Book Review for BETRAYED

Book Review by Allie Davis

MLIS 5653 Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sneve. Virginia Driving Hawk. 1974. Betrayed. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 0823402436

Connect with the Author 
https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/166330/Sneve,%20Virginia%20Driving%20Hawk.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
      One of her lesser-known works, Betrayed by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve is a fictional account of a true event, the Santee Sioux uprising against White Settlers in the Lake Shetak, Minnesota area and what happened to the captors and captives from both sides.  Sneve does a wonderful job of describing many Lakota/Dakota cultural experiences such as the vision quest into manhood and tribal councils.  The third person point of view used in the story accurately portrays three different view points as the story progresses.  The Teton Lakota/Sioux version is told using Charger and Kills and Comes. (Even though the author uses this historical name, I have a hard time using the word Sioux because in modern day, this is slang, much the same as the term "redskin" or "injun.")  The White version of the story is told through the character of Sarah Duley, a young captive, and the final version is Chief White Lodge's side.  He is the chief of the raiding party at Lake Shetak.  An author's note at the beginning states that the author has retained the true names of the characters and places and followed as closely as possible to the actual historic evidence for the events but used her imagination.  In doing so, she creates a quick, easy read of the uprising.  However, I feel like it is over simplistic, and I found myself puzzling over her portrayal of the White captives being grateful to their captives during their captivity.  She makes them out to be happy and grateful prisoners, a concept that is foreign to me.  I have read much on the Lakota/Dakota Indians, and most of the time when adult prisoners were taken, it was not a pleasant experience. Sneve briefly hints at this when she indicates that Mrs. Duley becomes mentally incapacitated during their time with the Santee.     
     The novel's setting initially begins with Charger and Kills and Comes listening to the details of the various uprisings by the Santee.  They agree not to take part in them, and Charger has a vision which leads them on their vision quest.  In their vision quest, they learn that they must protect the White captives.  They travel to meet the Santee camp, lead by White Lodge, and finally end up bartering for all of the captives.  Consequently, the setting changes quickly and many times because White Lodge is running from the soldiers, and we are following his path.  On the run from the soldiers, Sneve presents well-known common knowledge about the lack of food and game in the remaining Indian Territory, the starvation faced by tribes, and the brutal punishments that awaited the Natives when they were finally caught up to.  
       After their initial surrender to the reservation life, the Teton Lakotas became peaceful and tried to work in cooperation with the White Indian Agents.  When the uprisings began to occur by the Santee Lakota, it was due to the broken treaties, starvation, and discontentment the Santee were facing.  The Tetons refused to cooperate with their cousins, and this is where the story picks up.  Charger and Kills and Comes truly believe that their ancestral traditions should be kept; these include not starving or torturing any captives taken during war.  It is because of the way that the Shetake prisoners are being treated that the two young native men feel the need to free them to send back to White settlements.  They are willing to sacrifice themselves if needed, and they do end up trading their own guns and horses to get the captives back.  True honor is shown through their story.  
       In my opinion, the overall presentation of this account seems too simplistic, almost unrealistic.  Too easy, I think.  It's not a bad read though, and I read it all in less than two hours.  It would make a good introduction to anyone interested in the Mankato mass execution, but for truly authentic sources on this event, I would most certainly dig deeper and look elsewhere.  I felt like the characterizations were a little "off," including the portrayal  of both the Natives and the Whites.  Perhaps this may be the reason that the book itself has won no major awards...short and sweet, but too simplistic in reality. 

AWARDS: Although I found no specific awards related to the novel Betrayed, for thirty years, Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve has written children's books with the intention of dispelling stereotypes and negative images of Native Americans.  She has brought the richness of Native American culture and heritage to thousands of children. She herself has won many awards: 

• National Humanities Medal, 2000
• Human Rights Award, South Dakota State Counselors Association, 1996
• Author-Illustrator Human and Civil Rights Award, 1996
• Spirit of Crazy Horse Award, 1996
• South Dakota Education Association Human Services Award, 1994
• Native American Prose Award, University of Nebraska Press, 1992
• Woman of Achievement, National Federation of Press Women, 1975

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

• Library of Congress Summary, "Relates the events of the Santee Indian raid on the Lake Shetek, Minnesota, settlement and the subsequent fate of the captives." (C) March, 2008.
• SDSU, https://www.sdstate.edu/sites/default/files/MA019_Sneve_FA.docx_.pdf

CONNECTIONS

Use as an introduction to Native-American Indians/Lakota/Dakota Sioux, , Lake Shetak uprising in Minnesota, broken treaties, reservations, Chief White Lodge, and Mankato.

• Investigate the Santee Sioux uprising in Lake Shetak, Minnesota.
• Research the Lakota/Dakota Native Americans and their connection.
• Research the Mass Execution of 38 Santee Sioux at Mankato and the presidential pardon given to 250+ other Natives by President Lincoln.

Other Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve titles to read:

• Sioux Women  ISBN 1941813070
• High Elk's Treasure  ISBN 082192415X
• Bad River Boys: A Meeting of the Lakota Sioux with Lewis and Clark   ISBN 1437971407

Gather more Native-American Lakota titles:

·       Standing Bear, Luther. My People the Sioux  ISBN 0803293615

·       Hicks, Patrick. A Harvest of Words: Contemporary South Dakota Poetry  ISBN 0931170036
·       Wagner, Sally R.  Daughters of Dakota:  Stories of Friendship Between the Settlers and the Dakota Indians  ISBN 188059036