Zitkala Sa
During the time of western development in the 19th century of American history, the Sioux Nation was at the forefront of political aggression. Already forcing the Native American people onto cramped lands, the dominant white man began to turn to new solutions in order to kill the salvage and westernize the Indians. While it was obvious for the most part it is hard to school an elder and force him/her to repent their ways, the best possible solution was to disconnect the future generations from their heritage and exploit their innocence and purity. Methods such as cutting each natives hair in order to separate them from their former people, banning the young Indians from making snow angels which in turn reminded each who they really are, installing proper eating habits and not tolerating any language except English to be spoken by every native even if he/she did not know how. Call these methods culture shock, trauma schooling or whatever you must they slowly helped minimize the Native American culture. If it was not for those wise enough to cherish their heritage, it is quite possible the culture would have been lost for ever. Zitkala-Sa was one of those people. Capturing a
American Indian Stories, which was written by Zitkala-Sa about her life and about the stories she once heard, is now a staple of American literary curriculum. Her works and messages were being recognized. If only her mother truly knew at the time of Zitkala-Sa's youth of what impact she would have then the words that were spoken and the judgments that followed would have never taken place. She was compelled to "become the literary counterpart of the oral storytellers of her tribe because she felt compelled to live up to the critical expectations of her white audience. To Zitkala-Sa's mother, the missionaries work was no more then to kill the salvage. It was the white man who killed her brother and daughter. Even more fearful of the white man's effect on her daughter she accuses her of "trading her faith in the Great Spirit for the white man's meaningless paper (pg 97). Although threatened by their acts of talking with the white settlers, she saw them content with where they were expected to stay. " Zitkala-Sa was evidently a very down to earth person. In a way she is unable to see her rebellious nature and individualism was passed down to her daughter in a fire greater then the brave warriors of their stories. One of those magazines called Harper's Bazaar wrote, "A young Indian girl, who is attracting much attention in Eastern cities on account of her beauty and many talents, is Zitkala-Sa. She is of the Sioux tribe of Dakota and until her ninth year was a veritable little savage, running wild over the prairie and speaking no language but her own. She has also published lately a series of articles in a leading magazine which display a rare command of English and much artistic feeling (Foreword vii). " Though long past her time now there is still much evidence of her impact and gift to the white man's world as well the gift to her mother's world. Fearful of her lost heritage and disobedience of the Great Spirit, her mother has not yet accepted her daughters wishes to further herself instead of being content where the white man wished her to be.
Common topics in this essay:
Native American,
Iyotan Wasaka,
Indian Stories,
Unknown Zitkala-Sa,
Zitkala-Sa Sioux,
Carlos Montezuma,
Trail Tears,
Europeans Zitkala-Sa,
East Zitkala-Sa,
Harper's Bazaar,
white man's,
story telling,
zitkala-sa's mother,
zitkala-sa helped preserve,
helped preserve,
kill salvage,
mother's fears,
zitkala-sa helped,
indian girl,
american culture,
white man's words,
white man's world,
kill culture,
|
Acceptance Essays
