Tone and Female characters in Zitkala Sa's "American Indian Stories"

This section of Zitkala-Sa's autobiography seems to be a continuation
from the shift of her personal experiences to that of oral tradition and
Native American folklore. The folklore in this section in particular, however,
emphasizes on individual female characters: the warrior's daughter,
the woman who dreamt of her grandfather, and Blue-Star woman. The
women in the stories all share unique qualities that seem to separate
themselves from the typical stereotype of vulnerable and weak Native
American females. For instance, all of the females acquire independence
to some extent, a characteristic that seems to highlight only a few Indian
women in Indian communities. In "A Warrior's Daughter", the female inherits
her father's courage- if courage was a heritable trait- and boldness,
managing to rescue her lover as well as murder the man who
captured her lover. In the account of her heroic actions, the readers
see a reversal in gender roles, where her lover is deemed feminine-
being "numb and helpless, staggers nigh to falling" and she is
characterized with masculine qualities- "The sight of his weakness
makes her strong. A mighty power thrills her body...Tusee lifts him
upon her broad shoulders" (Zitkala-Sa 69). Accustomed to the
traditional depiction of Indian males being strong and able, it is
interesting that in this tale the male does not seem to contribute
to his escape at all and the female is the one who "carries him
away into the open night" (69). The unique reversal in gender
roles overrides the stereotype and reveals the power that Indian
females hold that is largely unaccounted for in Indian culture.

Although the woman who dreamt of her grandfather and the
Blue-Star woman do not exemplify as much courage as Tusee,
they are still very independent for Indian woman, but differ in
the tonality of their stories. The woman in "A Dream of Her
Grandfather", a political character representing the Sioux nation
in Washington, has a dream that seems to predict a prosperous
and hopeful future, a mystical feature in Native American belief.
In some sense, the woman's dream does come true since the
readers see in Blue-Star Woman that the government gives
some land to people who claim to be of Indian descent. This
bitter sweet reimbursement of the American government for
taking Indian lands marks the rise of other problems, where
people who do not have records of their identity are not given
land or land is taken from some Indians to give to new Indian
people claiming land. For instance, in the story of the Blue-Star
Woman, Blue-Star Woman seems to be a victim targeted by
tricksters of their own people- her nephews- in pursuit for land.
The tricksters- who are Indians themselves- that take advantage
of the traditional Indians' lack of knowledge of the American ways
to gain their land marks a bitter ending to Indian culture since
younger generations do not acquire the cultural values of respect
and of assisting those in need. Aside from revealing Indian stories
that uphold independent females, Zitkala-Sa uses the tones of the
stories to suggest the fall of the Indian tradition to American culture.
What other purpose might there be for Zitkala-Sa's order of the stories?

~J. L.