The School Days Of An Indian Girl Analysis

As the United States continued to expand throughout the nineteenth century, the literature from this time period began to reflect this increasing diversity. In my opinion, the variety and sometimes contradictory nature of American literature was a positive change. Peoples’ writing began to branch off into different realms of styles and topics, and people were reading about experiences from other regions, cultures, and viewpoints. One example of this comes from “The School Days of an Indian Girl” by Zitkala-Sa; “Our mothers had taught us that only unskilled warriors who were captured had their hair shingled by the enemy. Among our people, short hair was worn by mourners, and shingled hair by cowards” (211). Here, Zitkala-Sa writes about the
Zitkala-Sa, along with her peers, were forced to turn away from Native life to assimilate to society. Zitkala-Sa wrote about her personal experience as a young Native American girl attending the Quaker missionary school. Readers were able to read from her perspective which opened up a new window for many readers. When they read about her story, they got an insight into her experiences, culture, and the sufferance she underwent while receiving her education. Another example comes in Stephen Crane’s poem "A Man Said to the Universe", “A man said to the universe: / ‘Sir, I exist!’ / ‘However,’ replied the universe, / ‘The fact has not created in me / A sense of obligation’” (260). In Stephen Crane’s poem, a man exclaims to the universe that he exists in order to receive acknowledgement. Though the universe acknowledges this fact, the man’s existence is insignificant to the universe. This poem shows that the universe is essentially uninterested in our existence because, no matter what, it will continue existing regardless of what is happening to us. Crane’s poem displays a different perspective on the relation between individuals and nature which is characteristic of