Welch's Fools Crow

We turn back the clock as Welch draws on historical sources and Blackfeet cultural stories in order to explore the past of his ancestors. As a result, he provides a basis for a new understanding of the past and the forces that led to the deciding factor of the Plains Indian tribes. Although Fools Crow reflects the pressure to assimilate inflicted by the white colonizers on the Blackfeet tribes, it also portrays the influence of economic changes during this period. The prosperity created by the hide trade does not ultimately protect the tribe from massacre by the white soldiers. It does, however, effectively change the Blackfeet economy and women's place in their society. Thus, it sets the stage for the continued deterioration of their societal
Welch's protagonist, Fools Crow, assesses his wealth and status in life: "He had little to show for his eighteen winters. His father, Rides-at-the-door, had many horses and three wives. He himself had three horses and no wives. His animals were puny, not a blackhorn runner among them". Because of the importance of the hide trade to the welfare of the Plains Indians, the two vital elements that a man's wealth and personal status depended on were the accumulation of wives and horses. Welch underscores the importance of the horse to the Blackfeet early in the novel. Fools Crow participates in a raid on a Crow village in order to strengthen his personal power through stealing horses and increasing his wealth. He earns twenty horses in the raid, and although he gives five to the medicine man, Mik-api, he feels "that his change for fortune was complete. Mik-api's prayers in the sweat lodge for him had been answered. The yellow painted signs were strong, and he had been strong enough in his endeavor. He had not taken a buffalo-runner but he was satisfied". That Welch describes this raid in great detail signifies the importance of raiding to the Plains Indians. According to Klein, raiding represented a secondary institution to hunting. Since the Plains tribes did not breed their horses, the main way they obtained them was by stealing them from other tribes or whites during a raid. Other goods were taken
The women utilize every part of the buffalo that the men bring home: "They used the hair of the head and beard to make braided halters and bridles and soft padded saddles. They used the hoofs to make rattles or glue, and the tails to swat flies. And they dressed the dehaired skins to make lodge covers and linings and clothes and winding cloths."
The women in Fools Crow perform the jobs that give the tribal community the ability to exist on the plains. There would be no survival without their attention to the day-to-day necessities of life. Welch also paints a portrait of human behavior as he explores the relationship between women in the polygamous marriage of Rides-at-the-door. His first wife, Double Strike Woman, convinces Rides-at-the-door that she needs help around the lodge. Although she is glad he had taken Striped Face for his second wife, she felt strange the first time he had gone with Striped Face to her smaller