Woman Chooses Death

Throughout a lifetime, many people have met that one person who never thinks of the consequences of their actions. The story, “ Woman Chooses Death”, is not only used to entertain the Blackfoot Tribe, but also to steer their people from this unattractive quality. The first place this can be seen is when the woman says, “I’ll throw in this stone. If it floats then we’ll live forever and there will be no death. If it sinks, then we’ll die.” This clearly shows that the woman wasn’t truly thinking of the consequences because the only people she had in mind was herself and the child. She did not even consider all of the people to come after her. She did not keep in mind all of the outcomes of this very statement. Another example of the woman not keeping in mind the consequences of her actions is when she chose the stone to throw in the water. The story states, “She didn’t know about stones and water, so she threw the stone into the river and it sank.” This was very unintelligent of the woman to do because she put her fate, and the rest of humanity, into this unknown object. As before, she did not truly understand the consequences of what she was doing and how it would permanently affect not only her, but everyone to come after her. This recurring idea eventually comes back to haunt the woman because Old Man shows her the true reality of what she’s done. Old Man says, “You made a choice there. Now nothing can be done about it. Now people will die.” This is truly where the woman realizes the magnitude of what she has done. She has basically chosen the fate of humanity. She now sees that it was not only her and the child on the line, but everyone. In conclusion, the story, “Woman Chooses Death”, shows that the Blackfoot Tribe believes that one must understand the consequences of everything one does.