Jonathan Harrison Jan 22, 2009

Zitkala Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin)

"It was next to impossible to leave the iron routine after the civilizing machine had once begun its day’s buzzing; and as it was inbred in me to suffer in silence rather than to appeal to the ears of one whose open eyes could not see my pain, I have many times trudged in the day’s harness heavy-footed, like a dumb sick brute."

This quote is a general summary of how Zitkala Za really feels. She feels stuck in a system that can't be stopped, and their is no reasoning with people who think they are doing you a favor by forcing a European education upon them. She is really fed up but because her own culture has taught her to be obedient and polite, there is nothing to do it seems except follow the palemans ways. Her people are slowly dying yet their is nothing she feels she can do.

The stories compiled by Zitkala Za are a depressing reality about Native American survival in post civil war time period which was hectic and unruly. I feel that the 3 stories were laid out in the order they were presented for a reason. The first story about her childhood and learning the Paleface's knowledge starts off real promising before turning horribly wrong. As a young child she was juiced to explore the east and eat all the red apples,knowledge, that the white man had to offer yet she is quickly disappointed as the illusion of the kind and caring paleface slips away and the reality of being treated like a sideshow began. In the end that story she wishes she had never left the reservation. In story number two the young man comes back after being taught the Christian ways and upon his return he realizes that he sticks out like a sore thumb. He chastises the old Indian ways and preaches enlightenment to people who don't want to hear it. In the end he is robbed of his manhood for he can not feed his ailing father any meat, the mother preached that a good man hunts plenty and has plenty of buckskin, and thus he too feels he has made a mistake. One gets the sense that he misses the old ways and wishes he still had the connection to his people that he somehow lost along the way. The 3rd story finally left me with a smile on my face. The fact that the Indian man would not sell out any of his old ways, and thought of the new christian ways to be silly seemed to be his saving grace. Unlike the rest of his counterparts he is still extremely happy and content. This ending of the story shows Zitkala Za's true feelings, the fact that she wished the old ways would come back. She found no happiness with her new knowledge and way of life and longed for the pleasantries of the old.