Fear

Fear is an essential emotion in the book because it dictates the negative reactions of characters, specifically You Choose Watson. This emotion is the response to an event that is potentially life-threatening; it forces one’s body to be alert to protect oneself from danger. Early on in life, Rick Overlooking Horse realized that fear stems from “trying to live more than one life at time” (45). This makes sense in terms of You Choose Watson, who did not adopt the Lakota worldview at a young age. Instead, he insists upon resisting the culture by believing it can harm him. Rather than seeing the sacrificial wounds of the Indians of the Sundance Ceremony as offerings to the natural world, he sees them as blood-gushing scars.

Fear is ultimately a response to something. You Choose allows fear to dictate his life over time, and it eventually transforms into...