Fools Crow Summary
Search for the Self: Fool's Crow
Overview
Fool's Crow by James Welch is, among other things, a story of one boy's initiation into manhood, a tale that Joseph Campbell would call a "hero's quest narrative." At the beginning of the novel, White Man's Dog is eighteen years old but thinks he has little to show for himself, only three horses and no wives. Throughout the course of the book he goes through a step-by-step initiation ritual that leads him to manhood.
First the hero must be separated from home and family. As a form of purification he enters a sweat with the many-faces man, Mik-api. Cleansed, White Man's Dog paints himself with yellow pigment exactly as Mik-api instructed to "gain the strength and cunning necessary to be successful" (23). White Man's Dog prays to Thunder Chief "whose long rumbling voice foretold the beginning of life and abundance on the ground of many gifts. He prays to Sun Chief, who watched over the Pikunis and all the things of this world" (27). Then he makes a vow that if he returns home successful he will sacrifice before the medicine pole in the next Sun Dance. As the young men begin their first warrior mission, stealing horses from the Crows, White Man's Dog is ashamed of his fear and sings his war song in a low voice to regain his strength. He kills his first man, a young enemy who could ruin the mission. Later he feels guilty about this death. Because of his cunning and bravery, White Man's Dog is successful in this step of his initiation and returns home with hundreds of horses.
Another phase of his growth toward manhood is the ability to hunt. The hunt in warrior cultures shows man's respect for the animal and the compassion to provide food for his people. White Man's Dog kills many animals on his "solitary hunts and he left many of them outside the lodge of Heavy Shield Woman" (47) because her husband Yellow Kidney did not return from the trip to Crow Camp.
Mik-api teaches White...
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