American Indian Stories

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1921

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

“Impressions of an Indian Childhood”

“The School Days of an Indian Girl”

“An Indian Teacher Among Indians”

“The Great Spirit”

“The Soft-Hearted Sioux”

“The Trial Path”

“A Warrior’s Daughter”

“A Dream of Her Grandfather”

“The Widespread Enigma Concerning Blue-Star Woman”

“America’s Indian Problem”

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

“A Dream of Her Grandfather”Chapter Summaries & Analyses

“A Dream of Her Grandfather” Summary

The narrator describes her grandfather, who was a Dakota medicine man who worked as a liaison between the Great Sioux Nation and the US government. He was one of the first American Indians to work with the government to improve relations. When he arrived in Washington, DC, to work on a treaty, he died suddenly.

The narrator follows in her grandfather’s footsteps, working with the US government on behalf of American Indians. One night, she has a dream that her grandfather gave her a cedar chest as a gift. She is excited to see what the chest holds because she fondly recalls her grandfather’s medicine bags and other relics. She opens the chest and is surprised to discover that it contains only a vision “of an Indian camp, not painted on canvas nor yet written” but made of “dream-stuff” (90).

The narrator is then amazed to hear a voice coming from the box, singing in Dakota. The voice sings a song that advises her to lift her spirits. The story ends with the narrator feeling elated and full of hope for the Dakota people.

“A Dream of Her Grandfather” Analysis

“A Dream of Her Grandfather” returns to the topic of the confrontation between American Indian culture and the missionaries and the US government. The reappearance of this theme comes with a marked shift of emphasis in “A Dream of Her Grandfather,” however. While earlier sections dealt with missionaries and ideas coming from outside the tribe to influence it within, “A Dream of Her Grandfather” shows the narrator entering the world of the government to advocate for American Indian affairs. She acts as a liaison to the government, like her grandfather before her, filling her days “with problems for welfare work among her people” (90). She dedicates herself to shaping a vision of coexistence with non-Indians—ideally, on the American Indians’ own terms.

The brief story is hopeful overall, as is strongly conveyed when the narrator hears a voice chanting, “Be glad! Rejoice! Look up, and see the new day dawning!” (90). However, “A Dream of Her Grandfather” does not suggest that achieving this new day will come without difficulties. The gift itself is “light,” “far more delicate than a spider’s filmy web,” and made of “dream-stuff” (90). The fate of the Sioux is hopeful, but this delicate and illusive vision suggests it is also precarious.

“A Dream of Her Grandfather” draws on symbolic language to tie this vision of the future to the traditions and stories from the past. It is deeply meaningful that the vision arrives in a cedar chest gifted to the narrator in her dream by her grandfather. Learning this, the narrator happily remembers coveting “the medicine bags, beaded and embroidered in porcupine quills, in symbols designed by the great ‘medicine man,’ her grandfather” (90). She is initially disappointed to discover the chest contains an illusive vision rather than these culturally significant artifacts. However, the thought of these artifacts shows that the narrator stands at a major crossroads, as a person who remembers traditional culture while also liaising with the government to help direct the future of her people.