Bury My Heart Wounded Knee Essay Research

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Shawn Sanders 4-28-98 AA Character assignment Dee Brown, the author of the book Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, more often than not uses indirect characterization to describe those in his book, although it is not his only method of displaying the characters to the reader. For example the Sioux war leader, Roman Nose, who once stated, ? I will ever surrender my land to the Whites,? displayed his stubbornness by not only declaring his resistance but also through his actions against the White people to keep his land. Roman Nose?s actions were, obviously, to send his warriors against the United States Army. Dee Brown, in fact, uses this combination of direct and indirect characterization throughout the book for most all of the main characters in each chapter especially the antagonists. General Sheridan, a commander in the army at the time, was quoted saying that, ?The only good Indian I?ve ever seen is a dead Indian,? and later proved his liking for ?good Indians? by slaughtering hundreds of unarmed Native Americans. The methods used by the author in the book are quite effective overall in characterizing the characters in his book and give the reader a good insight into the natures of the people being depicted.