Honor the Grandmothers Essay - 2160 Words

Honor the Grandmothers Honor the Grandmothers takes a look at four Dakota and Lakota women who offer to share the stories of their lives to the reader. It is a heartfelt look into their hardships through racism, to their ongoing battle to pass along the rich history of their ancestors while fighting poverty on the reservation. The first grandmother we get the chance to hear from is Celane Not Help Him. I wondered how she got her name because I think that would be an entire story all by itself, but unfortunately I couldn’t find any research that would answer my question. Celane’s story was the most informative and vivid of all the tales in my opinion. The stories she recounted of the massacre at Wounded Knee really gave me a full†¦show more content†¦They weren’t allowed to complete their circle of life by planting crops and living the way they used to because if they left the reservation they were punished harshly. Immediately their whole way of life and the ability to prosper was taken from them. The places they used to pray, such as Paha Wakan, became tourist attractions and renamed for white people to enjoy. After being forced onto the reservation, they indeed started to starve. Sometimes, they never knew when they were going to eat next and would go to bed hungry only to be woken up in the middle of the night when her father brought home a kill. Her time at the Catholic Mission was very depressing to hear about. Taken from her family for months and years at a time and then forced to suppress their entire heritage was hard to read, but that’s how the Catholic Church works. They’ll beat Jesus into you if they want to get their point across. After she got married and moved back to the reservation she lived with extended family because that was the way they were used to doing it. The entire family was extremely close and that’s what they based their beliefs on. Sometimes, I don’t know how they did it, be cause I honestly can’t stand to be in the same time zone as some of my relatives much less bunking with them. After her mother died the move to Gordon, Nebraska was quite a shock because of theShow MoreRelatedImagine Someone’S Toes Must Be Bound Except The Big Toe1305 Words   |  6 Pagesbound except the big toe against the soles of their feet. It hurts just to think about it, doesn t it? Traditions can make someone powerful by accomplishing them yet painful at the same time. Beauty traditions that girls go through bring pain. Family honor is also the reason why girls uphold such traditions. In the novel Ties that Bind, Ties that Break by Lensey Namioka, she explains how young Chinese girls are afflicted by pain by getting their feet bound. Being able to have bound feet are somethingRead More Wild Swans, by Jung Chang Essay1123 Words   |  5 Pagesto the nation. 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