Cowboys and Indians

While reading "Impressions of an Indian Childhood" by Zitkala Sa, some of the major themes if you will that stuck out for me was the importance of tradition, family and knowing where you came from. She mentions numerous times how she enjoyed listening to the stories of old from the elders in their camp: " At last, when I could not wait any longer, I whispered in my mother's ear, 'Ask them to tell an Iktomi story, mother.'....As each in turn began to tell a legend, I pillowed my head in my mother's lap" (1010) Even the way the text is divided up into chapters is as if each chapter is a legend,a story from where she came from, the myths and practices she personally partook in. These stories are also the important parts of her Indian life. They seemed to be defining moments in her life that remind her, no matter where she goes in life, this is who she is. The issue of family is something not taken for grated by the Nakota indians. Zitkala Sa has an interesting relationship with her mother. Her mother seens distant, yet very protective of her. The mother has had a lot of hardship and distrust of white people : "At last, when we reached this western country, on the first weary night your sister died. And soon your uncle died also... Both your sister and uncle mighthave been happy with us to-day, had it not been for the heartless paleface."(1009) (Which kind of confuses me a little because Zitkala sa herself is half white and her mother later marries another white man. Since her father abandoned the family, I understand her distaste for white men, as would I, but why marry another then?) Her mother tries to teach her not depend on herself and no one else. "The quietness of her oversight made me feel strongly responsible and dependent upon my own judgement. She treated me as a dignified little individual as long as I was on my good behavior" (1012). Zitkala Sa holds a lot of respect and admiration for her mother. This can be seen in how she tries to to hospital for the guests by making "coffee",watching her in awe as she does her beadwork and how her and her friends would pretend to be their mothers and play. And though she cared for her mother, she wanted to explore the East, which her mother did not want her to do, yet still allowed her to go. As she was living in the last chapter, you saw how heartbroken she was about leaving and second guessing herself: "When I saw the lonely figure of my mother vanish in the distance, a sense of regret settled heavily upon me. I felt suddenly weak, as if I might fall limp to the ground. I was in the hands of stranger whom my mother did not fully trust. I no longer felt free to be myself, or to voice my own feelings" (1019). This ending shows how if you love someone, you must set them free to make their own mistakes and figure out their own journey through life. Though, personally I think eight years old is a little too young for self discovery.