Journal 13: Bittersweet Dreams

In the story "The School Days of an Indian Girl," author Zitkala-Sa talks about her personal experiences growing up on the reservation and then entering what she calls "the white man's world." It is a personal tale of her struggles to balance both worlds that she lived in, Native American and White. She is sent to learn English and to be educated to be successful in the white man's world but she is constantly unhappy, fearful and it's a forced process. When she decides to go to college, against her mother's will or approval, she writes "Thus, homeless and heavy-hearted, I began anew my life among strangers." This sentence jumped out at me the most because after reading the other portions of her story I realized that this is the first time she is alone in something she is doing unlike in the past experiences she has at least a few people around her to give her support. She uses the world "anew" as the single positive word in the sentence to try and emphasize that there is hope and meaning in what she is doing, even if it is alone. This sentence has a powerful purpose at the beginning of the final section of the reading because this talks about her triumphs in the white man's world. She wins an orator competition on her own and breaks the barrier for her Native people to succeed outside of the reservations. It is the hope at the end of a long journey.

I think that her "American Dream" does come true but in a very bitter sweet way. She achieves it alone without any friends or family around to support her and she has to sacrifice a lot of her old self to get to where she is. However I believe that that is how it should be when someone chases their dreams. Achieving a dream should not come easy. It should come with sacrifice, growth, and self-reliance. Zitkala-Sa does all of these and has a bitter sweet achievement at the end of her long journey.