THE LAKOTA UNIVERSE OF SPIRITS IN WEIDEN’S WINTER COUNTS
THE LAKOTA UNIVERSE OF SPIRITS IN WEIDEN’S WINTER COUNTS

Summary/Abstract: The present study aims at telling the story of Virgil Wounded Horse and his nephew, Nathan, as it is presented in David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s novel entitled ”Winter Counts” focusing on the spiritual dimension of the book. They are two Native Americans from Rosebud reservation. At the beginning Virgil is the avenger of the reservation and he seems to be heartless in his jobs, reckless, without a sense of belonging. But gradually we discover his weakness as well as his strength – family. Spirituality and nature are two main recurrent issues in the novel. Both Virgil and Nathan get spirit names. Nathan got his spiritual name for his bravery in front of death. Throughout his spiritual journey, Virgil finds his true love, he finds a son, a family, a community. In his quest, he also finds his spirituality and his ancestors. In his fight against the outside evil, he managed to overcome the evil inside him, the evil within, and let the spirits heal him and help him protect his community.

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