American Indian Stories

“The Widespread Enigma Concerning Blue-Star Woman” picks up a thread laid in “The Soft-Hearted Sioux,” “A Dream of Her Grandfather,” and elsewhere that examines relationships between the Sioux, missionaries, and other outsiders. The story of Blue-Star Woman shows that the challenges and injustices facing the Sioux can come from fellow American Indians as well as from outsiders. Blue-Star Woman, who was orphaned, has trouble acquiring land because US government policies have tied land rights to stringent, written verification of tribal lineage according to guidelines the government established. The men who pose as Blue-Star Woman’s nephews take advantage of this unjust practice. They are motivated by greed and have no problem swindling members of their own tribe. Their greed and insincerity align them with Zitkála-Šá’s mother’s characterization of White people as untrustworthy liars, even though the supposed nephews are Sioux.

In this sense, the juxtaposition of “The Widespread Enigma Concerning Blue-Star Woman” and the previous, more hopeful story, “A Dream of Her Grandfather,” creates a sharp contrast. While hope is not entirely extinguished, the story of Blue-Star Woman is a reminder of how corruption and greed have infected the Sioux’s world. The story makes the stain of the nephew’s corruption clear, showing how different they are from Blue-Star Woman. She exemplifies traditional hospitality and respect, offering the nephews “a generous helping of fried bread and cups of coffee” when they visit her, even though she herself has barely any food (97). The nephews respond “like ravenous wolves [… and] devoured their food. Coyotes in midwinter could not have been more starved” (97). Their inhuman appetites and ingratitude reveal their selfishness and greed even before it is revealed they are only helping Blue-Star Woman acquire land rights so they can claim half of what she receives for themselves.

The last part of the story focuses on Chief High Flier, and his thoughts mirror Blue-Star Woman’s. As he rides 10 miles to the nearest post office to deliver a letter protesting the government’s land allocation policies, he remarks, “[t]hose days were gone when the Indian youths were taught to be truthful—to be merciful to the poor” (101). He was not personally impacted by the nephews’ treatment of Blue-Star Woman, but his comment indicates that he, like her, is attuned to the ways in which US government policy is both unjust and corrupting the Sioux tribe itself. After he is arrested for alleged arson, he has a dream in prison. He envisions the Statue of Liberty’s “light of liberty penetrat[ing] Indian reservations,” causing a “loud shout of joy” (105).

However, unlike the hopeful dream-vision presented in “A Dream of Her Grandfather,” in Chief High Flier’s dream, “[a]ll too soon the picture was gone” (105). The story notes that the vision enabled the chief to serve his prison sentence with hope. Yet when he is released, he finds himself the victim of another of the nephews’ schemes: They negotiated his release in exchange for half his land. Chief High Flier’s fate points back to the story’s title. The “enigma” surrounding Blue-Star Woman, her uncertain heritage, and the mishandling of her land rights is “widespread” insofar as it impacts the chief and countless others as well.