Zitkala-Sa is clearly proud of her Native American (Indian) heritage. In her candid discourse on her childhood as a Native American, she employs several key stylistic devices in an attempt to express her genuine attitudes. Her work can be judged to be an indictment of the efforts of the Caucasian settlers’ attempts to civilize Native Americans. In truth, this discourse highlights the fact she was completely happy with the state of affairs at her home, even before the American visitors set out to change the ways of life of the Native Americans.
First, she depicts all the fun she was having with her friends under the guardianship of their parents and other relatives as they were growing up. On page 421, she describes the carefree attitude with which they approached their lives, even in the midst of a lush wilderness that presented more mysteries than were solvable. They used to play around with the ideas of anthropomorphized cloud shadows. She uses a simile to describe this carefree and jovial attitude. She says that they “were like little supportive nymphs” as they chased around those cloud shadows. This kind of sentimental rendition clearly shows that she appreciated, and perhaps even still misses, those days of curious innocence; this was probably before the enlightenment that inarguably came with the American education.
On page 422, she continues with the nostalgic recounting of the carefree games they played with their imagined shadowy entities. This later transformed into a game in which she began chasing her own shadow in a futile attempt to overtake it. She effectively renders this account with the personification of her shadow. According to her, her shadow “escaped” and “flew away.” Indeed, this instance of anthropomorphism is an indication of the lack of scientific understanding of just how shadows come into being. To her, that prior state of ignorance and innocence was pure and unadulterated, which made life that much more full of wonder.
The foregoing examples can be looked at as ways in which Zitkala-Sa criticizes the valiant attempts by the government of the United States to civilize Native Americans. Foremost, Zitkala-Sa is quite satisfied with her childhood experiences as a “naïve” and “uneducated” Native American as she clearly postulates in her nostalgic accounts of her experiences. She openly expresses her happiness with the state of affairs, which means that she considers the intervention of the United States government as largely unnecessary. The same passion and resolve is also evident in her recounting of her naïve attempts to chase after her own shadow in vain. All these attitudes and feelings are clearly relayed to the reader using stylistic features for emphasis and ease of presentation as noted above.
