Derek Farrell 9/24/2023

Comparing Trajectories: Death

COMP-LIT 122

Texts: The Prison Journal and Dreams of Perpetua and Black Elk Speaks

What characterizes life, but death? As a thinking species, man has grappled with the

concept of death for most of recorded history. In both the Diary of Perpetua and Black Elk

Speaks, the writers deal with death in two different forms. Perpetua deals mostly with her own

death, while Black Elk deals with the death of his people. Both authors come from pressured and

oppressed groups. Perpetua, writing as a Christian in the Roman Empire, would have been

surrounded by stories of martyrs, going back to the time of Christ. Black Elk similarly had grown

up in a time of continuous displacement and oppression for his and many other Native American

tribes. Perpetua, as a martyr, accepts death as a path to salvation in place of conflict, while Black

Elk recognizes the importance living on while continuing to pass on the story and practices of his

people.

Perpetua writes of how she remembered her little brother’s death, and how she feels

sorrow for him, saying “Then I realized that I might be permitted to pray for him, and that I was

obligated to do so…” (13). Perpetua finds that she can pray for him and help him to find peace

and be saved. She sees and accepts the reality of life beyond the present one. This theme

permeates Perpetua’s journal, as she continues to be confirmed in the belief that there is an

afterlife. Martyrdom appears to her to be the only route. In her visions she witnesses a ladder

(11), and she notices it is a difficult ladder to climb. However, she sees herself mounting its

difficulties, writing that she jumped a snake blocking her path, saying “I used it’s head as the
ladder’s first rung, stepped on it and climbed up.” (11). The snake could symbolize the devil, or

difficulty, as heaven is often portrayed as a narrow path. Perpetua seems to easily make her way

up the ladder, however. The ease at which Perpetua enters heaven, in comparison to the many

sayings of great saints of Heaven’s difficulty, shows that Perpetua has little doubt to her

martyrdom, and truly believes in it. Black Elk and his tribe is forced to deal with death in a very

different way. Black Elk’s tribe faces a more physical conflict, instead of a spiritual one.

Black Elk has a friend who speaks of Battle, describing his tribe’s conflict with the

incoming white settlers. Fire Thunder, Black Elk’s friend, sees many deaths. “There was a big

blizzard that night; and some of the wounded who did not die on the way, died after we got

home” (9). Black Elk’s tribe sees conflict and intentionally fights for salvation. Their battle for

salvation appears more physical, while Perpetua’s is more spiritual. This eventually changes for

Black Elk’s people. Conflict and Battle permeates both works, as Perpetua’s community of

Christians are forced to fight in gladiatorial games. Perpetua has a vision of her a battle (14, 15),

but that vision is all about her salvation and spiritual victory over the devil, her death being a

triumph. Black Elk’s people experience multiple physical defeats, and salvation in the physical

world seems to be impossible. Black Elk shows us that conflict permeated his tribe’s psyche, as

even “The little boys would gather together… and fight each other with mud balls…” (10). Black

Elk eventually comes to a similar realization that Perpetua does. Historically, the Native

American tribes were continuously beaten back in conflict and oppressed very heavily by the

settler colonialism of the United States. This sort of oppression is quite like the Roman Empire’s

continuous imperialization of places like Gaul and Britain, and the spiritual oppression of the

Early Christians.
 The Christians of the Roman Empire had no chance to truly physically resist their

oppression, and instead focused on spiritually freeing themselves. We can see that Christ himself

preached not necessarily to physically resist the Romans, saying “Render unto Caesar the things

which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” (The Bible, Matthew 22:21).

Perpetua lives this verse, accepting her death in the end, as “she took the shaking right hand of

the gladiator, who was just a raw recruit, and directed it to the cutting of her own throat.” (19)

Black Elk finds in multiple visions throughout his life that there is more than just the physical.

He experienced visions as a young boy (12) and continued to get them. “Now and then voices

would come back when I was out alone, like someone calling me, but what they wanted me to do

I did not know.” (13) These visions are valuable, and Black Elk eventually gains a sort of grand

vision of everything. In the context of the times, Black Elk continued to be involved in conflict

alongside Sioux leaders like Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. Unlike Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull,

who were characterized primarily by their conflict, Black Elk is characterized by his life

following conflict. Black Elk Speaks was written in 1930, and Black Elk continued to live until

1950. He was a significant leader for his people in the 20th century, during a time when conflict

was no longer a possibility. Instead, carrying on and continuing to practice the message of his

people was the answer.

The parallels between the Native Americans and Early Christians under oppression are

striking. Both groups confronted overwhelming external forces, and their responses evolved over

time. Perpetua’s faith and martyrdom highlights the dedication of Early Christians to the

Spiritual Life, while Black Elk’s visions and experiences help characterize the struggle and depth

of His people after the era of physical conflict. Life and death in Perpetua and Black Elk’s

writings and experiences help show the profound effects death impose on individuals, and whole
peoples. Perpetua and Black Elk’s recognition of the seeming futility of conflict helps them both

to realize that in the face of death, meaning can come about in ways other than fighting.

Works Cited

Neihardt, John G. Black Elk Speaks. Lincoln, University Of Nebraska Press, 2014.

Thiebaux, Marcelle. The Writings of Medieval Women. Routledge, 23 May 2019.