A Review Of Zitkala-Sa's Schooldays Of An Indian Girl

There are many manipulatory tools utilized by humans to strip away an individual’s identity, power, and culture. Within “School Days of an Indian Girl” and “The Problem of Old Harjo”, the Native American main characters experience dehumanization in various practises. In Zitkala-Sa’s 1921 short story “Schooldays of an Indian Girl”, she explores the autobiographical tale of her immersion into a Native American missionary school, and the subsequent discrimination. Additionally, in “The Problem of Old Harjo”, written by John Oskison in 1907, he describes a clash of two cultures between an older Native American, Harjo, and the local white missionaries. In both, “Schooldays of an Indian Girl” and “The Problem of Old Harjo”, Zitkala-Sa and John Oskison

This cycle of dehumanization has been established for generations in the United States, especially towards Native Americans. In “Schooldays of an Indian Girl”, the author builds a base for the young narrator’s strong sense of identity. For example, she has a strong appreciation for mother nature (a central point of worship within Native American religion), she finds comfort in her traditional garments, and her use of her native language. This is seen within the introduction, as the young child, along with her peers “dreamt of roaming as freely and happily as we had chased the cloud shadows on the Dakota plains” (Zitkala-Sa 2) . Her cultural identity is immediately threatened as she enters a polar opposite environment within the missionary school. The narrator describes her first impression as, “strong glaring light in the large whitewashed room dazzled my eyes. The noisy hurrying of hard shoes upon a bare wooden floor increased the whirring in my ears” (9). Her traditional moccasins and garments are traded in for tight fitting uniforms and hard creaking shoes (23). Additionally, to the narrator's dismay, her long braided hair, a sign of pride and strength in her culture, is stripped short by the school administrators. She,” cried aloud” as she yearned for her mother's presence at this moment, yet all that was left was her vanished spirit

The young girl in “School Days of An indian Girl” is eventually beaten down by the “civilized machine” she had spent her youth in (53). She lacks significant self-confidence within her Native American culture as she had been told to be by experiencing the cold, alienating, and oppressive reality in the boarding school. On the other hand, Harjo is unfazed by the white settlers apparent methods of dehumanization and discriminatory advancements. He holds strong to his enlightened lifestyle until the end, despite the missionaries fervent antagonism and