Adam Perez Blog Post

School Days of an Indian Girl is a piece that describes how many young Native Americans felt when Indian boarding schools started. They begin very angry because they were being taken from their homes that they felt so comfortable around to a new place where their native language is prohibited from being spoken. I can't imagine how that would feel. The only slight bit of comfort they have is that they are not alone, but at the same time this can be harmful. Zitkala-Sa spoke of how one of her friends died due to the ignorance of the health of the Indians. She was at her death bed as she passed. At her young age I can't even begin to fathom how painful this would feel. This was supposed to be a school where the Native Americans become more “American”. With further research I realized that this was a common occurrence at many of the schools. The schools would have graves with hundreds of young Indians that perished before adulthood. Eventually after Zitkala-Sa tried to get revenge on the white people for everything they've done to her, she gave up. After receiving her diploma she wished to go to college. Before she wished to be with her family and live her life according to traditional Native American ways, now she wants to go to college and become more “American” while retaining her old roots back to her home. I don't like how her mother tried to prevent her from doing this. Its possible to tell by the tone of her voice that Zitkala-Sa felt divided between the two cultures. She went on into college with some success in winning the oratorical contest at the local and state level, but she never did feel truly accomplished because of the lack of the support from her mother. I wish that the author continued to write more about her experience through the rest of college and of the separated relationship with her mother. It leaves the reader to ponder about what happened from there. I personally believe that her mother probably felt the same way about it until her daughter returned to her(assuming she does return to her after her studies are complete).