Dances with Wolves

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Dances with Wolves

According to Heraclites, character is fate meaning that people’s personalities are shaped by their traits and actions. Character determines a person’s actions and emotions, but fate is determined by unchangeable and divine involvements that cannot be restricted. Dances with Wolves is a book written by Michael Blake primarily centering on the life of Lieutenant Dunbar serving at the Union Army. The story reveals that Lieutenant is injured during the American Civil conflict leading to a leg amputation. Despite his amputated leg, Dunbar rides a horse and leads others in the battlefront of their enemies christening him as a hero. The Lieutenant later relocates to a remote territory of native Americans and colonizers and subsequently abandons his commitment to the Army by joining the Comanche tribe. The Lieutenant’s character is what leads him to join the Comanche and abandon his allegiance to the United States.

First, the Lieutenant possesses comparable aesthetic features with the Comanche. According to the Lieutenant, nature, reality and love are both embedded in beauty, which is being described in Blake’s book. This is evidenced in the scene where the Lieutenant falls in love with the wild nature. According to Blake (2), the Lieutenant regards nature, reality and love as his religious conviction. Dunbar is quite conservative to his perceptions and therefore sticks to his own dreams. With this for of idealism, he wanders away from the European faith largely in favor of materialism and individualism. The Lieutenant by rejecting the European thought believes that an individual who does not associate with aesthetics and harmony and those who those mastered by greed leading to egocentric practices, normally face their demise in wars. According to Lieutenant’s ideas, individuals who cannot be associated with harmony and those who kill others in order to satisfy themselves with materialistic desires are people who drive away the natural habitat of the society. For instance, he gives an example of the “fellow… was killed for his rings” (Blake 15) something that he determines unreligious.

Secondly, his tremendous admiration for nature as well as the indigenous culture leads him to his final destination whereby he decides to abandon the allegiance to the United States. From the beginning of the story, Lieutenant decides to settle in Prairie as opposed to Timmons who is disrespectful to nature. This act annoys the Lieutenant to a point that he dislikes Timmons’ due to his behavior. When Timmons and the Lieutenant both arrive in the place known as FortSedgwick, Dunbar becomes conscious of the fact he needed to revisit FortHays, a suggestion made by Captain Cargill and his troops. Dunbar struggles with the idea and he resorts to abandon his requirements of FortHays due to his admiration for the nature in FortSedgwick. However, he has a duty to perform at FortHays, the significant reason was that he “had wanted the frontier most of all” (Blake 53). In addition, being a person with conservatism tendencies and a fondness for indigenous cultures Dunbar is prone to varying attachments to all indigenous people and lifestyles that he associates with. He remains ignorant of the situation and the implications that may arise from remaining and adopting other people’s culture. For instance, his admiration and assimilation of Dakota lifestyles accords severe challenges. Blake’s book contains diverse well-executed clash scenes and it portrays the Lieutenant as someone who does not like his old culture thus seeking fulfillment in others and thus his switch to the Comanche.

Thirdly, Dunbar’s personality and actions enable him to be reassigned in a remote territory whereby he is later given the name “Dances with wolves” (Blake 23). The Lieutenant is posted to South Dakota, whereby he eventually encounters with the Sioux neighbors. In due course, the Lieutenant becomes attracted to the Indian’s natural and simple lifestyles, thereby eventually replacing his own routines with the Sioux mannerisms. The new lifestyle makes him forget his allegiance thus joining the Sioux tribe as an equal member. In fact, the Lieutenant finds himself drawn to Dakota lifestyles and customs. Later, Dunbar becomes a hero within the Sioux tribes who finally accept him after he successfully locates a migration of buffaloes and exhibits precise hunting skills. While in South Dakota, he falls in love with a young white woman raised among the tribe and she helps him translate the Indian language that initially creates a barrier, as well as learn the same for purposes of communication with the Sioux group. As the Union soldiers arrive with the plans of attacking the land of Sioux, the Lieutenant faces a quandary of acting as a Sioux or reverting to his binding career allegiance. With his intimate relationship and attachment to the Dakota tribe, Dunbar abandons his allegiance and decides to join Comanche’s tribe. Moreover, his intimate relationship with Comanche is what reverses his earlier stereotypes of viewing the tribe as “savage Indians” (Blake 41) against the “civilized whites” (Blake 41). However, it is revealed that Dunbar forges the romantic relationship with the Comanche in order to help in defend the village from being attacked by the rivaling Pawnee tribe. Dunbar’s attention to the Sioux makes him to abandon his allegiance and instead of becoming a western hero, he helps to bring about civilization in the Wild West thus his heroism is what lies behind his native inclination. However, the Lieutenant bears no powers against the white cruelty who threaten his peace for abandoning his allegiance to the United States.

Fourthly, the Lieutenant’s rebellious attitude makes him to join the Comanche thus abandoning his commitment. This braveness acquires him a station from his seniors and he becomes highly appreciated in any destination he settles. For instance, Dunbar’s braveness propel him towards his heroism actions amongst the Dakota people as he traces the Buffaloes and supports the tribe in its hunting expeditions in South Dakota (Blake 41). Prior to his assimilation in the Sioux community, the Lieutenant is also viewed as a hero within the European army. This is noted in that, despite his amputated leg, the Lieutenant is determined to accomplish his mission as a Union Army. However, his heroism actions determine his fate. This is through of falling in love with his subjective belief systems, he “Stands with a Fist” (Blake 96) and forgets his comfortable life. Additionally, it is through his courage that he is nicknamed “Dances with wolves” (Blake 23). Dunbar prefers to loose his leg, which he considers as unimportant, to help the Union soldiers in conquering an entrenched rebel situation. Thus, he does not mind moving to a remote area for battling purposes. During this period, the doctors’ plan for his amputation yet the Lieutenant is not bothered as his primary objective lies in acquiring success for the troop. Moreover, upon realizing that the white man may take over their land, he decides to move from Sioux to Westward and quickly makes plans of returning to the Native Americans but one of the officers kills his horse and beats him. It is through this that the Lieutenant realizes that he needs not to associate with men who behave in an uncivilized and primitive manner.

Lastly, another aspect that leads Lieutenant to join Comanche in the South Dakota is his troubled personality always leaning towards the search for peace. Although Dunbar is a hero in most situations, he is restless and therefore decides to find peace and truth by going settling in another region. This leads to his relocation to South Dakota where he manages to create a good relationship with the region’s inhabitants. Acquiring a liking for Comanche enables him to acquire intrinsic peace. However, after his arrest he realizes that he is causing trouble in Dakota and he later decides to move away in order to avoid causing more trouble for the Indians attributable to his loyalty abandonment towards the Union Army.

In conclusion, the Lieutenant’s character draws him to the Comanche in a manner that he abandons his allegiance to the United States because of his tremendous admiration for nature as well as indigenous culture. He joins the Comanche due to his admiration of the Sioux tribe in terms of culture and lifestyles. In addition, the Lieutenant possesses comparable aesthetic features with the Comanche and thereby his abandonment to the allegiance His intimate relationship with the Lakota tribe portrays him as a person who is a culture conversion.

Work cited

Blake, Michael. Dances with Wolves. New York, NY: Ballantine, 1988. Print.