Perhaps Eastman wouldn’t have found himself so confused if it weren’t for his family and their opposing views against each other. His family relationship represents a lot of confusion. His grandmother had raised Eastman because everyone had thought his father had passed away. One day, it was discovered that Eastman’s father never died and he returned back to the tribe. While talking wit

Looking back at the book, I think the root of Eastman’s contradictions is obvious. This is man that found himself stuck in a fork in a road for his entire life. He found that on one side of him he was a Native American Indian, while on his other side he was a Christian doctor. He swayed back and forth with both Identities not knowing where he had belonged in this world. It’s not until the end of the book he finds himself and where his spirit laid. He states, “Nevertheless, so long as I live, I am an American.”

At the same time that he is praising The Christian civilization he started to denounce his own, the Sioux Indians. He questions the ways of the Indian, again another conflict with tradition versus Modernity. He wondered why in a world of adding on and vast improvements, why do the Indians stay content with the old, and “will not change his ways nor seek to improve them?” He liked this civilization because he felt it “possessed a brotherhood of mankind.” Because many races have come together under one religion. He liked the idea of people being very accepting of one another, but at the same time, he neglects the fact that he is still Indian and looked down upon in the worlds view.

I find that the white man has a well-grounded religion, and teachers his children the same virtues that our people taught theirs... I think the way of the white man is better than ours, because he’s able to preserve on paper the things he does not want to forget. He records everything—the sayings of his wise men, the laws enacted by his counselor.

He had been away from his tribe since the death of his father, and has been greatly involved in the “white world”. Eastman, by now, has been to college and had become a doctor. H

Some topics in this essay:
Charles Eastman, Sioux Indians, Eastman Eastman, Native Americans, , Indian Christian, Sioux Indian, Americans Eastman, Ghost Dance, Woods Civilization, versus modernity, tradition versus modernity, scene book, eastman’s grandmother, tradition versus, opposing views, “white world”, oral tradition, indian culture, native americans, eastman father,