Poem Analysis: How To Be A Real Indian By Kenzie Allen

When first read by the reader many different things could be going through their minds, one assumptions could be that the “Indians” that the author is

According to the history of the Navajo Tribe, the Holy People lived in the underworld and helped by guiding the First Man and First Woman to earth (McCoy 1988). The Holy People are said to be attracted to songs, dances, and chants during the ceremony along with the creation of Sandpainting. The Sandpainting is used in the healing process of the ceremony to draw a picture that tells a story of the Holy People. The Navajo culture have amazed so many people to how beautifully constructed the rituals are performed.

     This collection of stories and the autobiographical account of her school days at White's Manual Institute in Wabash, Indiana, and later at Earlham College provide insight into the struggle of Indian peoples in the early twentieth century to protect their heritage while developing a modern Indian identity.

Shanice Britton is a young Native American writer who grew up inside the Round Valley Indian Reservation in a small town where she knew everyone. Britton grew up learning about Native American traditions and customs. She was taught from a young age that she should always respect adults, support that tribal leaders, and have pride in her culture by keeping alive the traditions of her ancestors. Therefore, it was a little bit of a shock when she moved to Davis, California to attend the University of California. In an article that Britton wrote for Scholastic Choices, Britton recounts a comical and illustrative incident shortly after she moved there: “I was eating in a cafeteria with some other high school students, and this one girl asks me: ‘Do you live in a teepee?’” (Britton & Bianchi 2015). This anecdote is a perfect representation of some of the misconceptions or, simply, widespread lack of knowledge of the Native American population when it comes to people who are not part of that community. There are many aspects of Native American life that are not understood correctly by the general

When most of us think of the great Indians of the last century, we think of a thin, well-defined figure standing stern and serious. When we think of a modern Indian, we

o. Now today, India is made up of multiple identities, but “if your allegiance is to India, then you are Indian”( Wood, 245).

Though American Indians are enjoying an independent public health system with above $3 billion funds provided by Congress annually for delivering healthcare services to them, still figure and facts on health status of American Indians reveal that they are facing many difficulties and have to suffer from diverse type of illness and disease at a misappropriate level. Since long it was identified by medical communities that there are wide spread diseases diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, unintentional injuries, and other health conditions among American Indian and they are dying of these diseases at shocking rates (American Heart Association [AHA], 2010). Through this essay I want to discuss the healthcare status of American Indians in the perspective of their culture as how it impacted and lead to develop mistrust between amongst the medical community and American Indians.

It was more like he was annoyed that we had rallied over something silly. He spoke in terms that even I couldn’t understand which made it harder to digest his information. After he bid his farewell with some light clapping from us, a woman in her 30’s walked up to the stand. Her voice was remorseful, gentle yet powerful. “I am a Native American.”

In Seneca Chief Red Jacket’s Address to White Missionaries and Iroquois Six Nations, Red Jacket delivers a speed in Buffalo Grove, New York in 1805, regarding his tribe’s view on religion. For instance, when giving an anecdote on the history of his ancestors, he states, “Our seats were once large, and yours very small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets, You have got our country, but you are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us.” which evokes pity to listeners by telling how the Christian whites stole the land from the Native Americans who had fed them and clothed them only to be returned with nothing but the loss of their homeland (Red Jacket 2). Expressing a contradiction of the treatments, Red Jacket conveys the moral question of whether it was right of Europeans to treat their Native hosts in such a tactless manner. There is no greater sorrow on earth than the loss of one’s native land and Red Jacket expresses that emotion of sorrow by claiming that his people could not even find a place to put their blankets as their land was not in their possession anymore. In addition, whites felt entitled to convert the native americans to the ways of Christ by

The American Psychological Association had found that using representation of the mascots “undermines the educational experiences of members of all communities- especially those who have had little or no contact with Indigenous peoples” (APA). When people view a culture being paraded as a mascot, it can become their singular view and knowledge on the ethnic group. There is nothing to stop the formulation of what students know about Native Americans when there are few natives around. With the allowance of mascots to represent Native American in a way as they do now, wearing headdresses or war paint and using “peace pipes” has become a trend and something “cool” to do. Headdresses are traditionally a part of the Plains tribes and are considered sacred. Only revered warriors or significant people could wear war bonnets or headdresses. Feathers, especially eagle feathers, are very sacred to Native Americans. These appropriations continue to be a negative and demeaning aspect of using Native Americans as

Everyone inherits something during life, whether it be money from a recently deceased relative or physical features from parents. Throughout the poem “Heritage” by Linda Hogan, the narrator remembers all the traits and lessons that she has garnered from her kin. A superficial reader of the poem might assume that the narrator is simply reflecting on said traits and lessons, but in reality she is actually attempting to illuminate and reconcile the differences in her life.

Traditions and old teachings are essential to Native American culture; however growing up in the modern west creates a distance and ignorance about one’s identity. In the beginning, the narrator is in the hospital while as his father lies on his death bed, when he than encounters fellow Native Americans. One of these men talks about an elderly Indian Scholar who paradoxically discussed identity, “She had taken nostalgia as her false idol-her thin blanket-and it was murdering her” (6). The nostalgia represents the old Native American ways. The woman can’t seem to let go of the past, which in turn creates confusion for the man to why she can’t let it go because she was lecturing “…separate indigenous literary identity which was ironic considering that she was speaking English in a room full of white professors”(6). The man’s ignorance with the elderly woman’s message creates a further cultural identity struggle. Once more in the hospital, the narrator talks to another Native American man who similarly feels a divide with his culture. “The Indian world is filled with charlatan, men and women who pretend…”

“What I’m about to tell you, Corporal, cannot leave this room. Under no circumstances can you allow your code talker to fall into enemy hands. Your mission is to protect the code… at all cost.” In the movie, Windtalkers, this is how a commander wants his marine to treat the paired Navajo code talker. That is, if it’s necessary, his marine could kill the Navajo, just like abandoning one of his properties. Even in the mid 1900s, the Native Americans were still treated not as human beings, but rather, machines; therefore, it is not hard for us to imagine how even more frightening the Native Americans’ circumstances were in the early days when they were first colonized by the western settlers. In Deborah Miranda’s “Indian

The roots and customs of Native American tribes run deep. A feeling of respect and tradition is in the air. Every little detail has meaning and a certain level of pride and of importance to each individual taking part in the ceremony. According to Access

The Chippewa Woman portrays a native woman, alongside her sick baby, struggling through the harsh storm in search of food. Secluded and destitute, the woman fishes in the icy lake with her bare hook but to no avail. Consequently, the woman decides to take some of her own flesh to use as bait with which she manages to reel in some fish. With their hunger satisfied, they are faced with the daunting journey home when finally on the third day the woman is greeted with the familiar sights of her abode.