James Welch, FOOLS CROW

Discussion / Essay Questions

1. Why do you think James Welch wrote the book from the Indian viewpoint? To what extent does it portray an accurate history?

2. Welch uses several characters as mediators in the novel who negotiate between different worlds and different groups of people. Who are some of these mediators and what or who do they bring together? What purpose do they serve in the destiny of the Pikunis?

3. Are the Pikuni bands – Lone Eaters, Many Chiefs, Never Laughs, etc. – united? If so, how are they united? If not, why not? How do you think this unity or lack of unity hurts or helps them both in the short term (dealing with the arrival of white settlers) and the long term (coming to terms with their new place in the developing U.S.)?

4. Names and naming seem to be an important element in the novel and in Pikuni culture. What is the power and legacy of some of these names? For example, why do you think Welch names his primary character "White Man's Dog"?

5. Is the Pikuni universe big or small? Are the bands / tribes isolated or connected to the larger world? How does their view of the world affect how they interact with the white American / western world?

6. Much of Native American history has been passed down through oral traditions. If a history has not yet been written down, is it less accurate or significant? Are the stories in the oral tradition meant to be taken literally like written “historical facts” in the Western tradition?