Beginning of Essay
In many Native American cultures, ceremonies of sacrifice and renewal are an annual activity used to promote community and individual well being. In the novel Green Grass, Running Water, Thomas King suggests that when one is able to fully accept one's own sel ....

Middle of Essay
.... a topic integral to her life, and one from which a great deal of passion should be generated. However, her uninspiring and spiritless lesson causes "certain individuals" to "fall asleep," sit "virtually in each other's laps," and enter into a private "conversation." Indirectly her lecture touches upon an important religious celebration of the Native American culture, the Sun Dance. She depicts the Sun Dance, which celebrates the creation of earth and all of its components, as a trivial and meaningless component of her people's culture. Even though she portrays such a momentous occasion as inconsequential, its inclusion in her lecture ....