Zitkala is an Indian lady who lived in United States. As a teacher, she faced many problems in her career. In the first place, English was not her first language. She had to learn the language very well so that she could deliver as a teacher. She had May difficulties in class teaching in English since this was the only language that was allowed in classrooms. The hated being forced to change his culture in order to acquire education and finally a job. According to her, using a foreign language was being forced to leave ones’ culture.
Another problem that Zitkala faced was racial discrimination. She was a hard working teacher who devoted a lot of her time in the teaching field. However, her efforts were not recognized by anybody. She wrote many books and when the books became famous, the people in United States criticized her by arguing that her books were just meant to praise her inferior race. The whites in United States discriminated Indians and this is why they were not happy with the works of this Indian lady. The criticisms were mainly due to the fact that the books did not originate from the white people. Even though the books were good, she was not recognized considering the fact that she came from what people called an inferior race.
The threats that Zitkala received from time to time was another problem. The books and poems that she wrote criticized white people specifically, politicians and preachers. She persuaded the Indians to participate effectively in political activities by voting. She taught the Indians the rights they had as citizens of United States. She also encouraged her people to participate in religious activities. Most of these teachings went to the students she taught. The whites felt insecure of these teachings and writings and started giving threats to Zitkala. This made it difficult for Zitkala to continue with her mission of writing more books and educating the students. However, she was courageous enough to pursue her work.
Among these, the major problem that Zitkala faced is the threats that she was receiving. Threats made her fear to some extent. Even though she continued with her activities, threats from the whites challenged her a lot. These threats discouraged her from continuing with her careers and this is why she resigned from the profession.
Works cited.
- Calloway, C.2012. First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History, 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
- Casper, Scott E., Joanne D. Chaison, and Jeffrey D. Groves. 2002. Perspectives on American book history: artifacts and commentary. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
