Essay Questions

Explain the role that the warrior songs play in James Welch’s, Fools Crow, particularly in the context of White Man's Dog's life in the novel.

When Fast Horse raids the Crow Indians in the dead of night, White Man’s Dog does not perform well with respect to the whole process of the raid as he is weak and quite useless in the prospects of combat. In order to find a solution to his inferiority, White Man’s Dog visits Yellow Kidney. The latter gives him a series of warrior songs to sing to enhance his courage as well as bravery. As White Man’s Dog sings these songs, he gradually rids himself of fear and performs quite well. The warrior songs thus play the role of enhancing White Man’s Dog’s courage and bravery.

Murder as a theme is well presented in James Welch’s Fools Crow. Support this statement with illustrations from the novel of the same name.

The group that White Man’s Dog leads to a raid becomes spotted by a scout who White Man’s Dog kills in haste. When Fast Horse wakes up the villagers through a call to his men, the Crow responds to the murder. Also, Fools Crow kills a man that has been hunting and killing other animals for his fun. Yellow Kidney is also shot and killed as he returns to his village. In this way, murder is presented.