Through the narrator’s depiction of
his education, he shows how Indian boys are taught to resist the Native
American culture in order to protect them from the traditional feelings of pain
and punishment. The narrator does leave the reservation for a short time to experience
the white world and his experiences there, prove why he has been taught to
resist his culture. I do not believe that he completely rejects his culture,
but I think through “Indian Education” we see him struggling with what he has
been taught and his feelings of tradition.
As a second grader you are very
impressionable and this may be why the missionary teacher, Betty Towle, chose
to teach this grade. I believe Betty Towle was there to educate the Indians about
“her God” (173) and in turn she taught the narrator how most white people feel
about Indians, including herself. After having to eat his spelling test, Betty
Towle sent a letter home with the narrator telling his parents to either cut
his braids or he was not allowed in class. The next day his parents came in and
drug their braids across Betty Towle’s desk and she responds “Indians ,
indians, indians.” She said it without capitalization. She called me “indian,
indian, indian” (173). When reading this the first time I wondered why she said
it without capitalization, after some thought I realized that she doesn’t have
respect for Indians or their culture and really has a hatred of them. The
narrator sticks to his roots and says “Yes, I am. I am Indian. Indian, I am”
(173) but this is his first lesson in the struggles he will have if he chooses
to identify himself as an Indian.
Throughout the narrator’s education
there are several examples that I believe reveal the underlying message that he
was taught. In the fourth grade Mr. Schluter told the narrator that he should
be a doctor and when the narrator asks why he says “So you can come back and help
the tribe. So you can heal people” (174). I find it very interesting that Mr.
Schluter doesn’t say “your tribe” or “your people” as if he is hinting to the
narrator to become a doctor and find your identity in that, not in being
Indian. Then, for the first time, in the fifth grade, we see the narrator
realize
that he is going to have to make a choice to either follow the traditional
Indian lifestyle or try to make a lifestyle of his own. The narrator says “Oh,
do you remember those sweet, almost innocent choices that the Indian boys were
forced to make?” (175). I believe that at this point he has already made his
decision to try and make his own path that will hopefully allow him to succeed and
not fall prey to the pain that the Indian culture seems accustomed to. The last
example, and the one that I believe to be strongest, is “This morning I pick up
the sports page and read the headline: INDIANS LOSE AGAIN” (179). If the
narrator identifies himself as an Indian then he will take a lot of offense to
this headline, but if he can find his identity in basketball, or academics, or
becoming a doctor he will not experience the same pain. Naturally this headline
will always strike a note of pain for him, but he realizes that he can escape this
pain by creating his own identity, something outside of the Indian culture.
I really liked this short story
because I believe it could be read in several different ways and this is just
one way that I believe it can be interpreted.
I agree with your interpretation. I though that although society will tell the narrator that the native american race is less than equal and that their ways should be forgotten for more traditional western ways, it ultimately is the choice of the individual to turn their back on their heritage although, even if one does one cannot escape being identified by their race or culture altogether. Even if the narrator could identify with being an athlete or a doctor, at the end of the day, he's still going to be a Native American, as will his parents.
ReplyDeleteI like how you stated that this story could be interpreted many different ways. That's my favorite, yet least favorite part of literature. I like how you are never wrong in the way you view the piece, but I hate that there is no definite answer. Your interpretation was similar to mine, the part that really had me convinced was the end where the narrator mentioned that he was valedictorian of his class in the white school, but his friends back home that graduated could barely read. I feel as though resisting the Native American culture got him further than his cultural peers mostly because the Native Americans seem to be stuck in an ongoing cycle that they are having an extremely hard time breaking away from. I believe that this is a major theme in Alexie's pieces.
ReplyDeleteYour interpretation was very interesting, and yes, I agree that this story could be interpreted in many different ways, but I think that you hit on some very important ideas. I found your example of capitalization interesting (indian vs. Indian) because it was something that I missed upon my initial reading. Your commentary on it made me go back and really think about what was being said both through the narrative but also through the style that it was written. Your piece was good - I will have to go back now and reread some of my notes/comments and rethink my own interpretation a little.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the children are taught to resist Native American culture to protect them from pain, but I also believe that this in a sense also hurts them in different ways. By keeping them from learning about their past they have more difficulty in understanding who they are. These young kids need some kind past to look into in order to figure out who they are as a people. If these kids are kept from knowing their past traditions they will ultimately go through life feeling lost in some way without knowing their connection to the past.
ReplyDeleteI agree the children are being taught to resist native american culture but is it to protect them from pain? Maybe my reading was to superficial but I understood the story to be about one culture "educating" another culture into uniformity.
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