Jeannette Armstrong's Indian Woman

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Resisting society’s dominant standards can be done in many ways. For instance, Jeannette Armstrong’s poem, “Indian Woman” demonstrates what Kim Anderson explains as an act of resistance. Armstrong presents this by recognizing the discrimination of First Nations women by challenging it as well as accepting her Native identity instead of conforming to Western beliefs. By doing so, the poem allows her to reclaim her voice and speak the truth for her and other First Nations women. In other words, Armstrong develops a consciousness which allows her to explain to readers that this mistreatment of Native women is not only unacceptable, but incorrect. She begins her poem by calling herself a squaw and stating the many negative beliefs that are associated