Civilization is known as an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached. In "Blue Winds Dancing", civilization is portrayed when the speaker enters the room where many Indians are gathered. At one point there is an awkward feel, however, soon he feels welcomed. These people are as if they were one with nature and believe that nature is very important to their culture. As the speaker makes his trip to his home town, we descibes all of nature around him. The mountain, the snow, the trees, etc. Nature is very much appreciated in this culture and civilization.
In "Blue Winds Dancing" by Tom Whitecloud the sentence “Still, I know my people have many things that civilization has taken from whites.” The lines that follow implies that even though Indians do more for each other and do for themselves and the planet, Indians are seen as an inferior civilization. Today’s civilization can be defined as an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached -dictionary.com-. High levels that exclude any encounter with nature and brotherhood. Civilization in the article conveys in the idea of white man developing in a highly organize society missing important values. Men developing faster and forgetting nature to create “sophisticated” communities.
A civilization is a society or cultural group that is characterized based on their practices to survive and how they live everyday life. The story "Blue Winds Dancing", shows the importance and appreciation toward civilization. Without civilization their would not be and order and everything would be too chaotic to live a healthy lifestyle. However this story does show a young native American is trapped living between two societys, one being a mostly white society and the other other being an ancient society as an Indian.
The story "Blue winds Dancing" develops mixed ideas on civilization. It jumps from two different societies. Two major settings included in the story is a big city and the country. The narrator is not sure which is considered civilized. He mentions that the "whites" had a large influence on the country. In general I believe the narrator's attitude toward the city leads us to believe that that is where the civilization lies. Even with this, he still goes back to his quiet calm life in the country. Yevgeniya Ignatova
To my interpretation, "Civilization" in the "Blue Winds Dancing" can be defined as "an artificial establishment of complexities formed by elites that tries to exclude those who don't understand or even have a chance to understand it". Thus the main character, tired of feeling "inferior" to the white people yet constantly being encouraged to imitate to, left the city, "where the radicals are" and return to his home, where he feels comfortable for its innocence and originality. Bitterly, the main character expressed his view on this civilization as a kind of misunderstanding or confusion due to his biological background.
There is a conflict which is going on inside the narrator in “Blue Winds Dancing” by Whitecloud. He is between two different civilizations: the whites and Indian Americans. The attitude towards the white’s civilization seems to be negative at the beginning. He says that “being civilized means trying to do everything you don’t want to, never doing anything you want to. It means living in houses and never knowing or caring who is next door”. As narrator goes on thinking about civilizations he is no longer so sure that white civilization contains only negative features. He feels that probably due to some reason he doesn’t understand civilization completely. Comparing to his society white civilization with its rules is complicated; it leaves out values which important to American Indians and that is there the conflict comes from.
"Blue Winds Dancing" raises a few important questions about human societies. Reader is introduced to two different worlds, although within the same time period and geography - civilization and the free spirit. Narrator says that he is "weary of trying to keep up this bluff of being civilized". In other words, civilization is not a natural state for a human being. According to the theory of social contract, which explains the necessity of a civilized society in our culture, people must have certain rules and regulations in order to coexist peacefully and with respect to all. However, nowadays civilization means being apart from human nature and focusing solely on the material world. "It means dancing to the strings of customs and traditions; it means living in houses and never knowing or caring who is next door". Unfortunately, this is exactly what our "civilized" life has come to be. When was the last time you watched "blue winds dancing over snowfields"? Probably, long time ago. The writer argues that this is not the way it is supposed to be. No matter how much time you spend studying and how much annual income you make afterward, something else is essential to a human being. It is the spirit that leads us through life and perhaps, in afterlife as well. According to the story, one must develop the human spirit first rather than chasing material riches.
In “Great Plains”, Ian Frazier is presenting the difference between two civilizations through the story of the life and death of an American Indian hero, Sitting Bull. The primal civilization of American Indian is presented as nature loving, likes to live in prairies, by rivers. They love to sing and dance. They pick their names mostly related to nature and strong animals like bull, bear, hawk, and eagle. They are brave and not afraid of death as Sitting Bull “smoked a pipe while bullets hit around him.” The modern civilization is represented by “white people” who have invaded the lands of American Indian and have become the rulers by power. They have army of more people and guns but they are not brave. They are represented as cunning and wicked. Major James McLaughlin who hated Sitting Bull first “maneuvered to undercut his influence on the reservation,” then arranged for his arrest by providing wrong information to the commissioner. He not only sends Indian police to arrest Sitting Bull but also arranged for U.S. soldiers to hide and wait with guns. In other words, they will win their way even by wrong means. Ian Frazier is saying that feeling of hate and difference still exists as the inscription on the plaque where Sitting Bull’s cabin was, says,” … leader of the ‘hostile groups’ for a generation …” Saba Mufti
“being civilized means trying to do everything you don’t want to, never doing anything you want to. It means living in houses and never knowing or caring who is next door”. This excerpt from "Blue Rivers Dancing" followed very closely to my attitudes of civilization. I think that society and civilization has a pre planned form of what is acceptable to everyone else. what music we listen to, the clothes we wear, where to live, and what to hope for are all the things in this world that are decided by civilization. Being civilized is following all of these trends and living the cookie cutter shape the world fit us into. However. The point of this passage and this excerpt is that there is a choice. The narrator had his choice when he chose to come home for december break from school in the mountains to visit his family at an indian reservation. My attitude is that just like the narrator, civilization's flaws inherently can be exploited and one can follow their own way if they understand that being "civilized", is not the same as being "free"
In the short story "Blue Winds Dancing" by Tom Whitecloud, Whitecloud discusses the idea of civilization; more or less the clash of civilzations in a sense when the main character, a native american returns home from college. The internal struggle the main charecter has between his newfound bond of a new society/civilization that he formed in college and his family roots and traditional way of life is what Whitecloud is trying to convey to the reader that the main charecter is going through. Whitecloud even goes further to describe the feeling the main charecter gets when finally returning home only to have a feeling of awkwardness, unacceptance and fear when he hasn't even entered the room with his family yet. This dilemma the main charecter faces shows that the clashing of civilizations can occur in a person no matter how deeply rooted one person is over one way of life over the other. Once that person goes out of his social bounds to another, its hard to go back to the way things were. -Joshua Aziz
Civilization is a state of development in human society. It embraces intellectual, cultural and also material development.This mainly includes progress in science and arts. In the Concern of the story "Blue Winds Dancing" the author is trying to view us the struggle between the old and new civilization. He is still in Dilemma. At the same time he is talking about the today culture that we even do not know who is living to our next door. He also talks about the nature and enviorement in the story when he returned to his hometown.
In " Blue winds dancing" there is a negative reaction towards civilization from the native american boy. He talks about his home as being " Beautiful, calm- where there is no hurry to get anywhere, no driving to keep up in a race that knows no ending and no goal. No classes where men talk and then stop now and then to hear their own words come back from the students..". It seems that civilization to him is very unnatural and more artificial. He also has a negative attitude towards the "whites". He compares his culture to the "whites" by saying his people "know how to give, how to tear one's peice of meat in two and share it with one's brother. They know how to sing- how to make each man his own song and sign them: for their music they do not have to listen to other men singing over a radio" . He is putting down society, by looking down on our talents. (bourekas, kalliope)
In the short story Blue Winds Dancing we see the use of the term "cicvilization" throughout the entire story. The attitude toward civlization is clearly seen when the character feels confused about his identity and how he is treated because of who he is, and where he comes from, whether he's a white American or a a native Indian.
Civilization is known as an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached. In "Blue Winds Dancing", civilization is portrayed when the speaker enters the room where many Indians are gathered. At one point there is an awkward feel, however, soon he feels welcomed. These people are as if they were one with nature and believe that nature is very important to their culture. As the speaker makes his trip to his home town, we descibes all of nature around him. The mountain, the snow, the trees, etc. Nature is very much appreciated in this culture and civilization.
ReplyDeleteTrojanowski
In "Blue Winds Dancing" by Tom Whitecloud the sentence “Still, I know my people have many things that civilization has taken from whites.” The lines that follow implies that even though Indians do more for each other and do for themselves and the planet, Indians are seen as an inferior civilization. Today’s civilization can be defined as an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached -dictionary.com-. High levels that exclude any encounter with nature and brotherhood. Civilization in the article conveys in the idea of white man developing in a highly organize society missing important values. Men developing faster and forgetting nature to create “sophisticated” communities.
ReplyDeleteA civilization is a society or cultural group that is characterized based on their practices to survive and how they live everyday life. The story "Blue Winds Dancing", shows the importance and appreciation toward civilization. Without civilization their would not be and order and everything would be too chaotic to live a healthy lifestyle. However this story does show a young native American is trapped living between two societys, one being a mostly white society and the other other being an ancient society as an Indian.
ReplyDeleteThe story "Blue winds Dancing" develops mixed ideas on civilization. It jumps from two different societies. Two major settings included in the story is a big city and the country. The narrator is not sure which is considered civilized. He mentions that the "whites" had a large influence on the country. In general I believe the narrator's attitude toward the city leads us to believe that that is where the civilization lies. Even with this, he still goes back to his quiet calm life in the country.
ReplyDeleteYevgeniya Ignatova
To my interpretation, "Civilization" in the "Blue Winds Dancing" can be defined as "an artificial establishment of complexities formed by elites that tries to exclude those who don't understand or even have a chance to understand it". Thus the main character, tired of feeling "inferior" to the white people yet constantly being encouraged to imitate to, left the city, "where the radicals are" and return to his home, where he feels comfortable for its innocence and originality. Bitterly, the main character expressed his view on this civilization as a kind of misunderstanding or confusion due to his biological background.
ReplyDeleteSimon
There is a conflict which is going on inside the narrator in “Blue Winds Dancing” by Whitecloud. He is between two different civilizations: the whites and Indian Americans. The attitude towards the white’s civilization seems to be negative at the beginning. He says that “being civilized means trying to do everything you don’t want to, never doing anything you want to. It means living in houses and never knowing or caring who is next door”. As narrator goes on thinking about civilizations he is no longer so sure that white civilization contains only negative features. He feels that probably due to some reason he doesn’t understand civilization completely. Comparing to his society white civilization with its rules is complicated; it leaves out values which important to American Indians and that is there the conflict comes from.
ReplyDelete"Blue Winds Dancing" raises a few important questions about human societies. Reader is introduced to two different worlds, although within the same time period and geography - civilization and the free spirit. Narrator says that he is "weary of trying to keep up this bluff of being civilized". In other words, civilization is not a natural state for a human being. According to the theory of social contract, which explains the necessity of a civilized society in our culture, people must have certain rules and regulations in order to coexist peacefully and with respect to all. However, nowadays civilization means being apart from human nature and focusing solely on the material world. "It means dancing to the strings of customs and traditions; it means living in houses and never knowing or caring who is next door". Unfortunately, this is exactly what our "civilized" life has come to be. When was the last time you watched "blue winds dancing over snowfields"? Probably, long time ago. The writer argues that this is not the way it is supposed to be. No matter how much time you spend studying and how much annual income you make afterward, something else is essential to a human being. It is the spirit that leads us through life and perhaps, in afterlife as well. According to the story, one must develop the human spirit first rather than chasing material riches.
ReplyDeleteIn “Great Plains”, Ian Frazier is presenting the difference between two civilizations through the story of the life and death of an American Indian hero, Sitting Bull. The primal civilization of American Indian is presented as nature loving, likes to live in prairies, by rivers. They love to sing and dance. They pick their names mostly related to nature and strong animals like bull, bear, hawk, and eagle. They are brave and not afraid of death as Sitting Bull “smoked a pipe while bullets hit around him.” The modern civilization is represented by “white people” who have invaded the lands of American Indian and have become the rulers by power. They have army of more people and guns but they are not brave. They are represented as cunning and wicked. Major James McLaughlin who hated Sitting Bull first “maneuvered to undercut his influence on the reservation,” then arranged for his arrest by providing wrong information to the commissioner. He not only sends Indian police to arrest Sitting Bull but also arranged for U.S. soldiers to hide and wait with guns. In other words, they will win their way even by wrong means. Ian Frazier is saying that feeling of hate and difference still exists as the inscription on the plaque where Sitting Bull’s cabin was, says,” … leader of the ‘hostile groups’ for a generation …”
ReplyDeleteSaba Mufti
“being civilized means trying to do everything you don’t want to, never doing anything you want to. It means living in houses and never knowing or caring who is next door”. This excerpt from "Blue Rivers Dancing" followed very closely to my attitudes of civilization. I think that society and civilization has a pre planned form of what is acceptable to everyone else. what music we listen to, the clothes we wear, where to live, and what to hope for are all the things in this world that are decided by civilization. Being civilized is following all of these trends and living the cookie cutter shape the world fit us into. However. The point of this passage and this excerpt is that there is a choice. The narrator had his choice when he chose to come home for december break from school in the mountains to visit his family at an indian reservation. My attitude is that just like the narrator, civilization's flaws inherently can be exploited and one can follow their own way if they understand that being "civilized", is not the same as being "free"
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn the short story "Blue Winds Dancing" by Tom Whitecloud, Whitecloud discusses the idea of civilization; more or less the clash of civilzations in a sense when the main character, a native american returns home from college. The internal struggle the main charecter has between his newfound bond of a new society/civilization that he formed in college and his family roots and traditional way of life is what Whitecloud is trying to convey to the reader that the main charecter is going through. Whitecloud even goes further to describe the feeling the main charecter gets when finally returning home only to have a feeling of awkwardness, unacceptance and fear when he hasn't even entered the room with his family yet. This dilemma the main charecter faces shows that the clashing of civilizations can occur in a person no matter how deeply rooted one person is over one way of life over the other. Once that person goes out of his social bounds to another, its hard to go back to the way things were.
ReplyDelete-Joshua Aziz
Civilization is a state of development in human society. It embraces intellectual, cultural and also material development.This mainly includes progress in science and arts.
ReplyDeleteIn the Concern of the story "Blue Winds Dancing" the author is trying to view us the struggle between the old and new civilization. He is still in Dilemma. At the same time he is talking about the today culture that we even do not know who is living to our next door. He also talks about the nature and enviorement in the story when he returned to his hometown.
In " Blue winds dancing" there is a negative reaction towards civilization from the native american boy. He talks about his home as being " Beautiful, calm- where there is no hurry to get anywhere, no driving to keep up in a race that knows no ending and no goal. No classes where men talk and then stop now and then to hear their own words come back from the students..". It seems that civilization to him is very unnatural and more artificial. He also has a negative attitude towards the "whites". He compares his culture to the "whites" by saying his people "know how to give, how to tear one's peice of meat in two and share it with one's brother. They know how to sing- how to make each man his own song and sign them: for their music they do not have to listen to other men singing over a radio" . He is putting down society, by looking down on our talents.
ReplyDelete(bourekas, kalliope)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn the short story Blue Winds Dancing we see the use of the term "cicvilization" throughout the entire story. The attitude toward civlization is clearly seen when the character feels confused about his identity and how he is treated because of who he is, and where he comes from, whether he's a white American or a a native Indian.
ReplyDeleteI spoke to you about why I'm sending it late.