The ending of Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, starting with the
chapter of “A Dream of Her Grandfather” heavily emphasized the
influence and negative effects towards the Indians from the
bureaucrats and white men back east. For most of the novel, Zitkala-Sa
shares many important stories about herself and her Indian heritage.
Both “The Widespread Enigma Concerning Blue-Star Woman” and “A Dream
of Her Grandfather” continued that theme of sharing oral tradition and
Native American Folklore. The first story was about a dream she had
about her Grandfather who died in Washington and gave her a gift in
the form of a vision for her people. The vision included a picture of
a village and the people rejoicing. This dream of her instilled a new
belief of hope, but I understood this dream as a vision of what her
tribe once had, and was now ruined because of the white people.
The second story focused on the Blue-Star woman who made a deal with
her nephews in order for her to own land. However, as the nephews made
a deal with the U.S. Government, the land given to Blue-Star Woman was
taken away from other Indians. Trying to help out his people, the
chief of the tribe whose land was taken away decided to write a letter
to the bureaucrats. Unsuccessful, he was tried for attempting to burn
down an agency building and sent to prison. For upon his release, he
had to give up half of his land. These stories provide evidence of how
even when supposed “good actions” were being enacted to help Indians,
the whites were really deceiving the Indians and taking more away from
them.
I believe that at the end of the novel she may have brought this
influence of the white man into a greater microscope in order to
perhaps inform the audience about the continued hardships that Indians
suffer from. The last chapter is titled “America’s Indian Problem” and
describes different scenarios of how the government has slighted the
Indians. For a while, I didn’t understand what Zitkala-Sa was trying
to have the reader get from reading her Native American Stories. After
finishing the novel, and reading the last few chapters, I believe
Zitkala-Sa was trying to inform people of the wrongdoings of the
whites by sharing her own experiences and maybe providing call to
action for people to try and make a difference in the future.
~R. G.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
A Note on the Ending of *American Indian Stories*
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Via J.L.
ReplyDeleteIn Zitkala-Sa’s novel, it was interesting how the chief of the tribe
decided to burn the letter- concerning the confiscation of his land for
Blue Star woman- he wrote and intended to send to a white woman of power,
thinking that the woman would receive the letter through the smoke and
solve his problems. From his reasoning, we see the intertwining of ancient
Indian beliefs- that they would get it through the smoke- and the American
culture- writing a letter- in terms of communication that seeks assistance
from others beyond oneself. In this context, however, we do see the
disintegration of the ancient Indian beliefs since the people from
Washington D.C. would not get the letter through smoke and the
misunderstanding of white people in thinking that he was up to no good. In
addition, the letter seems to be a major symbol of hope and of survival
since it is the only means of communication for the Indian people to voice
their concerns and to have a chance to improve their living conditions.
Throughout this autobiography as well as Winnemucca’s autobiography, the
repetition of the letter signifies the importance of the written
communication as well as the ignorance of the government in their lack of
response to the Indian’s letters and concerns. The high regard to letters
is especially emphasized in the “rag doll” belonging to Winnemucca’s
grandfather. The letter, addressing her grandfather’s contribution to the
Mexican war, allowed them access to resources and protection from white
hostility. Therefore, the letters are a symbolic importance to the tribe.
Unfortunately, in story of the Blue Star woman, the white men mistook the
chief’s burning of the letter for an attempt to burn down their buildings.
As a result, we see another example of misunderstanding between white men
and the Indians and the consequential suffering of the Indians due to the
misunderstanding. This raises a lot of questions for the readers,
especially the measures that could have been taken to clear the
misunderstanding and to prevent any further suffering of the Indians.
The previous comment has a lot to do with what I chose to write about in my final research paper. I definitely agree with what was written! But I also wanted to point out that, in my opinion, Zitkala-Sa was not soley trying to point out the injustices brought upon the Native Americans, but also bring about the fact that these nephews who received a white man's education were there to help. They were able to negotiate and help her through their understanding of Western culture. So here, I think that Zitkala-Sa was not solely trying to portray Western culture as 100% terrible. Being able to received an education can be used as a tool to advance Native Americans.
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