The Red Bird Sings

Quotes From Zitkala-sa

Zitkala-sa's American Indian Stories has been a center of discussion in our American Women Writers course. Not only did she give us an insight of what her life is like and all the experiences she went through, but Zitkala-sa expressed herself so beautifully, it is entrancing. Here are some quotes extracted from her book, along with our analysis.

“I had arrived in the wonderful land of rosy skies, but I was not happy, as I thought I should be. My long travel and the bewildering sights had exhausted me. I fell asleep, having deep, tired sobs. My tears were left to dry themselves in streaks, because neither my aunt nor my mother was near to wipe them away.” – The Land of the Red Apples

After arriving to the school and seeing how different it was, Zitkala-sa realizes how isolating her expectations were. She thought that she could have this newfound freedom and adventure, but it was far from that. Instead of grasping the education given to her and learning how to grow, her peers look her at as other. This particular quote really relates to the experience of a young girl who is put out of her comfort zone. We have all been there. As a young adult, we feel like the world is ours for the taking and nothing out there in the universe can stop us. But Zitkala-sa reminds us that we are still vulnerable. We have this drive of adventure and hunger to express our freedom, but sometimes we are blinded by that ideal. Once we face the facts, we want to crawl back into a hole and cry. As Zitkala-sa expresses, the travel is “long” and “bewildering.” It is exhausting. Our choice to be free and run wild is our own. However, the tears that come along with it cannot be wiped away by our mothers. It is okay to be vulnerable because it is natural, but we also have to rise above the obstacles and pain that comes along with our struggles just as Zitkala-sa did.

"I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit…Not a soul reasoned quietly with me, as my own mother used to do; for now I was only one of many little animals driven by a herder." - The Cutting of My Long Hair

Throughout history, women have been given a set of guidelines we are expected to follow: This is how you should look. This is how you should act. This is how you should behave. This deliberate focus on and control over the attire of the female student teaches her something ludicrous: your appearance comes first, your education comes second. This calculated regulation of the female body and appearance can be seen in the above quote from the novel American Indian Stories. Upon arriving at the promised "Wonderland" the narrator, a young girl, is subjected to immediate cultural assimilation as she begins her education in a school far away from her home; she is completely denied her identity as a Sioux Indian and forced to assume a new one. Her “first day in the land of apples was a bitter-cold one,” and she finds herself being watched by one of the woman who work at the school. She later finds out that her hair is to be cut and becomes infuriated: “Among our people, short hair was worn by mourners, and shingled hair by cowards” (22-3)! She attempts to struggle against this impending event, but she is unsuccessful. This cutting of the hair, a physical act, becomes a prerequisite to the young girl’s education; before she is deemed worthy of acquiring knowledge, she must fit cultural and gender specific physical standards set by a society. And, within the dress codes still enforced today, such physical regulations become a precondition to education. Thus, this not only suggests that, for women, appearance should take priority over education, but also that the ways in which she strives to better herself (in this case through attaining knowledge) should be taken into account only after she thinks about how she appears in the eyes of others.

“No, I will not submit! I will struggle first!" - The Cutting of My Long Hair

In American Indian Stories: The Cutting of My Long Hair, Zitkala- Sa refuses to let the adults touch her hair, and she runs throughout the schoolhouse in the hopes of evading a haircut. She hides underneath a bed and has to be dragged out by a quite a few people before they ever get to her long locks. In Sioux culture, short hair was reserved for the cowardly or the morning, it was a sign of weakness, a nod at the end to life. But Zitkala- Sa wanted nothing more than life and to live. From childhood into adulthood, she did not submit, she struggled. Her struggle was first fitting into the world of the “pale faces”, but then it became the struggle of advocating for the Native American community. Something must be said about a person, who, at such a young age was so fearless in standing up for her own convictions and beliefs and so wiling to put up a fight, albeit physical at times.

“I grew bitter, and censured the woman for cruel neglect of our physical ills. I despised the pencils that moved automatically, and the one teaspoon which dealt out, from a large bottle, healing to a row of variously ailing Indian children. I blamed the hard-working, well-meaning, ignorant woman who was inculcating in our hearts her superstitious ideas.” - Iron Routine

This is my favorite quote because it shows how Zitkala-Sa felt when the white woman tried to change her. Zitkala-Sa says she grew bitter and she referred to the woman as cruel for trying to change her. Zitkala-Sa was neglected by this woman because her physicality was different. The woman saw Zitkala-Sa as if something was wrong with her physicality because they were referred to as ills. Zitkala-Sa grew hate to those that tried to change her culture. She hated the fact that the white woman felt that the Native American culture was “ill” meaning it was sick, broken, messed up. She felt that it needed to be healed. And Zitkala- Sa says she despised all of this treatment. She despised that this woman was trying to change her culture and she referred to her as ignorant. Everything this woman did was based on superstitions there was not a strong foundation that made her treatment towards the Native American necessary. I believe this quote is the center of all of Zitkala-Sa’s writing. Through this quote Zitkala-Sa is saying that it is not necessary for other’s to try to change one’s culture because a culture is not broken. Culture is identity and it is not our job to try to change another’s identity we should accept them for who they are. And this is why I love this quote.

"I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit." - The Cutting of My Long Hair

For Zitkala-Sa, boarding school was a pure, miserable state of cultural dislocation. Her hair meant so much to her, it was long and dark and represented her culture beautifully--but that was soon taken away. Once that sharp blade hit the back of her neck, her culture was cut off and she was lost. Not only did she feel lost in the boarding school without her hair but she lost so many things--her courage, power, heritage everything was gone with just one cut. Most importantly she lost one thing that she could never get back and that would never grow back--herself.