During this semester I learned numerous things from the texts we covered in class, but some themes struck me more than others and actually spoke to me. After analyzing all the notes from the books, movies, and excerpts, the connection I made that seemed clearest to me was between “Black Elk Speaks” and Shane. These two course texts showed me that people have dreams; their communities could thrive if they were willing to make sacrifices. Dreams may be taken away from those with other beliefs, those who unite with true belief and unity will survive. Beliefs are what drive people what they do, what they believe defines their character, and their character is how others see them. The quote from the end of the movie Shane: “A man has to be what he is, Joey. I can't break the mold, I tried and it didn't work for me. This to me meant that no matter how hard you try, your dream of where you are going or what you want to do will be bigger than all of them and you will not stop fighting for it. In Shane, Joe's dream is to become a successful settler living off the land while providing for his son Joey and his wife Mary. He imagines having the right to live and raise his own family and said, “Families grow like crops, straight and strong.” This means they desperately need the essentials to have even the slightest chance. That chance is all he needs, this is his dream and he won't let anything stand in the way of his family and their health and good life. Sometimes, in times of desperate need, you need that outstretched arm to help you in your fight, and Shane was that for Joe. He passed by and was once treated well after…half of paper…the life they needed to survive was at stake. The Indians knew that without fighting they could not survive. Shane had a different kind of ending though. Shane saw that Joe was willing to give up everything he had worked so hard to create, his family, community and his farm. With this seen by Shane he went back to what he knew he was good at fighting with weapons. Instead of sending Joe with his entire life out for steak, he did what was necessary to stop him from going on a suicide mission to finish, instead he intervened by knocking Joe out. I found the scene very symbolic because the spot where Joe lay unconscious was right next to the stump that had united their friendship and is the same thing that separated them. Volunteering with nothing to lose, Shane goes to town and makes Joe's business his own, solving the fiasco with his gun fighting skills..