s unjust proposals and then he was able to present his rebuttal. Dr. King eff ectively formed his counterargument by first directly addressing his audience, the clergymen

Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology

Question: Describe about a Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology? Answer: Big data have enthralled the whole world with the magnitude of its capacity and the ability to handle bulks of data. The recent interest have made the debates evolve regarding ethical and disciplinary contexts in some of the particular domains of practical applications of big data. The need of the hour is to synthesize and evaluate some conceptual dilemmas building around Big Data. There are some attributes of big data that require more critical insight and attention such as opacity, disparity, autonomy, generativity and futurity (Ekbia, 2015). The whole concept of Big Data is unambiguous therefore, there have been three dimensions of definitions proposed including a product oriented approach that includes the scale and size of data; process oriented approach pertaining to the inclusion of technological frontier (Fiesler, 2015); and cognition focused approach oriented towards the relation with human beings. The current technology is deemed to be incompetent and insufficient to analyze the big data because of economic concerns or limitations of machinery and applications. In terms of ethical withering of brain, on one hand big data is a catalyst to solve the macro scale problems of the real world but its complexity on the other hand and the massive interactions with real world is not the ability of human mind to comprehend. The ethical dilemma of complexity have made the utter need of statistical analysis, technological infrastructures, tans disciplinary work and visualization techniques to be embedded in the concept of big data to reduce its complexity and let the human brain comprehend it for effective application. The scientists and advocates of data driven intensive science of big data have been trapped under the debate of distinction between relation and correlation many of it being like a debate between theory driven science and data driven science (Shin, 2015). The crux of big data and the hallmark of its data mining lies in prediction which might sometimes lead to drastic ethical dilemmas which can further worsen the situation. Another upcoming ethical debate and a strike question is dichotomy between qualitative and quantitative methods. There have been minute distinctions leading to blurring of difference between interpretation and analysis of Big Data. The data making is a process of multiple social agents having variety of diverse interests. Big data undergoes stages of collection, management, storage and to bring it into usable form for the analysts to dwell deeper into its meaning, it is essential that it is cleaned with scripting languages like Python or Perl or with the help of automated tools like Beautiful Soap (Alagidede, 2015). This stage includes human intervention and his skills of judgment and interpretation to call their subjective opinions which might sometimes spoil or deteriorate the data. Sometimes even data liquidity involving personal data and de-identification of it further makes the situation critical. Variety of areas using big data like social media, location tagged payments, medicine and geo locating devices face the ethical dilemma between risks to data privacy and anonymity through re-identification and ethos of transparency, liquidity and data sharing. With the debate of what to count and what not to consider on the input side of big data also extends to the output side with the dilemma being what to select and what to leave. In small samples of data, the issues of normality, volatility and validation concerns the analysts of big data. Moreover, a small change in even a single unit can totally reverse the effect of results and significance of the output. Though there have been remedial actions proposed for improving the reliance on the statistical significance like use of Bayesian analysis, correcting of degrees of freedom and selection of a smaller p value but they are not enough to address the concern of sampling and selection bias in the analysis of big data (Watson, 2015). Inclusion of big data in the analysis and research purposes have further aggravated and amplified the long lived ethical dilemmas in the science and humanities study. There are plethora of gaps between the articulated visions and the reality in practical scenario pertaining to big data. It includes analysis of a huge amount of heterogeneous data without having the knowledge of those affected. They are generated silently and are put to unforeseen applications (Lake, 2015) as they are collected by many of the seen and unforeseen sources incriminating the privacy and also leading up to secondary disadvantages pertaining to tracking, profiling, exclusion, discrimination and loss of total control. Big data though have captured enormous data under its realm but have also bought bigger ethical tensions for the company using this technology to analyze into the social world having unmeasurable data kept to be analyzed. References Ekbia, H., Mattioli, M., Kouper, I., Arave, G., Ghazinejad, A., Bowman, T., ... Sugimoto, C. R. (2015). Big data, bigger dilemmas: A critical review.Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. Fiesler, C., Young, A., Peyton, T., Bruckman, A. S., Gray, M., Hancock, J., Lutters, W. (2015, February). Ethics for Studying Online Sociotechnical Systems in a Big Data World. InProceedings of the 18th ACM Conference Companion on Computer Supported Cooperative Work Social Computing(pp. 289-292). ACM. Shin, D. H., Choi, M. J. (2015). Ecological views of big data: Perspectives and issues.Telematics and Informatics,32(2), 311-320. Alagidede, P. (2015). Book Review: Development dilemmas: The methods and political ethics of growth policy.African Review of Economics and Finance,6(2), 144-149. Watson, D. (2015). Research ethics and integrity for social scientists.International Journal of Research Method in Education, (ahead-of-print), 1-2. Lake, P., Drake, R. (2015). Information Systems Management in the Big Data Era.

Blackfeet Perspective on Scalping Essay Example

Blackfeet Perspective on Scalping Paper AmericasIn 1871 a story was published in The Wisconsin State Register of Portage, WI, detailing the story of a boy being a captive of Blackfeet Indians for seven years. All of his family with the exception of him and his younger sister had been brutally killed in a raid. His father was killed and scalped, his mother was gutted alive, the infant was impaled on a fence, and his two older sisters (aged 20 and 21) had their hands and feet nailed to a wall, killed and scalped. After travelling an unknown distance the Blackfeet and their captives made camp. The boy’s left arm and the girl’s ear were cut off as a way of branding the prisoners. After this the Indian band split up and the boy never saw his sister again. The boy was castrated and physically abused as a prisoner for seven years before he made his escape. After travelling for a year he made it to Wisconsin where his story was published. Publications such as these, whether accurate or exaggerated, assisted in universally condemning the Blackfeet tribe especially for the act of scalping. During the course of the 19th Century, as white Americans explored and settled in the western part of the country, the nomadic Blackfeet Indians felt the need to defend their lands of the northern Great Plains. Early in the century a daring fur trapper might find it worthwhile to follow the Missouri River in pursuit of the rich game in the region, despite the warnings of danger from the Blackfeet. The tribe found these white trappers to be trespassers on their land and sought violent ways to stop them, as evidenced in a letter by an Indian sub-agent John F. We will write a custom essay sample on Blackfeet Perspective on Scalping specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Blackfeet Perspective on Scalping specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Blackfeet Perspective on Scalping specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer A. Sanford. He wrote in 1833, â€Å"The Blackfeet have Killed only 18 or 20 the last winter as long as Whites are trapping in their Country it will be the case. † Violence was enacted by both sides; the white Americans would seek new lands or new game, and the Indians would seek to stop them through violence. This violence would beget violence from the white, which in turn would spark vengeance from the Indians. In many cases, these instances would include the scalping of a fallen foe whether he or she was Indian or white. Stories of scalping that came back from the western frontier caused many white Americans to view the Blackfeet Indians in a bad light. In 1881, after a raid on the Cree the Blackfeet had taken sixteen scalps and the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel referred to the act as â€Å"Murder, Rapine, Robbery, [and] Vengeance. † The act of scalping was seen as barbarous and disgusting as reflected by the 19th century historian Francis Parkman who questioned whether Indians had a conscience. Despite the gruesome nature of scalping and other acts of violence performed by the Blackfeet tribe many of the stories published in newspapers of the Eastern US reflected the biased representation of scalping based on the Christian American’s opinion towards these actions. The Blackfeet tribe can be used as an example to learn why some tribes of American Indians found it acceptable to perform such actions. The Blackfeet believed that the taking of an enemy’s scalp removed his or her power, a collection of scalps added to a warrior’s social status, and scalp parties were often formed for the important idea of revenge. Power of the Spirit The ethno historian James Axtell wrote an essay on scalping in the colonial North America where he discussed the difficulties of undertaking endeavors of moral questions such as scalping in the clash of two cultures. He explains that first; ethno historians have to be able to understand each culture and the conflicts that arise â€Å"without imposing the parochial standards of their own day on the past. † And second, ethno historians are forced to make an assessment of the meaning of these conflicts to the contemporaries. Betty Bastien, a professor of native studies and member of the Blackfeet tribe, sought to provide an understanding for the Blackfeet ways of knowing their history in her book Blackfoot ways of knowing: the worldview of the Siksikaitsitapi. Gathering primary documents of the Blackfeet is next to impossible since they had no belief in writing history and did not even focus on literacy as late as the beginning of the 20th century. Bastien’s book discusses the passing of knowledge in the Blackfeet tribe, â€Å"As we are sitting here listening to each other speak, our words come from our hearts, from the way we live. In other words, we didn’t borrow our knowledge from anybody. What we are talking about is something we know. White people would say, we heard it from the horse’s mouth. † Due to the Blackfeet beliefs and lack of written history, it is imperative to rely on oral history when considering Blackfeet traditions. In order to understand another culture, one has to comprehend the way that culture views the world in order to assess conflicts that may arise between that culture and another; such is the case of scalping. Bastien sought out her native roots and in doing so was able to reaffirm and reconstruct the traditional ways of knowing for her tribe. According to Bastien, the Blackfeet tribe has a different way of obtaining knowledge than the scientific methods developed by Euro centered learning. In the Blackfeet tribe, as Bastien wrote, â€Å"Knowledge comes from Ihtsipaitapiiyo’pa (Spirit) and knowing means connecting with [Spirit]. Knowledge has spirit. Knowledge is spirit. † The learning of this begins with understanding the sacred knowledge that is in the lodge tales, or tribal stories, and ceremonies that are handed down within the tribe. Within this knowledge is the idea that every person and animal has a spirit within them which stays with them until the body dies. Once the body has died, their spirit can still remain active which is why proper action (such as burial ceremonies) after death must be taken. Many of the customs of the Blackfeet provide examples of their spiritual belief. When it came to scalping, it was no different. When warriors returned from a scalp raid, or from battle with scalps, it was cause for celebration. The women would take the new scalps their husbands brought home and dress them for the scalp dance. For this, the scalp was stretched across a hoop at the end of a long pole that was carried by the women during the three day ceremony. Generally, scalps were kept for approximately a year, and after this initial dance they were used to adorn clothing, weapons, and horses. After the scalp had finished its ceremonial purposes, they would have a burial ceremony for the scalps in which the women would wail and sing in proper mourning in order to pay complete respects to the spirit of the person who the scalp was taken from. It was believed that the hair of a person contained their power and if one had possession of hair, they had power over the donor. In the Blackfeet tribe, a warrior with great power and bravery was held in high regard. Counting Coup for Social Standing In the Blackfeet tribe inheritance was considered taboo, and a chief was made by the acts of his own bravery. Counting coup upon an enemy was the most common act of bravery. Touching an enemy with one’s weapon without actually assaulting them was considered the ultimate coup. This was a difficult thing to do especially with someone watching. War honors were a much more tangible coup and consisted of taking an enemy’s weapons, war shirt, or war medicine, which ranked ahead of taking the enemy scalp. The origin of scalping and the reason it elevates a warrior’s social status can be found in the lodge tale as interpreted by George Bird Grinnell called â€Å"The Beaver Medicine. † As the story goes, there was a time when all the tribes were at peace and there was no war. When tribes would meet the chiefs would come out and touch each other with a stick and count coup on each other, and the tribes would then part. This continued until a chief’s wife fell in love with a very poor man named Api-kunni. At this time, instead of a scalp dance, the women would don the clothing of the one they love and dance and tell tales of all the coups their husband had counted. The chief’s wife wanted very much to participate in the dance, but Api-kunni had no possessions to give her. She finally convinced him to let her participate so Api-kunni gave the woman his tattered clothing and told her to say in the dance that the next spring he would go and count coup on an enemy. Everyone laughed and made fun of her tattered clothing which hurt Api-kunni’s pride so he left the camp to hide. After travelling a great distance Api-kunni came upon a beaver dam. The resident beaver told him to come in and live with him until spring, learn all the ways of the beaver and from then on the animal would be his war medicine. When winter ended, Api-kunni learned that his tribe was setting out on a war party which he decided to follow so that he could use his beaver medicine to count coup on an enemy. He wanted to count many coups so that he could be important enough to be sung about. When the party came upon a river they found another tribe on the opposite bank. Api-kunni sang the song the beaver taught him, took the stick the beaver gave him, and swam across the river. The leader of the other tribe began to wade out to meet him, carrying his knife in order to kill the swimmer, but Api-kunni dove under the water and when he came up he stabbed the beaver stick straight through the man. As the story goes, â€Å"People in those days never killed one another, and this was the first man ever killed in war. Api-kunni then counted coup on him and in order to give his love something to carry in the dance, and display his bravery as a warrior, he scalped his slain enemy. This was all very good for the poor man for when he returned to the village he was able to give the woman who loved him his war honors. The woman was then able to show that what she had sung before the winter had come true and this gave rise to the scalp dance. The old chief then told Api-kunni that he w ould now be chief and to take his wife as his own. In this way, due to scalping, Api-kunni went from being a poor nobody to a chief through the act of scalping. After becoming chief, Api-kunni told his people that this tradition would continue and be handed down to their children. So, â€Å"from that time forth, people, when they went to war, killed one another and scalped the dead enemy, as this poor young man had done. † This story displays two important articles to understand. One is that in Blackfeet culture the passing down of sacred knowledge through stories and ceremonies are the beginnings of connecting with the spirit. The other, is that this story is a representation of how counting coup upon an enemy, of which taking a scalp is a part, is an act of great bravery which improves ones social standing. Vengeance As mentioned before, the cycle of revenge was common among the Indians. Whether it was between Indians and whites or between two tribes, an Indian warrior could choose whether he wished to exact revenge or not. The historian John Reid claimed that if a Cherokee warrior lost a brother at the hand of a Creek, he might say that he would bury the bloody hatchet after taking a Creek scalp. Meaning literally that once he took the scalp of a Creek he would literally bury the hatchet he used to kill the warrior with, giving rise to the term: ‘bury the hatchet. ’ The warrior’s vengeance would now be complete and the brother of the victim then had the decision of whether to exact vengeance or not. John C. Ewers, an expert on Blackfeet Indians from the mid-20th century, claims that this would be the same for the Blackfeet tribe against their enemies. The difference though is that the Blackfeet wouldn’t always be satisfied with the taking of a scalp, and would often go as far as to cut off his enemies hand, feet, or entire head. Neither gender was safe from the act of scalping as many of the tribes held vengeance as highly important and would exact it upon the entire enemy’s settlement or village when possible. A large scalp raid was most common when a large portion of Blackfeet were killed in battle or if any chiefs or prominent warriors were killed. Ewers explains that â€Å"Scalp raids generally were prosecuted by relatively large forces [often including hundreds of warriors], often recruited from several of the Blackfoot and allied tribes and led by one or more prominent chiefs. The size of scalp raids displays the importance of obtaining the enemies’ scalps for vengeance. The Blackfeet Indian of the northern Great Plains was known as one of the most violent scalping tribes in America. They lived in a world much different than ours, in a time when the social norms are extremely difficult for us to conceive. Questioning the morality of scalping is nearly impossible because it only leads to the imposition of our parochial standards. As Axtell said it is not our job to judge past actions but make an assessment of what these actions meant to the contemporaries. To the whites, and to modern society, scalping was a gruesome custom that is highly frowned upon. To the Blackfeet who lived during times of scalping it was a way of life and not something to fret over. Evidence of this is found from the story of Chief White Calf as told to Richard Lancaster while recounting a tale where he went into battle he said, â€Å"Young Pine scalped one, and then I scalped the other. † We can be repulsed by the act of scalping but we must not let our emotions cloud our understanding of this tradition in its own context. To the contemporary Blackfeet Indian the act of scalping gave him power against the spirits, a higher social standing, and provided him a way to prove his vengeance complete. In a world that is difficult to understand, this was perfectly acceptable. Works Consulted-Primary Bell, Charles. The Journal of Henry Kelsey. Winnipeg: Dawson Richardson, 1928. This book did not have an effect on my article. It was not in the correct time period and did not discuss scalping. â€Å"The Blackfeet Indians Take Sixteen Cree Scalps in Canada. † Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, June 8, 1881, http://infotrac. alegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). This newspaper article mentions an altercation between the Blackfeet and Cree where sixteen Cree were scalped because they stole the horses of the Blackfeet warriors. The fight took place in Canada and was reported in Milwaukee. The article shows that scalping was written about in newspapers during the late 19th century, though Milwaukee is much further ea st than the Blackfeet region. The battle took place at Fort Walsh which may have been in Alberta making it appropriate. Catlin, George. Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians. New York: Dover Publications, 1973. Catlin spent eight years during the 1830s travelling around the Great Plains collecting ethnographic information on different tribes and painting pictures of them and their lives. Part of his writings included a discussion of scalping and the scalp dance where he was rather defensive of the Indians. This gave me a sense of the views of his intended audience, which was abhorrence towards Indians for their savage practices. Chardon, Francis. Chardon’s Journal at Fort Clark, 1834-18439. Edited by Annie Heloise Abel. Pierre: Department of History, State of South Dakota, 1932. The content of Chardon’s Journal was fairly useless for me except a couple notes the editor entered by the Indian sub-agent John F. A. Sanford. Sanford discussed Blackfeet violence, and seemed to loath them. Since he was supposed to be somewhat of a diplomat to the tribes, this provides more insights to the sentiments towards the Blackfeet. Early Western Travels: 1748-1846. Vol. V. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co. , 1904. This volume contains a story which depicts a couple fur trappers who were attacked by the Blackfeet, or so they claim. One of the fur trappers, John Colter, survived the attack and made it back to a fort where he retold his tale. The other trapper was apparently killed and scalped. The validity of this story is impossible to verify, but the fact that he could tell the tale and have it believed (or at least written about) provides an idea of how Indians could have been used as scapegoats. Early Western Travels: 1748-1846. Vol. VI. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co. 1904 This volume called the Blackfeet â€Å"a ferocious savage race, who have conceived the most deadly hatred to the Americans† (28). Very helpful in showing opinions towards the Blackfeet. Early Western Travels: 1748-1846. Vol. VII. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co. , 1904 This volume turned out unhelpful. Early Western Travels: 1748-1846. Vol. XXI. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co. , 1904 This volume told a story of a white man with a small band of Blackfeet who invited a trapper to visit them. While in plain sight of a fort, the white man killed and scalped the trapper. How the man got away with this, it does not say. Editorial, The Richmond Examiner, July 5, 1864, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). This newspaper column was discussing rules of engagement having little to do with Indians let alone Blackfeet. The opening statement describes how certain enemies were put to death â€Å"with as little ceremony †¦ as the backwoodsman does a painted Blackfoot or Comanche warrior when he is caught with a bloody scalp dangling from his girdle. † Showing me that in some areas the Blackfeet warriors were seen as constantly scalping and doing little else. Ewers, John. The Blackfeet: Raiders on the Northwestern Plains. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958. Ewers spent a number of years living with and studying the Blackfeet tribe during the mid-20th century. Chapter seven â€Å"Raiding for Horses and Scalps† provided half a chapter worth of information discussing scalping from the Blackfeet point of view. The book provided excellent information but was still written by a white American and has difficulty encompassing the full Blackfeet opinion. Ewers, John. The Horse in Blackfoot Indian Culture, with Comparative Material from Other Western Tribes. Washington D. C. : U. S. Govt. Print. Off. , 1955. I decided to put this in the primary section because Ewers spent so much time talking with tribal elders and essentially writing ethnographies through them. The section on scalping in this book is short and provides only a small amount of basic information on the tradition. Gaines, Edmund P.. â€Å"It is Not an Act of War†¦ † The National Advocate, February 10, 1818, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). Gaines describes an incident where seven people were massacred and scalped including a woman and infants. The gist of his article was to declare war upon the offenders because he has little confidence in friendly relations with the Indians. This publication in the early 19th century provided information on sentiment towards Indians. Grinnell, George Bird. Blackfoot Lodge Tales: The Story of a Prairie People. Williamstown, MA: Corner House Publishers, 1972. Grinnell spent a number of years with American Indians and was considered a close friend to the Blackfeet tribe. He also published a number of books on plains Indians. This particular book is his interpretation of a number of stories that were told to him by Blackfeet elders in which he tried to keep them as close to the literal translation as he could. I consider this a primary document because they are written oral tradition, even though they are translated into English. â€Å"Has Scalps by the Score. † The Owyhee Avalanche, April 28, 1899, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). This article described a white man who scalped Indians for vengeance but I did not use it in final draft. King, Charles. â€Å"Indian Dances. The Sunday Oregonian, June 29, 1890, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). In this article, King describes a number of dances performed by Indians and claims that across the nation tribes are pretty much all the same. This was great insight into how many white Americans felt about Indian tribes. But this showed me the possibility that if the Blackfeet are discussed in an article, it m ay not actually be the Blackfeet tribe. Lancaster, Richard. Piegan: A Look from Within at the Life, Times, and Legacy of an American Indian Tribe. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966. This book was Lancaster’s interpretation of Chief White Calf’s life story. Chief White Calf was born in the 1860s and participated in scalping at sometime during his life. This was rather late for scalping, but it showed how integral it was to the Blackfeet as White Calf was rather blunt about it. â€Å"A Report was in Town Yesterday†¦ † Missouri Republican, July 16, 1823, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). This article discusses a trapping party that was attacked by a group of Blackfeet. The author of the article claims that the recollection is doubted by those acquainted with the subject. This goes to show that in many cases the news articles of scalping could have been exaggerated. â€Å"Seven Years a Prisoner of the Black Feet Indians: A Horrible History. † The Wisconsin State Register, July 2, 1871, http://infotrac. galegroup. com (accessed April 16, 2011). I found this publication to be published in two different Wisconsin newspapers and one in San Francisco. The atrocity of the story adds to the sentiments towards Blackfeet Indians and shows that it was widely published. Works Consulted-Secondary Andrews, Ralph Warren. Indians as the Westerners Saw Them. Seattle: Superior Pub. Co. , 1963. Andrews discusses scalping in chapter five. He describes some methods and motives of scalping. This book was helpful for a basic overview and opinionated view on scalping, but gave little tribal specific information. Axtell, James. â€Å"Scalping: The Ethnohistory of a Moral Question,† in The European and the Indian: Essays in the Ethnohistory of Colonial North America. Edited by James Axtell. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981. Axtell discussed the importance of understanding moral questions in context with their contemporaries. Although he did not discuss Blackfeet specifically, his work gave me a basis for assessing scalping rather than judging the act. Axtell, James. â€Å"Scalps and Scalping,† in Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Edited by Fredrick Hoxie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1996. http://www. netlibrary. com (accessed March 30, 2011). In this work Axtell provides a basic overview of the act of scalping in a very similar fashion to that of Andrews. It was very broad and not tribal specific. Bastien, Betty. Blackfoot Ways of Knowing: The Worldview of the Siksikaitsitapi. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2004. Bastien, as a current historian, sought to describe the ways the Blackfeet tribe keeps their history and understands the world. Using this in support of Grinnell’s works, helps with the validity of using the Lodge Tales as a primary source. Binnema, Theodore. â€Å"Allegiances and Interests: Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) Trade, Diplomacy, and Warfare, 1806-1831. † The Western Historical Quarterly 37, no. 3 (2006): 327. This article claims that the Gros Ventres tribe was often grouped with the Blackfeet by early fur-traders. Binnema claims that the Gros Ventres were much more violent than the Blackfeet attributing to their reputation. This article also attributes to the fact that when the Blackfeet tribe is mentioned, it may not actually be the Blackfeet. Binnema, Theodore. â€Å"‘Like the Greedy Wolf’: The Blackfeet, the St. Louis Fur Trade, and War Fever, 1807-1831. † Journal of the Early Republic 29, no. 3 (2009): 411-440. This article discusses relations with the Blackfeet up until the period of peace between them and white Americans. Binnema discusses a number of contributions to the violence but does not discuss scalping in depth. The article is useful in understanding relations, but not so useful in the argument for Blackfeet scalping. Conaty, Gerald T. Review of Blackoot Ways of Knowing: The Worldview of the Siksikaitsitapi, by Betty Bastien. Histoire Sociale 38, no. 76 (2005): 499. Used for background on Bastien. Dempsey, Hugh A. â€Å"Blackfoot† in Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 13, pt. 1. Edited by Raymond J. DeMallie. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 2001. 604-628. Dempsey provides a somewhat detailed overview of the tribe itself but spends little time discussing warfare let alone scalping. This was helpful in gathering details but not so much in the discussion of scaping. Kipp, Darrell Robes. â€Å"Blackfoot† in Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Edited by Fredrick Hoxie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1996. http://www. netlibrary. com (accessed March 30, 2011). This entry was only used for basic background knowledge of the Blackfeet. LaPier, Rosalyn. â€Å"Blackfeet† in Dictionary of American History. Vol 1. Edited by Stanley I. Kutler. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003. http://go. galegroup. com (accessed March 21, 2011). This entry was only used for basic background knowledge of the Blackfeet. Sherrow, Victoria. â€Å"Scalping† in Encylopedia of Hair. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 2006. 344-45. This entry did not provide any information on Blackfeet specific customs. Spitzer, Allen. Review of The Blackfeet: Raiders on the Northwestern Plains, by John C. Ewers. American Anthropologist 61, no. 1 (1959): 145-146. Used for information on Ewers. Washburn, Wilcomb E. Review of Letters and Notes on the North American Indians, by George Catlin. The American Historical Review 81, no. 5 (1976): 1243. Used for information on Catlin.