July 10, 2007
By: Shaun
Category: Books, Humanities 115
Winter of the Holy Iron by Joseph Marshall III is about two cultures identifying themselves within the new western world who find unresolved conflict when looking into the telescope of the future. Marshall, a Lakota descendent, authors a fictional novel where he paints a vision of his ancestry through strong character development and relationship building with the books characters and the reader. Despite Marshall’s well written story surrounding the injection of the “Holy Iron,” otherwise known as a modern day flintlock rifle, the common thread and conflict is not found within
Marshall’s written words, but rather the message he sends through the words he does not write.
The message of conflict between two cultures and their differing belief systems is where in lies the true conflict and message of the book.
This conflict of cultures which the author describes and his intentions of discussing them in his book is what this paper will discuss.
Superficial readers of Winter of the Holy Iron would argue that the book is about a Lakota war leader named Whirlwind who is faced with many choices and forces conflict among his fellow tribesman in his Lakota village when he brings home the recently shot victim, a Frenchman named De la Verendrye. Those readers would indicate that the real meaning behind the book was intended to paint a picture of a moment in time when simple lifestyles of the Lakota people were suddenly complicated by new technology from the eastern world. The questions which need to be asked in contrast to this simplistic viewpoint is: Why did Marshall, a Lakota descendent, who was raised by his grandparents, and whose first language was Lakota write a book about the eastern French civilization intermixing with western native American Indian culture? Evidence of why Marshall may have written this book could be pointed out when reading between the lines of the text when
Marshall writes regarding Bruneaux.
Henri Bruneaux was cast as a stupid large oaf who never thought past his own individual passions and desires. Bruneaux was a man of impulse who only took what he wanted and left all else to waste in his wake of terrible destruction. Why did
Marshall describe his own people, through the mouth of Bruneaux, as savages and nothing more than beasts which should be exterminated? The reader should identify that
Marshall had animosity towards cultures, other than his own. This animosity was likely taught to him, and perhaps even learned through life experiences which may have paralleled the thoughts, actions, and behaviors of Bruneaux. Yet at the same time,
Marshall admits faults of his own culture through the described weaknesses of Bear Heart. Bear Heart was a clear rival to Whirlwind.
Marshall compares and contrasts them many times in the book and makes it clear that Whirlwind is superior to Bear Heart when he was chosen to receive the war lance and become the new war leader of the Lakota tribe. Bear Heart is shown to have similar characteristics to Whirlwind except for his short temper and lack of thoughtful judgment which Whirlwind excels in. Because Bear Heart was not chosen over Whirlwind, he continually stirs up the tribe against Whirlwind and his supporters and ultimately takes many of the tribe’s people with him as he ventures off to seek future security in the new gun technology, which he has recently been educated about by the actions of Verendrye.
Marshall implies this separation is destroying the future culture of the Lakota and defines the main tribe as the one which Whirlwind remains within. De la Verendrye is the healing salve between the two cultures, but only after a long period of discovery by the Lakota people in observing him in a weakened state after being shot by Bruneaux. De la Verendrye risked his life and sacrificed his time to learn the language of the Lakota people. This sacrifice by De la Verendrye ocours prior to the timeline of the books story line with another tribe called the Dakota. Because of the sacrifice which he made, it makes him unique among both the Lakota and the other cultures which will interact among Indian cultures. Even after common languages were established between De la Verendrye and the Lakota people, there was still conflict among viewpoints and just simply how the two cultures viewed the world around them. Joseph Marshall wrote the book with passion. His knowledge and descriptions of the Lakota people in how they loved, fought, built, survived, and how they viewed the world around themselves. When dissecting the level of detail of the Lakota people with which he writes, the reader can see that
Marshall loves his culture and its roots. His deep respect for the trials his culture has gone through is felt within the feeling of his book.
Marshall, being a modern day person and having the insight of a modern day world, would have clearly felt the pressure of another culture squeezing his own and the oppression which is coupled with such looming and surrounding omnipresence. Would
Marshall stand from a pulpit and preach against the conflicts of the Native American culture? Perhaps he would, but in doing so his message of conflict and the destruction of culture it caries would only be heard and understood by his own culture and those who the message was intended for would not see the value in the message. Rather than standing from a pulpit and preaching regarding the conflict of two cultures, Marshall has made a story with passion, desire, and intent with a clear focus to send a message of why two cultures who have so much individually, find conflict in living together peacefully.
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