Zitkala-Sa

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Pathos as an Effective Literary Strategy The late 1800’s and early 1900’s in the so-called United States was a time of turbulent relations between the Indigenous peoples of the land and the white colonizers who sought to conquer that land and the people who inhabited it. Having lived through this period first-hand, Indigenous author Zitkala-sa wrote many stories based on her experience growing up in a world that was quickly evolving in a way that forced a literal and cultural genocide of her people. Her writing confronts a multitude of the colonizer held beliefs of the time such as the belief that Indigenous peoples were savages who lacked humanity, the support for “Indian” boarding schools and imposed assimilation. Throughout her stories, …show more content…
However, Zitkala-Sa paints a very different picture of these boarding schools as places of fear, isolation, loneliness and outright abuse in her collection of stories under the title “The School Days of an Indian Girl.” Again, she has used pathos in these stories to evoke strong emotions and empathy for a young child who is scared and alone after being taken away from everything she has ever known or loved. In “The Land of the Red Apples,” the narrator describes how she felt during the trip to the boarding school, “On the train, fair women, with tottering babies on each arm, stopped their haste and scrutinized the children of absent mothers. Large men, with heavy bundles in their hands, halted near by, and riveted their glassy blue eyes upon us” (Zitkala-Sa). This again humanizes the child and shows that even at her young age and even as a “savage,” she was able to pick up on the cruelties of judgment she felt from the strangers on the

Summary Of Zitkala-Sa's American Indian Stories

Zitkala-Sa was a Dakota woman who wrote the book American Indian Stories. In the book she recalls several events from her life like her childhood living in a wigwam by the Missouri River, her experiences at a Native American boarding school, and her journey as an Indian teacher. The book also contains several oral tradition legends and stories of the Sioux along with a paper titled America’s Indian Problem. All the works within the book serve to educate the American masses, but the importance of…

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Zitkala-Sasa

"Impressions of an Indian Childhood" and "The School Days of an Indian Girl," two of Zitkala-Sa's autobiographical works, offer insights into her cultural background both before and after her exposure to missionaries. Zitkala-Sa's writings after being sent to a missionary-run boarding school, capture the deep cultural contradiction she went through. She talks about the difficulties she had assimilating, losing her language and cultural identity, and feeling cut off from her roots. The severe discipline…

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Native American Culture Vs. Non Traditional Culture

Zitkala-Sa, a Dakota Sioux Indian, endures the hardship to assimilate to a new culture while maintaining her own Indian values and traditions. Furthermore, the gender roles between the modern culture and the traditional culture differ greatly and although Zitkala-Sa forcefully assimilates, this demand to assimilate from the dominant White group affects the assimilation process foreigners, such as Zitkala-Sa, face and often resent. The culture of a Native…

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Analysis: The School Days Of An Indian Girl

The School Days of an Indian Girl written by Zitkala-Sa section one titled The Land of Red Apples she was in a party of eight heading to the land of the “pale face” which they called “Red Apple Country” was a new and scary experience. Being in a land in which these kids cannot speak the language and the people do not understand the young Indians tradition, these children were brave and strong to go onto this adventure to improve their education. As the narrative mentioned “among our people, short…

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Pocahontas Rhetorical Analysis

Moreover, in the school days many problems still exist when the colonizers apply their systems of deprivation over the Native American children. Zitkala-Sa notices that there are no more ceremonial practices as they had costumed in her tribe. Also, Zitkala-Sa and the other Native American children were forbidden from practicing their religion or speaking their Native language. Alternatively, they force them to learn English and to convert to Christianity. debunking the Pocahontas Paradox: The Need…

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Abigail Adams Research Paper

April Maple 4/30/2018 History 330 Professor Feely Women's Sphere in American History Primary Source: Unit 1, Module 3 “Abigail Adams Letters” Primary Source: Unit 2, Module 7 “Zitkala-Sa "American Indian Stories” Primary Source: Unit 3, Module 11 “Letter To Eleanor Roosevelt” Primary Source: Unit 3, Module 12 “ Brides Preference List” If you were a woman before the American Revolution you were primarily looked…

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186E1 Fianl Draft Essay

individual’s personal insight, the pieces of puzzle gather and become a different scene. The Film, Akeelah and the Bee directed by Doug Atchison, “Waiting in Line at the Drugstore” by James Thomas Jackson and “The School Days of an Indian Girl” by Zitkala-Sa all describe how main characters gain various perspectives from different experiences while struggling and working on their obstacles. In the fact, the importance is the insight gained from the experiences. From the articles people have different…

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Impression Of An Indian Girl Analysis

Zitkala Sa’s Impression of an Indian Childhood and The School Days of an Indian Girl reflect the struggle of living in a country where one culture dominates over others. Sa, the narrator takes the readers on a journey of enlightenment as she narrates how the power dynamics forced her to distance herself from Dakota culture. Throughout both Impression of an Indian Childhood and The School Days of an Indian Girl one can note that Sa struggles to find her place in the rapidly changing society. Sa’s…

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CH Essay 2

our country also contradict the ideas of American Exceptionalism because it is impossible to always be fair and equal. Our public schooling system is a huge example of this. The story of Zitkala-sa that we read was an instance in which American exceptionalism was amplified when it should not have been. Zitkala-sa was an Indian girl that lived in the states with her family when the Americans came to take over their land. She, as well as all the other Indian girls and boys, was forced into the “Americanized”…

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Essay about English 214 Final Project Submit To Study Site

America’s classist society at the expense of all non-white Americans through the terror of racism is supported by the writings and experiences of Edith Maud Eaton(Sui Sin Far) in “Leaves From the Mental Portfolio of a Eurasian,” Gerturde Bonnin’s (Zitkala-Sa) Days of an Indian School Girl, and Sena Jeter Naslund’s novel Four Spirits. Sexism and manipulation of women through socially established gender roles will be demonstrated through the characters created by Henry James in “Daisy Miller: A Study…

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