This document provides a summary of the film Dances with Wolves. It includes the main themes of the film which are the natural simplicity of the Indian lifestyle, the western frontier period in American history, and the relationship between Native Americans and Europeans. It then describes the main characters of John Dunbar, Kicking Bird, Wind in His Hair, Stands with a Fist, Ten Bears, Stone Calf, and the Sioux children Smiles a Lot and Otter. The document concludes with a list of key events from the film.

1. Dances with Wolves

2. Themes:
1. Natural Simplicity of the Indians Lifestyle
2. “Western Frontier” (Territorial Growth of the
USA)
3. Native Americans’ Relationship with the
Europeans

3. Describe the following characters
• John J. Dunbar – US soldier, brave, …
• Kicking Bird (holy man) – respected, ready to learn,
peaceful
• Wind in his Hair – warrior, fierce, proud
• Stands with a Fist – white woman,
• Ten Bears (chief)- respected, soft-spoken, thoughtful
• Stone Calf (respected elder)-respected, kind, teacher
Sioux Children
• Smiles a Lot – quiet, brave, shy
• Otter – brave, trying to prove himself

4. John J. Dunbar

5. Kicking Bird

6. Wind in his Hair

7. Stands with a Fist

8. Ten Bears

9. Stone Calf

10. Smiles a lot

12. • Waking up in the Medical Tent
• Scene from the Civil War Battle
• Dunbar’s suicide attempt
• Meeting with the crazy western commander
• Heading westward on the wagon
• Getting to the empty solider fort
• Sending the black smoke up (smoke signal)
• Meeting Kicking Bird
• When the horse was stolen in the night by the 3 young boys
• Meeting Wind in his Hair test of bravery
• Finding Stands with a Fist on the prairie (her suicide attempt)
• Meeting with Kicking Bird & Wind in his hair for the 1st time
• Acting out buffalo (lost in translation)
• Making Coffee for the Sioux (trading goods)
• Hearing the buffalo at night
• Telling the tribe about the buffalo
• Buffalo HuntSaving Smiles a lot
• Saving the Sioux from the Pawnee attack
• Marrying Stands with a fist
• Going back to the Solider Fort forgot journal
• Death of Cisco
• Death of Two Socks
• Rescue by the Sioux
• John Dunbar evolves into Dances with Wolves
• Leaving the tribe to protect them from US Army
• Wind in His Hair’s final goodbye

13. Objective: Students are to complete the following
requirements for the diary of Lt. John J. Dunbar.
• Students are to complete 15 journal entries in the diary.
(each journal entry must be written as if John Dunbar is the
author)
• Each journal entry must pertain to an actual event from the
film!
• Each journal entry must be a descriptive paragraph about
the event. (one paragraph per entry is the minimum, if you
want to write more you can)
• Each entry must have a drawn picture that relates to the
event.
• This diary is a time period piece; this means that the diary
must look old! It can not contain any modern aspects
including lined paper, staples, etc!