Symbol Analysis
The Peace-Pipe is probably the most powerful symbol in this poem, as it represents people's ability to overcome their differences and to have respect for one another. You can see this conflict resolution in the way the peace pipe involves sharing and ends up calming a lot of people down. The entire poem actually starts with the god Gitche Manito making a giant peace-pipe out of rock: "On the great Red Pipe-Stone Quarry,/ Gitche Manito, the mighty […]/ Stood erect, and called the nations" (1.2-1.6). As the poem continues, Manito then "Smoked the calumet, the Peace-Pipe,/ As a signal to the nations" (1.34-1.36). So the pipe calls together the great warriors from all the tribes of North America so Gitche Manito can ask them all to get along.
By the time Gitche Manito is finished speaking, all the warriors go to the nearby quarry to make their own peace-pipes and bring them back to their home villages: "And in silence all the warriors,/Broke the red stone of the quarry" (1.191-192). It's hard to say how well this strategy works, since the rest of the poem is filled with violence. But at least we don't see any full-blown wars between two tribes, which sounds like an improvement from earlier times.
- Line 1.2: In just the second line of this poem, the god Gitche Manito reaches down out of heaven and makes a giant peace-pipe. He then smokes the thing and uses the smoke to call together all the great warriors from different nations.
- Line 1.191: The warriors finish listening to Gitche Manito by heading for the nearby quarry and making their own peace pipes to bring home with them. The tradition of the peace pipe is born and many of the nations agree to end their longstanding wars with each other.
- Line 22.125: When the white Europeans first arrive in Hiawatha's village, Hiawatha's natural instinct is to smoke a peace-pipe with them to signal a truce between their people. It doesn't seem as though the pipe works though, because we all know how that story of Europeans and Native Americans would eventually play out.