Dances with Wolves door Michael Blake

Title: Dances with Wolves Author: Michael Blake. Place and date of publishing: 1988, USA. Publisher: Ballantine Books Number of pages: 312. Summary: Lieutenant Dunbar is send to Fort Sedgewick(fromout Fort Hay) to help the group that is already there. But the circumstances are very touch so the group has left the fort.(Just 9 man left cause of the Indians) When Dunbar arrives in the outlying, abandoned fort, he wants to stay there, he thinks he has to, because it’s his duty. The only man who knew that Dunbar was send to fort Sedgewick, was the man who drove him to the fort(Timmons). But on his way back, he has been killed by some Indians. Now Dunbar is all alone, but he likes it. Little by little he is becoming one with the prairie and the wonderful nature around him. All the things he does(repair stuff and making it a nice place), he writes in a sort of diary. But he also misses some company. He and his special horse Cisco are all alone. And of course the old wolf that comes now and then. Dunbar called him Two Socks because he has two white socks on his front legs. The wolf comes regularly by and eats the things that Dunbar offers him. Suddenly he catches a sight of an Indian who is trying to get into the corral where Cisco is standing. When he sees Dunbar, he is frightened, jumps on his small horse and rides away. It’s a Comanche Indian and the camp where they live is near by the fort. Kicking Bird is his name and he is the medicine man in the camp, a very respected person. He tells the happening in the camp, and some boys tried to steal the horse again. But Cisco was too smart and turned back to Dunbar. When Dunbar wants to go and find the Indian camp, he sees a young women who is very wounded. It’s an Indian women, Stands With a Fist. He brought her back to the camp. Kicking Bird was intrigued with this strange man and goes with Wind In His Hair to the fort. They drink coffee together with Dunbar and try to communicate with signs. Little by little, Dunbar gets his own place in the camp. Stands With a Fist is recovered again, and when Dunbar ‘discovers’ that she’s white, they are trying to talk. After months of practising he can speak Comanche very good. In the main time Kicking Bird and some other warriors are going to fight with enemies, far way from the camp. Dunbar, now Dances With Wolves(cause Two Socks was walking after him and the indians saw it), can not go with them, because he is not experienced enough. When the warriors are already a few weeks gone, the Comanche camp is getting attacked by the hated Pawnee Indians. Dances With Wolves and three other men get some guns from the fort, and thanks to that and the strategy of Dances With Wolves, they won the fight without losing any Comanche men. From that moment Dances With Wolves is really accepted. And when he and Stands With a Fist are falling in love and getting married, he is luckier than ever. When they are moving to the winter camp, Dances With Wolves realises that he has been stupid. He has left his diary in the fort! All the people would know what had happened with him and the Comanches! He drove back to the fort, but there were already new soldiers. Cisco was shot and Dances With Wolves was detain. When some warriors helped him escape, Dances With Wolves was sure that the white men would search him and that he would bring the Comanches in great danger. So he wanted to go away and hide together with his wife. But the people in the camp would not let him leave, so he was going with them and was very relieved. Description of the main characters: Lt. John J. Dunbar – This is absolutely the main character, he is a soldier who have figth a lot. His leg get hurt and it was almost amputated but it didn’t happened. He is send by a drunken Major to Ford Sedgewick. When he arrives the Ford was empty. He stays at the Ford and repair some stuff. He get in touch with the indians and fall in love with Stands With a Fist. He leaves his white life behind. He like to be a Comanche.
Timmons – The man who was send with Dunbar to Ford Sedgewick, he get killed by a few Pawnee. Stands With A Fist – When she was young she’s adopted by the Comanches and she had before Dunbar came a husband. But he died in a party against the Pawnee. She is very sad about that and try’s suicide. Dunbar ride on his horse Cisco and see that she trying to make a suicide and safe her and bring her back. Later she and Dunbar married each other. She also communicated with Dunbar cause she had a white tong. Kicking Bird – The medicine man of the indians and the man who takes care of Dunbar. Also he named Dunbar Dances With Wolves. Wind In His Hair – A warrior and friend of Dunbar. Ten Bear – a sixty year old man who is the leader of the Comanches camp. Stone Calf – A good warrior who teach Dunbar how to shoot and take care of weapons, he become a good friend of Dances With Wolves. Explanation of the title: Dances With Wolves is the name that Dunbar has get from the Comanches and its typical for the book cause he discoveres that he likes the Comanches way of life and that the whites are bad. With his new name he gets a whole different life thats why the title explains the hole book in fact. Explanation of the main theme: Main theme is that in that time the whites were a danger to the Indians and the Indians where afraid of them. But also importend is that you can see that a simple life like the Comanches is a good life aswell.
Short account of the beginning and end of the novel: In the beginning Dunbar is for sure that he stays at the fort to do his duty, and he likes to come in contact with the Comanches. At the end he get married with Stands With A Fist and he get a nice summer but the white’s are coming up fast. Climax: He speaks better Comanche in a few months and gets to know the Comanches better and finally he’s accepted by the Comanches cause he thought out how to beat the Pawnee. And his secret relation with Stands With A Fist get out and he married her. Personal opinion: It was a very nice book to read cause im interested in the indians in America. If you begin with reading you want to read further. Dunbars person interested me also, he wants to learn and be a Comanche. The way how he become more and more a Comanche intrested me also.