More Black Elk, arguing a claim and sentence structure.

During class on Friday, my group examined Black Elk Speaks through religious tones and the effects of westward expansion.  By the end, we came up with the following:

"Using Black Elk's dialog, Neihardt offers the reader insight into the ritualistic spirituality of the Lakota culture and how this spirituality influenced their response to internal conflict with other tribes and the American soldiers.". 

Our claim took most of class time to construct and even then we were not completely satisfied.  The construction of a thesis statement continues to be my greatest challenge.  I hope to continue Black Elk with this statement in mind, as well as Black Elk's vision an mysticism.