45 pages • 1 hour read
Susan PowerThe Grass Dancer
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1994A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Finding Identity in a Postcolonial World
The novel revolves around the struggle to maintain an Indigenous identity in a colonized land. Chronologically, this begins with Red Dress’s struggle at the fort. She acts, metaphorically, as “the voice of the grass” (246) and as a literal warrior against those who are trying to destroy her way of life. She is killed as a direct result of her actions, but her cause endures just as her presence among the living continues. Her spirit, and the spirit of resistance, live on to touch future generations.
Each generation in the novel has their own fight to maintain their identity. Herod, Anna, and Margaret grow up in a time when children are sent to boarding schools in order to suppress Indigenous culture. However, these characters manage to resist and maintain their Indigenous identity, principally through spiritual practice. As they grow older, their primary focus shifts from their practice to passing on their traditions to the younger generation.
Harley’s generation is the most removed from life before colonization. They are too young to have known anyone who lived in a time before settlers arrived. They must find a balance between continuing their Sioux cultural practices and living their lives as average American teens.
Harley, in particular, struggles to know his place in his family and in broader society. He grows up feeling trapped in the shadow of his dead father and brother. He is unsure of how to fill their place while also finding his own identity. He mimics Pumpkin, by dressing as a grass dancer, in the hope of channeling her strong persona, but he cannot live up to the example she set. It is only after his trip to the vision pit that he connects to his history and learns what it means to be the strength of his people and resist oppression. He finally becomes confident in his identity.
Magic, Medicine, and Sioux Spirituality
Magic, in the novel, is often referred to as “medicine.” This is indicative of its use as a healing method. Chronologically, the first use of magic occurs with the arrival of Christianity and the colonial attempt to convert Red Dress and her band of Dakota. Red Dress uses magic to resist the spiritual conversion efforts as well as the broader force of colonialism, indicating that colonialism is a metaphoric sickness that must be cured with Sioux medicine.
In modern times, Herod is the primary character keeping the old ways alive. He hears Wakan Tanka “in the water and through the wind” (60), not through the hymnals played at local church services. As a Yuwipi, he uses magic to heal personal and cultural trauma. His desire to teach Frank his magical arts is his way of addressing intergenerational trauma by instilling Sioux spirituality in the next generation.
Anna’s use of “bad medicine” further highlights magic’s intended use as a spiritual aid. Red Dress explains that magic will backfire on anyone who uses it for “selfish” ends. This suggests that, like medicine, magic can cause harm if not used as directed. This potential to hurt rather than heal is reflected in Anna’s other name, Mercury. Mercuric compounds were commonly used as medicine until the element’s toxicity was better understood. Like mercury, Anna’s magic does more to harm than to help, and the poison eventually creeps inward. Because Anna only ever uses magic to serve herself, hurting others in the process, she is ostracized by her neighbors. Eventually even her granddaughter Charlene seeks escape, leaving Anna totally alone and socially isolated. In a novel focused on community and the individual’s role in the collective, this is a heavy consequence.
Intergenerational Trauma and Hope
The trauma in the narrative cannot be separated from one generation to the next. Anna tells Jeanette, “Dakota people have an acute awareness of cycles, the pattern in time” (184). This can be applied to the systems of oppression that have affected the Sioux from generation to generation. Red Dress’s fight against colonialism is the same fight that Anna wages against a segregated medical system; that fight is also seen in Margaret’s refusal to practice Christianity and Harley’s struggle to connect with tradition. The face of colonial oppression changes throughout the decades, but the pattern of injustice continues.
There is also a cycle of personal trauma. Red Dress and Ghost Horse are destined to be parted, and this pattern is repeated through the generations. Anna and Emery, Lydia and Calvin, and Harley and Pumpkin are all separated from their love interests by death. It is a repeated loss that reflects the larger communal loss of cultural identity.
While each generation incurs new loss, there are also new opportunities for hope. This hope may be fragile, worn thin by decades of oppression and trauma, but it always manifests as cultural practice as a means of resistance. This is particularly apparent in Pumpkin’s character. Pumpkin is a symbol of hope; she is able to perform her cultural heritage through dance, and to do it well, but she also successfully navigates the broader American landscape, embracing gender equality and self-advancement. As she blends the past with modernity, her character models one way to prevail over colonization: honoring traditional customs by reimagining them so they endure in a new era. Her death is a crushing blow to Harley, as through her he believed that he could find his own sense of self.
Harley attempts to rekindle his hope by performing as a grass dancer, as Pumpkin did. This is unsuccessful, and his failure drives him to the point of despair. It is only after Harley finds his own spiritual path that he can create his own hope for the future. In the vision pit, he says aloud, “I have to stand up for myself” (326) before praying in Dakota. This indicates that he must cultivate his cultural identity to move forward on his personal journey, which entails connecting with his ancestors and their stories. By learning the true meaning of the grass dancer, singing the honor song, and understanding his purpose in his community, Harley’s hope is restored.
