In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-5

Chapter 6

Chapters 7-8

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Importance of Cultural Heritage and Identity

Jimmy McClean begins the novel isolated and adrift, disconnected from his peers and not knowing how he fits into Lakota and white society. By exploring Lakota history and culture with his Grandpa Nyles, Jimmy discovers the value of that heritage, gaining a sense of stability and confidence. Expanding that lesson, the novel shows that preserving and appreciating cultures of the past is crucial to personal and societal progress.

Grandpa Nyles has a deep appreciation for his and Jimmy’s Lakota culture and history. He has intimate knowledge about the lives of Crazy Horse and other Lakota ancestors, as well as the exact timetable of historical events like the Battle of the Hundred in the Hands. This cultural knowledge has great benefits for Jimmy, who is struggling with his own identity. For example, by learning about his physical similarities to Crazy Horse, Jimmy gains a courageous role model, who inspires him to remain calm under pressure and put the needs of the helpless above his own. Jimmy also gains a newfound appreciation for the land around him at important Lakota cultural sites, like Bear Butte and the Tongue River Valley. He returns home a more respectful and contemplative person, better able to appreciate his place in the world. His Lakota cultural heritage has provided him with considerable personal benefits.

While Grandpa Nyles celebrates Lakota culture, he also ensures that Jimmy understands the complex and fraught history of his people. Nyles does not shy away from telling Jimmy about the darker aspects of their history, such as the mutilations after the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Through his honest sharing, Nyles shows Jimmy that cultural heritage can remain a source of inspiration, while also shedding light on harsh elements of the past that can hopefully lead toward a more informed future. Nyles knows that Jimmy—who is of both white and Lakota heritage—has more than one cultural history. He helps Jimmy internalize this dual heritage by teaching him reverence for both the Lakota and white soldiers who died in the battles.

Despite the many superficial differences between modern life and the experience of the historical Lakota, there are many important similarities. These similarities are both personal—as in Jimmy and Crazy Horse’s shared need for courage—but also extend to wider society and culture. Tensions between Indigenous peoples and various levels of the United States government continue to persist in the modern day. Better understanding the roots of those conflicts and the heritage of people like the Lakota is crucial for finding positive outcomes. As Grandpa Nyles teaches Jimmy, the past is always alive in the present, and a person must know where they have been to know where they are going. As Nyles says, “the only thing separating us is time” (122).

The Journey of Personal Growth and Understanding

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse is the story of two young men coming of age. Despite their separate circumstances, Jimmy and Crazy Horse follow parallel paths to adulthood, eventually achieving a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them. By connecting the two Lakota boys’ experiences, the novel reveals that community, courage, and selflessness are essential to the journey of personal growth.

Family and the Lakota community provide the foundation for both Jimmy and Crazy Horse to begin their process of self-discovery. While Jimmy is initially insecure about his identity—feeling stuck between the Lakota and white cultures—he finds solace in Grandpa Nyles’s wise guidance. The more time he spends with his grandfather and learns about Crazy Horse and Lakota history, the more Jimmy experiences a sense of community and belonging. Through this process, he finds his own place in the world, realizing that growing up is a process that requires understanding the people who came before. Crazy Horse likewise grows into the world through his intimate connection to other Lakota like Yellow Woman. He finds purpose in fighting to protect his community.

As their journeys continue, Jimmy and Crazy Horse demonstrate that courage is integral to becoming a fully-formed person. Faced with the harsh challenges presented by the white settlers, Crazy Horse fights bravely in multiple battles against the Long Knives. Through his courage, he grows to become a Lakota war leader and hero, finding success in the Battle of the Hundred in the Hands and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Following Crazy Horse’s example, Jimmy overcomes his fear and finds bravery when facing down the bullies Corky and Jesse. Jimmy’s triumph over his former tormentors demonstrates that he is not the same person he was when the story began.

While bravery against enemies like the Long Knives or the school bullies is important on the path to adulthood, Grandpa Nyles makes clear that there is a different kind of courage that is even more important. To Nyles, Crazy Horse’s true heroism came out in his acceptance of the harsh realities of the world and his selfless acts to protect vulnerable people. When many Lakota warriors wanted to keep fighting the Long Knives, Crazy Horse showed true growth and understanding by surrendering instead. Crazy Horse’s choice to put his people’s needs ahead of his own ego shows him growing from a naïve villager to a confident and self-aware leader.

Again, following Crazy Horse’s example, Jimmy vows to show selflessness and care for those in need. The fact that the story ends before Jimmy can make good on this promise indicates that—though he has made great progress on the road to self-understanding—he still has more ground to cover and will continue to learn and grow over time.

The Value of First-Hand Experience

Jimmy encounters the history of Crazy Horse and the Lakota in many ways. He first hears about Crazy Horse in school, but later learns much more through his journey with Grandpa Nyles, during which he reads plaques, memorials, and even marks on the landscape to better internalize Crazy Horse’s journey. While each of these methods brings Jimmy closer to understanding the legendary warrior, none of them rivals the history that Grandpa Nyles recounts from his own experience and those of his ancestors. Grandpa Nyles’s success in transferring his Lakota heritage to Jimmy shows the immense value of first-hand knowledge and its superiority to other forms of learning.

Jimmy begins the novel with only a vague knowledge of Crazy Horse. He has heard of the Lakota warrior in school, but the information he took from his teacher or textbook does not make much of an impression on him. In contrast, Grandpa Nyles’s stories about Crazy Horse immediately grab Jimmy’s attention. Nyles has a much closer connection to Crazy Horse than Jimmy’s school does, through his Lakota genealogy and the fact that Nyles’s great-grandfather met Crazy Horse in person. Grandpa Nyles’s teachings are much more impactful on Jimmy because Nyles is closer to the real people and events of the past, so is well-prepared to bring them into the present. For example, Nyles draws Jimmy into his stories by revealing that Jimmy and Crazy Horse looked alike—a fact that relies on the first-hand experience of Nyles’s ancestor.

Jimmy’s response to his direct experiences while traveling the country with his grandfather reinforces the value of first-hand knowledge. While at first Crazy Horse’s story might seem abstract, Jimmy feels deeply connected to him when he visits the important places in Crazy Horse’s life. Direct sensory experiences—as when they take the time to “feel the same sand under [their] feet” (47) where Crazy Horse once walked—make a strong impression on Jimmy. His commitment to return to those same places in the future shows that he appreciates the first-hand experiences that these historic and cultural sites provide.

Even as the novel shows the power of direct experience, it points out the flaws in secondary or tertiary views of history. Grandpa Nyles twice points out flaws in the memorials and plaques they visit, showing the superiority of his more intimate knowledge of what really happened. The tour guide’s admission at Fort Phil Kearny that Nyles knows more about the Lakota than he does further underlines this point.

Having established the value of first-hand experience, the novel invites the reader to share in that experience. By finishing the narrative, a reader can move closer toward direct experience by hearing a Lakota story from a Lakota author. Further, the novel provides the real driving directions to get to the locations that Jimmy and Grandpa Nyles visit, emphasizing that anyone is welcome to travel to that part of the United States and grow their own understanding by sharing in what Jimmy and Nyles went through.