Fools Crow by James Welch
"Fools Crow" is a novel by James Welch that captures the essence of Native American life in eastern Montana during a transformative period marked by the encroachment of settlers and the decline of traditional tribal existence. The story centers on White Man's Dog, a young Blackfoot man navigating his path to manhood amid the challenges of cultural conflict and personal identity. As he embarks on a journey filled with romantic aspirations and acts of bravery, he grapples with the harsh realities of potential violence against the white settlers and the bleak prospect of life on a reservation.
The narrative is rich with cultural details, offering insights into Blackfoot beliefs, including the importance of dreams and spiritual connections with the natural world. Characters in the story, such as Fools Crow and his young wife Red Paint, embody the traditions and struggles of their people, highlighting themes of honor, sacrifice, and the longing for respect. As the novel unfolds, it depicts the devastating impact of diseases and the relentless advance of settlers on Native lands, culminating in a poignant exploration of hope for future generations, as represented by Fools Crow's son, Butterfly. This work serves as a vital reflection on Native American identity and resilience in the face of adversity.
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Subject Terms
Fools Crow by James Welch
First published: 1986
The Work
Fools Crow dramatizes Native American life on the plains of eastern Montana toward the end of the era of the free, nonreservation tribe. This novel follows an Indian coming to manhood, his free life, his romantic marriage, his daring attack on an enemy, his struggle with the dilemma of whether to fight the white man and be slain or to submit to humiliating poverty and confinement on a reservation. James Welch inherited sympathy for Native Americans from his Gros Ventre mother and from his Blackfoot father. His mother showed Welch documents from the Indian agency where she worked. The tales of his paternal grandmother concerning the awful massacre at Marias River, Montana, provided basic material and a viewpoint from which to write. Welch’s grandmother, a girl at the time of the massacre, was wounded but escaped with a few survivors. She spoke only her tribal language.
In Fools Crow, White Man’s Dog yearns to find respect. At eighteen he has three puny horses, a musket without powder, and no wife. He joins in a raid, in which he proves himself. He woos beautiful Red Paint. His young wife fears he may be killed yet yearns for his honor as a warrior; in a war raid, he outwits and kills the renowned Crow chief, thereby winning the mature name of Fools Crow. Names such as that of his father, Rides-at-the-door, and of the medicine man, Mik-Api, suggest an Indian culture. The people pray to The Above Ones—the gods—and to Cold Maker, winter personified. These gods sometimes instruct warriors such as Fools Crow in dreams.
Fools Crow follows Raven—a sacred messenger—to free his animal helper, a wolverine, from a white man’s steel trap. Later the Raven requires that Fools Crow lure to death a white man who shoots animals and leaves the flesh to rot. Smallpox ravages the teepees. Settlers push into the treaty territory, reducing buffalo, essential for food, shelter, and livelihood. Fools Crow finds a few of his people running in the northern winter away from the army slaughter of an entire village. In a vision experience, he sees his people living submissively with the powerful whites. Hope for his people resides in such children as his infant son Butterfly.
Bibliography
Barry, Nora. “‘A Myth to Be Alive’: James Welch’s Fools Crow.” MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States 17, no. 1 (Spring, 1991-1992): 3-20. An examination of Fools Crow’s role as character and mythic hero. Links him to the legend of Scarface, the unpromising hero, contrasted with the failed heroes Fast Horse and Running Fisher.
Gish, Robert F. “Word Medicine: Storytelling and Magic Realism in James Welch’s Fools Crow.” American Indian Quarterly 14, no. 4 (Fall, 1990): 349-354. An excellent discussion of the multiple levels of storytelling and language, dreams and Magical Realism present in the novel. Suggests that Native American literature establishes a crucial link between primitive and modern worldviews.
Murphree, Bruce. “Welch’s Fools Crow.” Explicator 52, no. 3 (Spring, 1994): 186-187. Applies the legend of Seco-mo-muckon and the firehorn to the relationship between Fast Horse and Yellow Kidney during the horse-stealing raid on the Crow camp. Underscores the importance of tribal unity apparent in both legend and novel.
Ramsey, Jarold. “Fools Crow.” Parabola 12, no. 1 (February, 1987): 108, 110-112. Praises the novel as a “magnificent” blending of historical accuracy and tribal myth, at the forefront of Native American literature.
Wild, Peter. “Visions of a Blackfoot.” The New York Times Book Review, November 2, 1986, 14. Explores the new direction taken by Welch in this novel. Notes how the spiritual and cultural implications of Fools Crow’s coming-of-age weave this world and the world of visions together.