Journal for Zitkala
English 48B
January 17th, 2011
“Then I lost my spirit. Since the day I was taken from my mother I had suffered extreme indignities. People had stared at me. I had been tossed about in air like a wooden puppet. And now my long hair was shingled like a coward’s! In my anguish I moaned for my mother, but no one came to comfort me. Not a soul reasoned quietly with me, as my own mother used to do; for now I was only one of many little animals driven by a herder.” (1116)
“In her writings as well as her work as an Indian rights activist, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, or Zitkala-Sa (Red Bird), is a vital link between the oral culture of tribal America in conflict with its colonizers and the literate culture of contemporary American Indians.” “Gertrude Bonnin”, Cengage Learning.
Zitkala’s attempt to “learn the white man’s way” (1105) begins at age eight. A year before she began to question the pale-faces when her mother mentioned them as the cause for the loss of Zitkala’s only sister and praised uncle. When two white missionaries enter her village to try and get young Native American children to attend school in the East, Zitkala is persistent with attending, even though her mother disagrees. Her mother adamantly decides to let Zitkala attend, and her journey into mainstream white society begins. Her life away at school abruptly starts off with a forceful cutting of her long hair. Zitkala writes, “I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids.” (1116) This is the start of her indignities, and as her narration continues we begin to see even more forceful assimilation. Zitkala continues to attend school, and quickly becomes used to the “iron routine” of bells ringing and roll-taking. The room she sleeps in is now white and harsh on the eyes, and the touch of a pale-face makes her tremble. As Zitkala grows older, she becomes more and more interested in the rights of Native Americans, and by the end of her life she becomes a spokesperson for Native American and woman rights. The harsh change she faces is told through her narrations and autobiography.
Zitkala’s life is an example of the domination of the white man in society. Through her literature, it is constantly stated how the white man has forced Native Americans in to assimilation. In “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”, Zitkala writes about how she becomes so tempted to travel East because of the “big red apples” (1111). “Yes, little girl, the nice red apples are for those who pick them...”(1112) writes Zitkala. At only the age of eight, she becomes so excited with the notion of having as many red apples as one wants! I mean, who wouldn’t love the idea of that? But, something in the way it is written makes me believe that maybe “those who pick them” are the mainstream white society, because as Zitkala’s narration continues we discover that she never gets to the land of big, red apples. Instead, she arrives at a large fluorescent building, where children sit at the sound of a bell and answer “here” with the mention of their name being read off of a role sheet. I also find it very interesting, and sneaky in the way the “pale-faces” take over. Zitkala writes that her mother says, “The palefaces, who owe us a large debt got stolen lands, have begun to pay a tardy justice in offering some education to our children.” (1113) To me, this is ironic because first the White steal the land of Native Americans, and then “make up for it” by offering education to Native American children. But this “education” entails destroying Native American culture by teaching young Native American children the english language instead of their native tongue. It involves cutting off children’s long hair that is considered “sacred”. So really, the “palefaces” do not “pay justice”, but actually take away even more than they took away before.
