The Flight of Red Bird 

Detecting Indianness: Gertrude Bonnin's Investigation of Native American Identity

 

 

           This scholarly article, written by Professor Cari Carpenter of West Virginia University, relates Zitkala- Sa’s writing and struggle with assimilation into westernized American culture to the identity case of “"Princess Chinquilla," a New York woman who claimed to have been separated from her Cheyenne Native American parents at birth. Zitkala- Sa, on behalf of the National Council of American Indians (NCAI), wrote to Chinquilla admist her crisis asking her to join the alliance. As Carpenter writes,

 

          “A number of studies portray her[Zitkala- Sa] as a figure who led a "schizophrenic life," who was "caught between two cultures," and who existed in "two diametrically opposed worlds”(FN5).

 

            This analysis of Sa holds relevance, especially in the case of Chinquilla, because through her writing to this woman struggling to understand her position in American society, we can see that Zitkala- Sa has experienced the same feelings. The journal further goes on to discuss the ideas of the stereotypical Native Americans portrayed in Wild West movies and the media, versus the “real” Native Americans that we have living in the United States, even today. People like Gertrude(Zitkala- Sa) and Chinquilla often struggled and currently struggled with understanding themselves as “real” Indians rather than what western culture made them out to be. This especially makes the phenomenon of cultural assimilation difficult, because as much as these Native American women wished to hold steadfast to their heritage, they had been told by their teachers(but to them, captors) that whatever they are is something that must be fixed, changed or eradicated. Having gone through this process herself, Zitkala- Sa knew that it was important to embrace this heritage rather than lose it completely once faced with cultural assimilation.

 

          Cari Carpenter also takes Sa’s letters to Montezuma and own personal writings, and extracts from them instances wherein she expresses how important it is to know that as a woman of mixed- race, or a Native American in a white American world, that is it important to portray the “real” Indian, and not to get caught up in the fantasy that is made by those who do not know the culture. The childhood of Zitkala- Sa had a great hand in instilling this fervor for cultural preservation in her adult years.

 

Works Cited:

 Carpenter, Cari. "Detecting Indianness: Gertrude Bonnin's Investigation of Native American Identity." Wicazo Sa Review 20.1

       (2005): 139-59. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. <http://jerome.stjohns.edu:81/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?    

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