Fiction
The son of a brave warrior, Zitkala-Sa’, denounced his traditional ways of life and went to join the missionaries in learning and preaching God’s word in Christianity. The son is limited by religion from pursuing meat animals like buffalos for food, thereby contravening the American dream of access to food and children helping their parents at old age. Despite being initially thought to be a great warrior by the sixteenth winter, the son betrayed his father and family at large to join the missionaries,
“ Ho, my son, I have been counting in my heart the bravest warriors of our people. There is not one of them who won his title in his sixteenth winter. My son, it is a great thing for some brave of sixteen winters to do” . (Levine, n.d., p.1141)
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The paradox is that, upon returning home from the missionary school, he chased away the medicine man from attending to his father, yet his prayers did not heal his father either. Upon realizing that his father was indeed starving to death yet he had a son considered to be of soft hearted, he rushed out to prove his worth and stole animal meat by killing a bull and carrying a chunk of its flesh to his father.
“ My son, your soft heart will let me starve before you bring me meat! Two hills eastward stand a herd of cattle. Yet you will see me die before you bring me food!” Leaving my mother lying with covered head upon her mat, I rushed out into the night” (Levine, n.d., p.1144)
His resolve to break the rules of Christianity in an effort save his father’s life is an indication of efforts he put to overcome the limitations placed upon him by Christianity.
Non-Fiction
The speech by Tecumseh is a revelation of the suffering the ‘red’ human beings were going through in the hands of the whites in the United States long time ago. In his speech, Tecumseh highlights the limitations that his kinsmen are facing, given that their tracks of land and freedom had ben taken away by the whites, who additionally turned violent and killed them haphazardly despite the locals welcoming them hospitably. Tecumseh reveals that he has no right to live, contrary to the American dream when he says ,
“ The blood of many of our fathers and brothers has run like water on the ground, to satisfy the avarice of the white men. We, ourselves, are threatened with a great evil; nothing will pacify them but the destruction of all the red men” . (Levine, n.d., p.994).
Additionally, Tecumseh alleges that he and his ‘red’ kinsmen have no right to peace, contrary to the American dream when he says that,
“ My people wish for peace; the red men all wish for peace: but where the white people are, there is no peace for them, except it be on the bosom of our mother” (Levine, n.d., p. 995).
Tecumseh pushes against the boundaries set by the discriminatory society towards his people by arguing that, his kinsmen needed to unite and fight for what is just and theirs. He rallies his people against the white oppressors by assuring them that with unity of purpose, the white man was feeble and could easily be defeated. He reiterates his appeal by assuring them that in the absence of unity, they could surely perish in the hands of the oppressors,
“ If you do not unite with us, they will first destroy us, and then you will fall an easy prey to them. They have destroyed many nations of red men because they were not united, because they were not friends to each other” . (Levine, n.d., p. 995)
Reference
Levine, R.S. (n.d.). The Norton anthology of American literature. 9 th Edition. 1865-Date. New York.
