Fools Crow

Fools Crow
Author	James Welch
Language	English
Genre	Contemporary American Fiction
Publisher	Viking
Publication date	1986
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	391 pp (Paperback edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-14-008937-3 (Paperback edition) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character

Fools Crow is a novel written by author James Welch. Set in Montana shortly after the Civil War, this novel tells of Fools Crow, a young Blackfoot Indian on the verge of manhood, and his tribe, known as the Lone Eaters. The invasion of white society threatens to change their traditional way of life, and they must choose to fight or assimilate. The story is a powerful portrait of a fading of way of life. The story culminates with the Marias Massacre of 1870 in which the U.S. Cavalry knowingly slaughtered innocent Blackfeet. While many find this book tragic with depressing implications, Welch's development of the hero offers contemporary readers a sense of hope.

Fools Crow received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and American Book Award, and the Pacific Northwest Bookseller’s Award.

Plot Summary

The novel takes place in 1870 in the lives of the southern Blackfeet people. The main character, White Man's Dog, is invited to a horse raid by his friend Fast Horse. In the first few chapters, White Man's Dog is portrayed as weak and inferior compared to the others. Because of that, White Man's Dog visits the medicine man, Mik-Api to get rid of the bad spirits and get good medicine. While traveling to the rival tribe, the Crows, Yellow Kidney appoints White Man's Dog the position of stealing the horses, and leading three other members to do so. White Man's Dog is at first a little scared, but he sings his warrior songs to gain courage. They are able to get away with numerous horses, when they are about to be spotted by a scout. White Man's Dog rushes in and kills the scout, even though he has second thoughts about it afterwards. Fast Horse, endangering the raiding party, shouts out loudly, "Oh, you Crows are puny, your horses are puny and your women make me sick! If I had time I would ride among you and cut off your puny woman heads, you cowardly Crows." Yellow Kidney hides inside a Crow lodge, in the robes(sleeping bag) of a Crow woman. He becomes lustful, and has sexual intercourse with the woman, until he realizes that she has smallpox. Captured and tortured because of that, the Crows cut off his fingers. He is then tied to a horse and sent out of the camp into a driving snowstorm.

White Man's dog returns to his tribe and begins to provide Yellow Kidney's family with food and supplies, something that is scoffed at by the other Pikunis. He become revered in the tribe after the great success at the raid.Yellow Kidney returns to the camp and tells the story of Fast Horse's foolishness. Fast Horse banishes himself from the tribe after Yellow Kidney returns, unable to lose face. He joins Owl's Child renegade band in killing the Napikwans. However, Boss Ribs urges Fools Crow to look for Fast Horse and try to convince Fast Horse to come back to the tribe. When Fools Crow finds Fast Horse, Fast Horse violently declines to return back to the tribe. Fools Crow develops into an independent person, marrying Yellow Kidney's daughter Red Paint. While at Mik-Api, he gains his first spirit animal, by releasing Wolverine from a trap. Red paint becomes pregnant with Fools Crow's child, whom they decide to name "Sleep Bringer".

White Man's Dog earns his name, Fools Crow, after he goes back to the Crow tribe and is able to scalp their chief, Bull Shield. Rumors sprout out that he had used his good medicine to confuse the Crows, hence the name Fools Crow. In his second dream, Fools Crow is ordered by the Raven to kill a Napikwan who has been murdering all of the animals in the land and leaving the bodies to rot. In the culture of Pikunis, this is seen as a heinous act. Fools Crow uses Red Paint as bait, but the Napikwan realizes this. Fools Crow knows this, and rushes in trying to kill him, but the Napikwan puts up a tough fight. In the end, Fools Crow is able to kill the foe, but he is injured by a gunshot wound. However, the scalp that he gets is of a wolf. Fools Crow is slated to take over Mik-Api and learn the Beaver medicine. Yellow Kidney decides to leave the tribe, seeing how distant the whole world seems to him. While out alone, he decides to go back and name Red Paints offspring, Yellow Calf. He accepts the facts of what has happened to him and realizes that he is able to do things fast without the use of his fingers. However, before he can go back, he is shot by a Napikwan who had vowed to avenge the farmer, who's family was terrorized by Owl's Child's gang. Running Fisher is caught having an affair with his father's third wife, Kills Close to the Lake. Rides-at-the-doors second wife alerts him of this, and he banishes Running Fisher to another tribe and sends Kills Close to the Lake back to her family. However, he is not strict nor very vengeful. Red Paints younger brother contract rabies after being bitten by a rabid wolf. Fools Crow has to cure him, because Mik Api was away, healing another tribe. Fools Crow has transferred roles from a warrior to a healer. This shows that he has learned to play whatever role society needs him to. Fast Horse comes upon Yellow Kidney's body and decides to bring it back to the tribe. However, he does not return to Owl Child's gang and decides to go north and leave alone.

The book ends with Fools Crow visiting the Feather Woman, the daughter of Morning Star and Sun. Fools Crow watches a "yellow hide" and notices that images are forming within the hide. The yellow hide reveals 4 different visions to Fools Crow. One is the vision of the destruction of Heavy Runner's camp from the seizers (white soldiers), the second is a vision of Indian children attending a boarding school with their hair cut off, the third is a vision of the spreading of small pox within his camp and the number of dead bodies stacked on a platform, and the last is a vision of lifeless land all around the region, not one animal can be found in the vision. Feather Woman tells Fools Crow to prepare the Pikunis for what is to come and to pass on the traditions of the Pikunis. She tells him that he would do much good for the Pikunis and that he will pass on the stories. Fools Crow returns back to his tribe, and is unable to prevent the disaster he foresaw. Fools Crow meets the Native Americans being forced to migrate north (Trail of Tears) and accepts the fact that the Napikwans are swarming over the land. They must change their way of living, including changing their diet to fish. The book concludes with Welch detailing the culture of the Pikunis represented by the animals, showing that although their lifestyles were changed, their culture still lives on.

Theme

This is essentially a novel about choices that human beings make and how the consequences of those choices play out in a society in which each human being is intimately connected to all parts of the world around him or her.
- Kathy J. Whitson

One of the most important symbols found in this book is dreams. Dreams play an essential role in the Pikunis' tradition, ranging from receiving messages from the gods or spirit animals. Fast Horse was wary at his dream of Cold Maker and did not follow the message that Cold Maker gave him. Because of this, Fast Horse had a steady decline after the raid. Fools Crow on the other hand listened to his dreams and followed what they told him to do. Because of this, he is able to rise up and become the leader of the Pikunis. The dreams are limited however; they do not allow Fools Crow to stop the disaster of smallpox or bring down the Napikwans. The last few scenes present the reader with a sense of hope, which can be seen by the obvious symbol of a red puppy on the Trail of Tears.

A theme found in this book is leadership and what develops it. This book shows four different leaders and which one eventually becomes the one to lead the Pikunis. They include:

Fools Crow
Fast Horse
Owl Child
Running Fisherter

Fools Crow will eventually become the main leader for the Blackfoot. Fools Crow develops into a leader early in the book, when he goes to Mik-Api to get rid of the bad spirits. He follows tradition and does what is good for the whole. The rest of the Pikunis make a leader out of him; this can be seen by the way they force the name "Fools Crow" on him. Because his spirit animal is the "skunk bear" or wolverine and not a true bear, this represents that he will become a different leader for the Pikunis. The others, Fast Horse and Owl Child, do not see the consequences of their actions, nor do they act on behalf of whole. Owl Child in fact causes more problems for the Pikunis by inciting violence towards the Napikwans. Running Fisher, the brother of Fools Crow, does not develop his leadership skills throughout the book, even though it was slated that he would become a great leader. During the attack on the Crows, it was Fools Crow who comforts Running Fisher, who is scared.

Fool's Crow is a true quest hero. He goes through the ritualistic initiation: separation, trials, encounter with mythic beings, transformation, and he returns to help his people. Like the journeys of Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed, his quest is spiritual. He experiences dreams and visions; he recites the cosmogonic myth; he suffers pain for his people. His transformation is a true apotheosis: he is elevated to a new level of consciousness and can share his vision with his people.

Characters

Pikunis - It is one clan of the Blackfeet tribe.
Napikwans - The term used to refer to the white people.
White Man's Dog/Fools Crow - Main Protagonist. Will eventually lead his tribe.
Rides-at-the-Door - Fools Crow's Father. Becomes chief after Three Bears dies.
Double Strike Woman - Fools Crow's Mother. Similarly, she is Rides-at-the-Door's wife.
Striped Face - Second wife of Rides-at-the-Door.
Kills Close to the Lake- Third wife of Rides-at-the-Door. She is only 17 years old and has an affair with Running Fisher.
Running Fisher - Fools Crow's brother.
Fast Horse - Fools Crow's friend. Son of Boss Ribs. Turns away from tradition, but eventually atones by returning Yellow Kidney's body.
Yellow Kidney - Leader of the horse raid. Father of Red Paint and father-in-law of Fools Crow. Captured by the Crow tribes and eventually killed by the Napikwans.
Heavy Shield Woman - Wife of Yellow Kidney.
Red Paint - Daughter of Yellow Kidney. Marries Fools Crow.
Mik-Api - Medicine man of the Blackfoot. Teaches Fools Crow the traditional songs and medicines.
Owl Child - The Pikuni rebel who plans on waging war on Napikwans. Makes situations worse for the Pikunis because his actions enrage the Napikwans.

Reception

In addition to gaining several awards, Fools Crow cemented Welch's writing credentials. Reviewer Wallace Stegner called it "a major contribution to Native American literature". Lowell Jaeger, of the Flathead Valley Reservation, called Fools Crow rare and wonderful, because it portrayed Native Americans as a complex race- in comparison to the stereotypes of Natives as "noble savages" or the bloodthirsty villains who "shot flaming arrows into Conestogas". Dee Brown (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee) said Fools Crow may be "…the closest we will ever come in literature to an understanding of what life was like for a western Indian."

Plot Summary

Theme

Characters

Reception

Further reading