Journal 13- Indian Girl and the American Dream

Zitkala-Sa or Red Bird’s story is not completely unique. The American Dream, or the fire in your soul to become on top, the absolute best is something that has inspired Americans from the settlements in Plymouth Rock to modern times. In Red Bird’s story it is hard to see how she is able to accomplish the American dream at first but as she matures and realizes that power in her voice she knows that success and the Dream is in her reach. Her years at White’s Manual Labor Institute encourage the pursuit for the American Dream; although they push her further away from her humble beginnings and Indian traditions, they light a spark in her to show the world the Sioux Indians in an artistic manner. I believe that they do this because they try to de-Sioux her. They cut her hair and require her to learn American customs and manners. But because of this she decides to enter college against the blessing of her mother. This is important to reaching the American Dream because she states that she had always been respectful of her mother and now was doing something for herself. When she enters an orator’s competition in college she realizes that she wants what Americans want; success and glory. She says “the little taste of victory did not satisfy a hunger in my heart. In my mind I saw my mother far away of the Western Plains, and she was holding a charge against me.” The first part of the sentence “taste of victory” is common amongst all dreams. I believe that this is the first time that Zitkala-Sa realizes that she is more than just a Sioux Indian but that she is talented and that people want to hear her story. This inspires her to pursue teaching and trying to make the native traditions artistic so that white men and women can understand her heritage. I believe that this sentence is her first glimpse at what the future holds for her and that she wants to push forward even if it means going against her mother. The second part of this sentence “holding a charge against me.” In her mother’s generation and the Indians before her all saw the “white man’s education and power” negatively. The white men had pushed them away from their native grounds and had tried to put an end to the cultural traditions. Her mother does not understand how something so American or white can be something positive in her daughters’ life. I believe that Zitkala-Sa thinks her mother is disappointed because she associates this dream with destruction and greed. But Zitkala-Sa wants to use the American Dream to bring cultural awareness within her own community and to the white people who she originally thought to be a “cold race whose hearts were frozen with prejudice.”