Black Elk Speaks

Throughout the book, Black Elk often comments on the stark cultural differences between the Lakota and American societies. Black Elk is often shocked by American cultural norms and societal values, and he portrays America as a society driven by individualism, disconnected from the natural world.

Much of the conflict between the Lakota and Wasichu (the Lakota term for white people) revolves around gold located in the Black Hills mountains on Lakota territory. As gold is highly valuable in American and European societies, the Wasichus are eager to find a way to mine the Black Hills. Though they initially seek a deal to build a road on the Lakota territory, they resort to fighting when the Lakota refuse to allow them to build. For Black Elk, the Wasichus desire for gold is senseless: “[T]he Wasichus had found much of the yellow metal that they worship and that makes them crazy” (7). Black Elk notes that the Lakota were also aware of the gold, “but they did not bother with it, because it was not good for anything” (60). To the Lakota, gold is a useless material, and as such, they can only understand the Wasichus actions as driven by a religious fervor.