... the following ways. Firstly, the way in which Western people and the Lakota view the world will be looked at and how Lyon addresses the issue in Black Elk. Secondly, this paper will examine what influences the two types of practices, and how they believe healing should be done. And finally, looking at Black Elk specifically and the influence of the authors experience with Black Elk upon the Western reader. Within the first few pages of the preface of Black Elk, Lyon states that his work is "an attempt at translation". (Black Elk, xii) As the readers are introduced to Wallace Black Elk and the ways of the Lakota people, it is made clear that the thinking of the Lakota and their understanding of their place in the world is much different from that of a Western person. Therefore, Lyon plays the role a translator, positioning himself in both the ...

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