King Lear Survival

Lear makes the point that in the face of cultural genocide thinning out the perceptions of one's thick culture is an effective means of survival, a path that the Crow took; however, it is important to question Lear's definition of survival in this context. Lear insinuates that thinning out one's perception of their culture will allow for progression when facing the death of a culture. Plenty Coup’s interpretation of his dream led to him guiding his people to become like the Chickadee; listening and learning in hopes of finding new use their traditions. According to his commentary, these actions are what he believes allowed for the Crow to survive this oncoming storm, unlike the Sioux tribe. Lear made the point that to survive the tribe had

Lear saw Sitting Bull’s line of defence as nothing more but wishful optimism. Lear attempts to explain the downfall of the Sioux, “Rather, it is that Sitting Bull used a dream-vision to short-circuit reality than to engage with it” (Lear, Radical Hope, pg.150) Lear tries to say that Sitting Bull pushed his tribe to avoid the reality they were being given. However, it should be argued that Sitting Bull saw reality and tried to handle it through the use of his traditional culture, the Ghost Dance. Lear even goes further and passively refers to the actions of Sitting bull as incorrect, “If Plenty Coup was courageous, why didn't he choose to go down fighting...against a force that would deprive his people of their traditional way of life?...Because Plenty Coups correctly saw that dying in such a way would no longer be a fine death” (pg101) Without saying Sitting Bull's name Lear refers to Sitting Bull’s death and tactics used and insinuates that they were incorrect and that he did not die a fine death. However, if Sitting Bull’s death is looked at through the logic that Lear uses, Sitting Bull fought because he felt as if it still possessed meaning, which means he did in fact die a fine death. Plenty Coups chose the path that would affect his tribe more deeply on a psychological level, rather than a physical one, one that would cause them to find new meaning in the life that now to many of them was meaningless. The question then becomes it is better to become extinct than to assimilate into a new culture. Lear clearly states and sides with the fact of its better to assimilate and find new meaning than to die out, but it can be argued that assimilated is the same thing as extinction in this cultural form. Plenty Coup’s plan of action simply caused the human body to survive but it was nothing but a