American Culture Essays Example

The statement highlights an internal struggle. It indicates Junior’s background, which he mentions as his area of residence, specifically for the indigenous Indian. His journey towards Reardan sparks a change. He becomes aware of a calling he has to answer. Upon arriving in Reardan, it is more evident to him, that he was becoming less Indian. From his statement, it is evident that change was necessary to change his life. The theme of this paper highlights native Indian culture and the conflicts it faced when relating to the American culture and how assimilating the American way of life would benefit them.
American culture encompasses both conservative and liberal elements. It is founded on aspects championing competitiveness, free expression, materialism and moral elements. The phrase “I become less and less Indian” indicates assimilation, from what the author experienced as normal.
The writer starts by mentioning that his father, a book collector was a Catholic on purpose. The new religion probably inspired a reading culture. Influence of the American culture is evident in books he loved; for example, he had spy thrillers, gangster epic among others. By associating with the father, the child develops affection for books, a factor which served as an introduction to the western culture.
The curiosity he had led to him exploring books; thus, making him to understand the importance of the paragraph, which he thought as a boundary keeping the words intact together before he could even read the words themselves, he saw the world around him in that perspective. He mentions seeing their house as a paragraph as well as the reservation camp they dwelled in. Upon knowing how to read, it hit him that an Indian child who could read was simply an oddity at that moment in time. In retrospect, Indians were not meant to embrace the western culture, but through his efforts, he managed to defy the odds and take the chance of being a better person when it was most opportune.
It is evident that a learned Indian was indeed a rare oddity. Such kind of an individual was feared by his kind and by the non-Indians as well. No one appreciated that aspect, if such an individual choose to be different. “I became less than less Indian” is highlighted by the writer having regular fights with his classmates regularly. They wanted him to stay quiet even when he knew answers that non-Indian teachers wanted in class. The society of that time expected Indians to be stupid, or at least, play dumb. Inside the classrooms, most of the writer peers lived pleasing non-Indians by playing dumb, outside class they were daring and showed intelligence by reciting a dozen songs they had learned. Also, when confronted with non-Indian adults they became submissive, but would face Indian bullies who were older than them by even ten years. The Indian children were expected to fail, not just by the non-Indians, but by their kind who accepted and appreciated more of failure than success from their kind.
The writer refused to fail and thus, highlights “I became less than less than Indian”. Reading books changed his life, every single moment he read in his free time he embraced the American spirit of competition, free spirits mentioned earlier in the text. He even aspired to become a pediatrician, but is more surprised that he became a writer. By reading and learning, he saved his life, embraced the western culture and even wrote books, novels, and poems, which were appreciated by Indians and non-Indians as well. The writer concludes that there are those Indian kids who are trying to save their lives, by being avid readers. Equally important, there are those who had resigned to their fate. He concludes by insisting to them the importance of books and more books. Despite them being hopeless, he is still determined to save their lives because he knows he had become less than less than Indian by saving his life.