Question

Read the excerpt from "The Medicine Bag.”

"He carefully prepared for his quest with a purifying sweat bath, and then he went alone to a high butte top to fast and pray. After three days he received his sacred dream—in which he found, after long searching, the white man’s iron. He did not understand his vision of finding something belonging to the white people, for in that time they were the enemy. When he came down from the butte to cleanse himself at the stream below, he found the remains of a campfire and the broken shell of an iron kettle. This was a sign that reinforced his dream. He took a piece of the iron for his medicine bag, which he had made of elk skin years before, to prepare for his quest.

"He returned to his village, where he told his dream to the wise old men of the tribe. They gave him the name Iron Shell, but neither did they understand the meaning of the dream. This first Iron Shell kept the piece of iron with him at all times and believed it gave him protection from the evils of those unhappy days.”

The Medicine Bag, by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve. First published in Boy's Life Magazine, March, 1975. Used by permission of the author.

Which detail of the setting causes the key conflict in this excerpt?

the high butte top
the stream
the campfire remains
the piece of iron

Answer 1

The detail of the setting that causes the key conflict in this excerpt is "the piece of iron." The protagonist's sacred dream directs him to find something belonging to the white people and he finds the broken shell of an iron kettle, which reinforces his dream. However, the fact that the piece of iron belongs to the enemy, the white people, creates a conflict for the protagonist and raises questions about how he can reconcile his vision with the tribal beliefs and values of his people. This conflict sets up the central tension of the story and drives the narrative forward as the protagonist grapples with the meaning and significance of his discovery.