Scott Perreault
December 5, 2012
Assimilation or Humiliation In “The School Days of an Indian Girl” written by Zitkala Sa, we are thrust into the issues confronting the Native American population. White European culture was the controlling force in this era of misunderstanding and ethnocentricity. They felt threatened by a culture they did not understand, and so in response and a need to alleviate the pain of their insecurity, they required that the young Native American be assimilated into the ways of the White. The narrator who is immersed in this unreal reality is forced to submit, to resist is futile. The innocent girl from the reservation becomes a success story to the white man, but in doing so is alienated from family. The dreamlike excitement of the train journey to the school would soon become a nightmare of sorts for her and her companions. It took very little time to discover that this was not her land, and her habitation here only aroused suspicion and mistrust. Sa writes, “I had arrived in the land of rosy skies, but I was not happy, as I had thought I should be” (Zitkala Sa, 1140). It is evident here that although the landscape is quite appealing and pleasant to the senses, she realizes that beauty is skin deep, and what lies beneath is an affront to her. For her everything is foreign; no sense of familiarity to envelop her, but her spirit did stay intact. From time to time, her anger exuded the rebellious spirit within. “With fire in my heart, I took the wooden tool that the paleface woman held out to me. . . . I bent in a hot rage over the turnips. I worked my vengeance on them. Just here, a paleface woman came up to my table. . . Then she gave one lift and stride away from the table. But lo! the pulpy contents fell through the crumbled bottom to the floor. . . As I sat eating my dinner, and saw no turnips were served, I whooped in my heart for once having asserted the rebellion within me” (Zitkala Sa, 1142-43). This passage shows that she has not completely bowed to her oppressors and does still possess some autonomy. Although only a small victory, small victories can quell the disillusionment of her everyday life, in this irrepressible house of inequality. There were some minor victories but it did seem that the Whites were winning the war. She was beginning to lose her autonomy and was becoming more reliant on life in the east, and was beginning to regard those customs of the white as her own. It seems that those things that Indian Nations regarded as innocuous and not worthy of worrisome nature, were now invading her dreams in the guise of white man’s folklore and custom. We now see the assimilation of this girl occurring in multi phases of her life. It is not only happening in the aspect of dressing or speaking as the white, but also latching on to the stories transferred to her subconscious by her white teachers. All the years of teaching from the elders of her nation seems now to be an afterthought as with each year spent at the white school moves her further and further away from her culture and tradition. The following passage illustrates that in her new life she is now grasping onto things that resided in the minds of whites. “Out of a large book she showed me a picture of the white man’s devil. . . Then I heard the paleface woman say that this terrible creature roamed loose in the world, and that little girls who disobeyed school regulations were to be tortured by him” (Zitkala Sa, 1145). This is just another instance of one man’s culture and beliefs being thrust onto another’s. With each passing day, this foreign culture is becoming hers. Personalities have changed and it cannot be said if they are for the better or for the worse, but what they have done is stolen you from your past existence and the only thing you can hang your hat on is the present. The white man has succeeded in forging a new and distinct being from what was once an independent and freethinking individual. In doing so, they have removed any sense of individuality from the person. Greater than that though, the narrator is now lost. Where does she now belong? It seems that what was once her place exists no longer. She belongs neither here, nor there. She is like that one key on a key ring of many, and she is searching for that one lock that she fits. Zitkala Sa emphasizes the dilemma that living in both worlds wreaks upon this young woman. “During this time I seemed to hang in the heart of chaos, beyond the touch or voice of human aid. . . I was neither a wee girl nor a tall one; neither a wild Indian nor a tame one. This deplorable situation was the effect of my brief course in the East, and the unsatisfactory teenth in a girl’s years” (Zitkala Sa, 1145). This passage illustrates completely her despair and anguish regarding her place in the world. Where does she belong, if not here with family upon the land she has always revered, then where? This was the trip home after three years in the white school, and what was to be a happy homecoming became a visit of strangers. She could not reside here in the manner of an Indian girl; this place was now a haven for young Indians who had gone to the white school. It seems that the old ways were disappearing and this place was not home any longer. She would leave once more but still had illusions of better times. “Many schemes of running away from my surroundings hovered about in my mind. A few more moons of such turmoil drove me away to the eastern school. I rode on the white man’s iron steed, thinking it would bring me back to my mother in a few winters, when I should be grown tall, and there would be congenial friends awaiting me” (Zitkala Sa, 1147). The fact remains you cannot go home, it is never the same as it once was. You are different and they are different. Her time with the whites had changed her views somewhat and instilled a penchant for learning. As much as she thrived in her new surroundings, her thoughts frequently traveled to the reservation, where her mother resided embroiled in a state of confusion. Confusion as to why her daughter has turned away from her culture and embraced those of the white man was a chronic disease infecting the relationship of the two. In fact, our narrator had not completely discarded the old ways, why couldn’t she occupy both worlds. “In the second journey to the East, I had not come without precautions. I had a secret interview with one of our best medicine men, and when I left his wigwam, I carried . . . a tiny bunch of magic roots. This possession guaranteed me friends wherever I should go. . . Then before I lost my faith in the dead roots, I lost the little buckskin bag containing all my luck” (Zitkala Sa, 1147). It is clear that although she has adopted some of the white men’s ways she still does feel a connection to her previous life. She is in fact a woman stuck between two different worlds. This is the reason she has exerted autonomy. The whites have not completely extracted all remnants of her Indian life; she is finding a way to hold onto the past while latching onto the future. “By daylight and lamplight, I spun with reeds and thistles, until my hands were tired from their weaving, the magic design which promised me the white man’s respect” (Zitkala Sa, 1148).
This woman will take the education that the whites will offer but will remain true to her heritage. This existence is her place in society. She is a Native American who can live among the whites, but she still clings to values and traditions practiced by her people. The white have temporarily stolen the respect of her mother, but her irrepressible spirit has stolen much more than that from the white man.