“Of all the trails in this life, there is one that matters more than all the others. It is the trail of a true human being. I think ou are on this trail and it is good to see” – Kicking Bird (Graham Greene)

Civil War hero Lt. John DUnbar leaves the insanit of war-torn civilization and ‘finds’ himself in the Frontier with the Sioux

MILESTONES OF THE JOURNEY

Dances With Wolves shows a man who searches for the Frontier, but ends up finding himself. Dunbar passes through several physical and emotional Thresholds of self-discovery as he realizes his loneliness in the Ordinary World of the white culture and the military. Each Threshold Crossing initiates a new series of Tests, Ordeals and Rewards as Dunbar passes deeper into his Special World with the Sioux, gradually casting off the ‘skin’ of his old self, embracing his Resurrected self and finding friendship, love and family with the Sioux.

The story’s structure is a wonderful example of the malleability of the Hero’s Journey. To prepare for his Journey, Dunbar goes through an Ordeal/Resurrection in the opening moments of the story. Elevated to heroic status in the Civil War, Dunbar chooses his Reward: to see the Frontier before it disappears. He leaves the white man’s Ordinary World and enters a Special World: a world of Shadows feared and subsequently destroyed by white civilization. By Journey’s end, Dunbar becomes a Hero in this Special World, the polar opposite of what he was in the Ordinary World. He discards the Hero’s mask of the Ordinary World and is resurrected as Dances with Wolves, now seens as white’s man Shadow who must be destroyed.

THE JOURNEY

1863. The American Civil War. The striking opening image effectively introduces our hero, Lt John J. Dunbar, in a chaotic, crazy ORDINARY WORLD. Dunbar seizes the agonizing opportunity to escape the amputation of his leg as docters take a much-needed coffee break. He would rather face a heroic death with both feet.

Dunbar joins a fellow Union soldier at St. David’s Field, where Conferedrates and Federals square oof on opposite sides of the field. Nobody will make a move. Dunbar rides a lone suicidal charge, miraculously dodging enemy fire and unwittingly rallying his fellow soldiers. This is Dunbar’s RESURRECTION, a moment usually faced at the end of a Hero’s Journey. The Union wins the battle, and Dunbar survives, a Hero. His leg, spared by General Tide’s surgeon, Dunbar is REWARDED a horse, Cisco, and a transfer to any post away from the war’s front lines. An additional REWARD is his awareness or INNER STIRRING that he needs to leave this ORDINARY WORLD and see the Frontier ‘before it is gone’ his OUTER PROBLEM. Dunbar reports to Fort Hays, on the borde or THRESHOLD of the Frontier. Major Fambrough, the crazed outpost commander and THRESHOLD GUARDIAN, assigns Dunbar a ‘knight’s errand’ to Fort Sedgewick, the CALL TO ADVENTURE.

Dunbar willingly seeds the adventures that await him on the Frontier. Major Fambrough first expresses the Journey’s dangers (a type of REFUSAL). Driven mad by his post on the edge of the Frontier, Fambrough salutes Dunbar’s departure by committing suicide.

The FIRST THRESHOLD sequence encompasses Dunbar’s travel to the Frontier and arrival at Fort Sedgewick. Along the way, Teamster Timmons (a THRESHOLD GUARDIAN) introduces Dunbar, with white man’s eyes, to the save Frontier with its ‘goddamn Indians’ and ‘stinking buffalo’ (a REFUSAL). They arrive at Fort Sedgewick and find the outpost abandoned. Timmons tries to persuade Dunbar to REFUSE his crazy Journey and return to Civilization. But Dunbar forces him at gunpoint to unload the supplies for ‘his post’.

Dunbar settles into his new world with several TESTS. He makes ALLIES and confronts ENEMIES. He buiolds a corral for Cisco, cleans up the polluted water, and befriends a wolf, Two Socks. While Dunbar washes clothes, a Sioux Medicine Man, Kicking Bird scouts out the fort. Dunbar runs off this perceived ENEMY, yet this ‘magnificent fellow’ impresses him. Encounters with the ENEMY continue. The Sioux twice fail to steal Dunbar’s hores, Cisco. On the second attempt Dunbar faces Wind In His Hair. The warrior shouts his challenge and gallops off. Dunbar stands up to this ENEMY, passing the TEST, and faints.

Fed up with waiting for the next meeting, Dunbar finally takes action and makes a bold decorated APPROACH to the Sioux village. He encounters a Sioux woman, Stands With A Fist, bleeding from a self-inflicted wound, and takes her to the Sioux village. Dunbar’s arrival frightens the Sioux, and Wind In His Hair rejects the white man from their SPECIAL WORLD, a REFUSAL.

Yet Dunbar’s CALL stirs the Sioux’ curiosity as they try to fathom its meaning; Kicking Bird and Wind In His Hair pay a visit to Dunbar’s fort. The TEST of communication proves difficult, but they eventually understand ‘buffalo’. They exchange gifts and Dunbar accepts Kicking Bird’s invitation to the village. They share a pipe, an important ritual that binds ALLIES.

One evening, a buffalo stampede awakens Dunbar. He knows that this bears good news and rushes to the Sioux village, the APPROACH TO THE INMOST CAVE. Dunbar interrupts their ceremoney, offending the Sioux, but Kicking Bird understands Dunbar’s announcement and they quickly accept the white man as a HERALD of good news.

He joins the Sioux on their search for the buffalo. They find a field littered with rotting carcasses of skinned buffalo, and the tracks from white men’s wagons. Having entered the Sioux’world, Dunbar sees the Frontier through their eyes, and the white man as their ENEMY.

They encounter the buffalo herd. Dunbar joins their hunt and saves one young warrior, Smiles A Lot, from a charging buffalo. On the field of their ORDEAL, Dunbar and Wind In His Hair share a buffalo liver, symbolizing Dunbar’s acceptance as an ALLY. This is Dunbar’s REWARD and THRESHOLD into another deeper SPECIAL WORLD.

At the buffalo feast, Dunbar exchanges gifts with Wind In His Hair, giving him his military coat and accepting the warrior’s breastlate. Dunbar’s physical RESURRECTION as a Sioux has begun. But Dunbar must return to his outpost and quickly realizes how completely lonely he feels in his white culture, the greatest REWARD from this first ORDEAL.

The Sioux prepare a war party on their ENEMIES, the Pawnee, Dunbar offers to fight, but he’s REFUSED, since he is not a Sioux Warrior. However Kicking Bird requests that Dunbar watch over his family while he is gone. Dunbar accepts this CALL with honor. And Kicking Bird adressesses Dunbar with his Sioux name, Dances With Wolves.

Dances With Wolves sees Stands With a Fist, who teaches him how to peak Sioux. Attracted to her, he discovers that Stands With a Fist is in mourning. He decides to give her time and leaves her, but the separation from the SPECIAL WORLD only makes man and woman realize their love for each other. They finally pass through this THRESHOLD at the stream when they kiss and make love.

The Sioux prepare for a counter-attack by the Pawnee, an APPROACH, and welcome Dances With Wolves’ gift of rifles. The Sioux have now accepted Dances WIth Wolves as one of their warriors. With his help, the Sioux overpower the Pawnee, the ORDEAL.

Dances With Wolves heroic commitment yields two important REWARDS. First, he no longer thinks of himself as his old name but as Dances With Wolves. Second, Kicking Bird releases Stands With a Fist from mourning and she marries Dances With Solves, a REWARD and THRESHOLD.

Dances With Wolves has committed himself to the Special WORLD, his new family and community; and gives his best friend, Kicking Bird his REWARD. He answers a question that has been plaguing the Sioux since first meeting Dunbar. He warns that the white man will come to the Frontier in numbers ‘like the stars’. This begins Dances With Wolves ROAD BACK, however instead of taking a REWARD or ELIXIR back to the ORDINARY WORLD, as seen in many heroes’ journeys, Dances With Wolves uses his knowledge of the ORDINARY WORLD to warn his new family in the SPECIAL WORLD. The chief, Ten Bears agrees with this HERALD, and decides that they will move to their winter camp. But Dances With Wolves must return to the ORDINARY WORLD to retrieve his Journal, a type of MENTOR, that would lead the white man to the Sioux. Soldiers ambush Dances With Wolves at Fort Sedgewick. These new ENEMIES kill Cisco and hold the former officer as a traitor. This moment completes the Journey’s ROAD BACK.

The Soldiers offer Dunbar better conditions if he helps them against the Sioux. Speaking Lakota, Dances With Wolves rejects them and their world. Psychologically Dunbar has completed his RESURRECTION as Dances With Wolves, a Sioux Hero, and SHADOW to his white world.

As Soldiers transport Dances With Wolves to Fort Hays, they are ambushed by Wind In His Hair and his rescue party, Dunbar is freed, his physical RESSURECTION, and returned to family and friends, an ELIXIR.

Fearing that his status as traitor with the whites threatens the Sioux, Dances With Wolves decides to leave the Sioux. He must sacrifice himself, a second RESURRECTION, separating from his new family in order to protect him. As the Army approaches, Dances With Wolves and Stands With a Fist leave the valley and their Lakota family. They hold within their hearts the ELIXIR of family and friendshi.

The Army arrives but the Sioux village is gone, the ELIXIR of Safety and Peace for now. The Epiloque confirms that their safety is short-lived. The time of the Horse Culture and the Great Frontier will finally pass into history.