Native American Voices

 

Zitkala-Sa - By Gertrude Käsebier; public domain

         
   It would be impossible to undertake a study of American Literature and not acknowledge the beautiful, inspiring, devastating, and unique voices of Native America. Within the 10^th Edition of The Norton Anthology of American Literature 1865-1914, Zitkala-Sa, Red Bird, a member of the Yankton Sioux, attempts, like many authors during the Regionalist movement, to present her life as it really was, often using detailed descriptions of the Dakota Sioux culture and traditions, as well as of the landscape, and dialect, with a focus on her everyday life and lifestyle. It is also seen in her attempts to highlight the differences between her culture and the one she is being forced to assimilate to in her effort to criticize this social injustice. This can be seen clearly in two of her essays featured within this anthology “Impressions of an Indian Childhood,” throughout pages 1114-1119, and “From the School Days of an Indian Girl,” throughout pages 1120-1127. Throughout these two essays Zitkala-Sa attempts to capture the reality of life that many Native American children faced during this time, as The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition explains that by 1925, over 60,000 children were forced to leave their parents and assimilate into Euro-American culture in Governmental and Religious boarding schools. Eighty-three percent of all school-age Native Americans were forced to attend (n.d.). As Zitkala-Sa expounds in her essays, these schools played a major role in the destruction of their culture and heritage.

            As a regionalist author, Zitkala-Sa employed many characteristics of the movement throughout her works, but the most significant is her use of detailed descriptions. In the paragraphs beginning “Impressions of an Indian Childhood,” she employs these details to bring her reservation to life. The “weather-stained canvas” of her and her mother’s wigwam, the winding footpath and the river “creeping through the long swamp grasses,” allows us to see the little Zitkala-Sa, running along ahead of her mother as they go to fetch water from the river, and gives this essay a strong sense of place (1114). Through her descriptions of the relaxed and unhurried breakfast Zitkala-Sa and her mother share, to the respect she shows as she invites the elders to join her and her mother for supper, and the legends they shared together in the evenings around the fire, Zitkala-Sa highlights the rich beauty of their culture. In her descriptions of their attire as her mother accompanies her to the carriage, with her and her friends all wearing their “best thick blankets,” showing off their new “beaded moccasins,” and their new dresses and belts, she adds another layer to advance the authenticity of her story. While in “From the School Days of an Indian Girl,” these cultural details include the importance of long hair to the Sioux, as she explains on page 1122, in paragraph 2, that only those considered to be cowards had their hair cut by an enemy, the only exception was if someone was in deep mourning.

            She uses these rich details and cultural ties to highlight the reality she, and many children like her, had to face. She contrasts these rich cultural ties of her Native home with her new reality in the boarding school, highlighting the change in dress, from her Native moccasins and buckskin slip to the “stiff shoes and closely clinging dresses” they now had to wear (1121, para 7). It is seen in the way Zitkala-Sa hides from the boarding school staff when she learns they are going to force her to cut her hair and the way her spirit breaks when they do (1122, para 6). It is seen in the stark reality shift she experiences, from her life in her Native lands and her “unlassoed freedom” to the strict routine of Euro-American life, where every aspect of their days was controlled (1123, para 1). It is seen in the bitterness Zitkala-Sa experiences at the death of her friend, and the shadows that continue to haunt her over the years (1123, para 7 – 8). She uses these rich details to highlight the destructive impact that these assimilation tactics had upon so many Native American children and uses her stories to not only critique these practices, but to bring to light the true beauty that resides within their unique culture.

            Zitkala-Sa employs many techniques of other regionalist writers. For example, if we compare her works to those of Sarah Jewett, in particular her work “A White Heron,” featured throughout pages 556 – 562 of this anthology, we see that both authors used rich details to bring the setting to life, they both employed the use of unique dialects to advance the feel of authenticity, and while Zitkala-Sa focuses on the cultural aspects of the Dakota Sioux, Jewett focuses on the unique cultural and regional aspects of New England/Maine. While both authors use rich details to bring their settings to life, the settings themselves are vastly different. As Zitkala-Sa uses them to bring to life her childhood reservation, and the lifestyles of her people, Jewett uses them to bring to life the beauty and unique characteristics of New England as she describes the natural beauty. The dialects from each story are also unique to their regions and cultures, as Zitkala-Sa highlights her Native language, like her cousin’s name “Warca-Ziwin,” that means sunflower, and through the unique cadence in speech patterns “If the paleface does not take away from us the river we drink (1114, para 6 – 7).” And Jewett highlights the unique language used in rural New England using shortened and contracted words like “squer’ls” instead of squirrels.

            Regardless of how her works are examined, it is clear that Zitkala-Sa has cemented her place as a prominent regionalist author within American Literature. She used vivid descriptions of the landscape, Dakota Sioux culture, Euro-American culture, language and dialect, and social critique to bring authenticity to her works. But more than that, her essays and stories effectively capture the initial wonder, the heartache, fear, and sadness that Native American children were forced to endure during these assimilation processes. She uses her own personal story to create a deeper connection with her readers and the Native American children, highlighting the extremity of cultural loss and the personal impact these processes had on her.

Works Cited:

Levine, Robert S., et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Volume C: 1865-1914. W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.

US Indian boarding school history. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. (n.d.). https://boardingschoolhealing.org/education/us-indian-boarding-school-history/

 

Image Credit: By Gertrude Käsebier https://mujeresartistas.tumblr.com/post/96704734028/gertrude-k%C3%A4sebier-zitkala-%C5%A1a-1898-1900-a-un, Public Domain