Waterlily

“To remain behind was to be without protection.”

These lines speak to the primary importance of kinship and belonging. If you do not have a camp circle or a family, you have no protection as an individual. Every person must be part of a larger whole in order to survive, both on a physical level as well as on an emotional one.

“In their closeness lay such strength and social importance as no single family, however able, could or wished to achieve entirely by its own efforts.”

While having a family is important, the author underlines that families must be part of a larger unit. Not only does the camp circle provide protection, it also provides honor, another important characteristic of Dakota life. The larger the family and the greater its sway, the greater the honor one individual member may receive in the community.

“The tipi where the dead woman was laid out in ceremonial dress was the scene of continuous wailing.”

Ritual is a central motif of the novel and thus a central characteristic of Dakota life. When someone dies, he or she must be mourned according to specific rites. Here, the woman must wear special garments and have other women wail for her. These prescribed actions are some of the many ritualistic undercurrents that give significance to rites of passage.