By the end of the book, the only things left of Black Elk and hsi home is the remnants of a dream full of life and prosperity, and a sorrowful old man who still only wants the best for his people. “And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream” (218). While Black Elk finishes the recount of his story, he remembers the people butchered there, and the pieces of a dream filled with life, prosperity, and hope. That the Sioux might've actually been able to live out their lives and continue to let their culture and religious beliefs thrive in the future generations. “ ‘hear me that they may once more go back into the the sacred hoop and find …show more content…
Throughout the last chapter of the book, Black Elk continuously calls himself a pitiful old man, as he speaks to the Six Grandfathers. “ ‘With running tears I must say now that tree has never bloomed. A pitiful old man, you see me here, I have fallen away and have done nothing’ ” (221). Black Elk becomes a very sad old man who is burdened with the weight of his deceased tribe. But even though a majority of the tribe is dead, he still wants the best for all of them. “ ‘It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds. Hear me, not for myself, but for my people; I am old’ ” (221). Though Black Elk is now an old man, and his people are long gone, he still wants the Grandfathers to nourish what is left of the tree for his people. He only thinks of what the Grandfathers gave him, and his people when he spoke to the Grandfathers. This is what is left at the end of the book. A once great, spiritual, leader who is now filled with sorrow, yet wants the best for his tribe, and the remainder of a dream filled with life and