LITR 4333 American Minority Literature UHCL 2004 sample student answers to final exam

LITR 4332: American Minority Literature

Sample Student Final Exam Answers 2004

1. Native American Indian Literature & Culture

A. (default option). Referring to at least one Amerind origin story, American Indian Stories, and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, discuss how Native Americans qualify as a minority culture and how their cultural narrative of “Loss and Survival” responds to this situation. (Objective 3b)

Sample Answers

According to course objective 1, a minority group is defined as one who did not choose to come to America or to join its dominant culture. American Indians fit the definition of being a minority group because they did not choose to participate in the American dream. For American Indians, their experience can be referred to as an American nightmare. They were forced off of their own land and were made to live on land reserved for their culture. In order to participate in the American experience, they had to change their culture, their language, and their religious ceremonies. They were a group of people who became voiceless and choiceless and, therefore, became a minority group.

The Native American cultural narrative of “Loss and Survival” can be seen in each of the Native American stories that we have read in this course. In “How America Was Discovered”, Handsome Lake writes of how the devil, also known as Columbus, came into America and brought with him cards, money, music, and alcohol and introduced them to the Indian peoples. He also writes of how Columbus brought diseases to the American Indians. All of these combined were an effort to conquer the Native America groups; the devil was successful in his efforts. However, more than six hundred years later, the Native American people still remain.

Another example of “loss and survival” of the Native American people can be seen in Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories. Although her experience begins as an American Dream and her quest for an education, she soon realizes that the personal cost for her education was more than what she was willing to pay. She left her home and family to gain an education, but instead, she got humiliation and degradation. She was ridiculed by white travelers who treated her as a toy; she was disgraced when the women cut her hair. Zitkala-Sa speaks of losing her spirit during her sufferings, however, that was not completely true. Because she still had the spark of her spirit, she was able to complete her education and spent the rest of her life fighting for the rights of the Native American people.

Sherman Alexie also provides a glimpse of “loss and survival” in his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. He uses his gift of a writer to present experiences on the Indian Reservation using the Native American tradition of storytelling. Thomas-Builds-the-Fire, the primary storyteller, is a friend who was constantly telling stories that nobody wanted to listen to. However, it is through Thomas, because he always had something to say, that other characters learn from the experiences of others. It is in the first chapter and story in the book, “Every Little Hurricane,” that we learn about Victor. His experiences with alcoholism, basketball, trouble with the law, and his relationships introduce the theme of loss and survival and set the tone for subsequent chapters. It is the ending of this chapter that shows the resilience of the Native American people, “…all the Indians, the eternal survivors, gathered to count their losses.”

The message of “loss and survival” is very clear in reading the Native American texts. Although Native Americans are considered a minority group, we can conclude from the texts that the Native American people expect some losses, will accept their losses, but will continue to survive. [KM]

1. A). Native Americans qualify as a minority culture because they were forced into a lifestyle by white settlers or the dominant culture. Although they occupied the land first, white settlers took over the land through violence and deceit. Once their land was taken over, the Native Americans lost much of their culture and way of life. Native Americans constantly struggle between “loss and survival” because they have lost so much, yet continue to survive and try to hold on to some part of their culture. The Amerind origin stories, American Indian Stories and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fisfight in Heaven address the Native Americans as a minority culture, and the Native American’s struggle between loss and survival.

One of the most notable stories that relate the Native Americans as a minority culture is Handsome Lake’s version of how America was discovered. According to Handsome Lake, Columbus came to America to steal their land. He then went back to England and came back with a flock of ships, “bringing with them cards, money, fiddles, whiskey, and blood corruption” (183). The Native Americans never asked for Columbus to invade their land; nor did they ask for Columbus to bring items that would destroy them. Since they were already on the land, they were not forced to a place like the African Americans were. However, their land was taken over, and they were forced to participate and live in a way that they did not want.

The Native American’s creation story also shows the Native Americans as a minority culture separate from the beliefs of the dominant culture. The Native Americans have a similar version of genesis; however, they did not believe and just one god. Also they view man as a close part of nature, rather than more important than nature.

Zitkala-Sa also expresses the Native Americans status as a minority culture through her book American Indian Stories. In it, Zitkala-Sa writes about how the Native Americans’ land was stolen from them. The mother says, “but the paleface has stolen our land and driven us hither” (10). The Native Americans had no choice about where they were “driven.” They just had to accept it, and deal with it. She was forced even more into the ways of the dominant culture when she was taken to their schools to learn their ways. The white people tried everything in their power to assimilate her into the dominant culture. They cut her long hair, which left her feeling like part of her spirit was gone. She also got in trouble numerous times simply because she did not understand the language.

Sherman Alexie’s book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, also deals with the Native Americans as a minority culture, and the Native American’s struggle between loss and survival. Alexie’s story of life on the reservation describes just how much the Native Americans lost as a result of the invasion of the dominant culture. Throughout the book are examples of the different parts of their culture that they lost, yet they are able to hold on to a view things in their culture.

One of the main things that the Native Americans are able to hold on to in The Long Ranger is their oral tradition. Alexie tells how Norma would drag “them all over to some tipi and made them listen to some elder tell a dusty old story” (65). The tradition of story telling is very important to the Native Americans because much of their culture and life is only recorded their stories. They never kept written records or documents, so their oral tradition is major part of their survival. Even more so, it shows that although they have lost much, they haven’t lost everything. In fact, the entire book features Thomas Builds-the-Fire telling his own stories throughout the novel.

Throughout the book, a major theme that Alexie addresses is the Native Americans loss. In the beginning of the novel, Victor sees his father pull out his empty wallet and look inside of it. Many of the Native Americans are in poverty and unemployed. Alexie uses a hurricane to show the storm that the Native Americans went through. When the storm is finally over, “the Indians, the eternal survivors, gathered to count their losses” (11). Here Alexie seems to be describing a common way of life for the Native Americans. They are constantly being knocked down, yet they are constantly getting back up again and living. The story continues to highlight the life of the Native Americans through stories of sexual abuse, alcoholism, corruption, violence, suicide, and hopelessness.

The origin stories, American Indian Stories and Lone Ranger all show how the Native Americans are a minority culture. They did not participate in the American Dream to become successful and prosper. In fact, many of the things that have been developed by the dominant culture have destroyed their natural way of life. The Native Americans were forced from their land onto reservations. In order to rise out of poverty they had to participate in the ways of the dominant culture. They had to start going to their schools, learning their customs, learning their creation stories, and learning how to be “civilized” peoples. Throughout all that they have suffered they continue to survive. Their oral tradition keeps a part of their culture alive. The Native Americans did not ask to be part of the dominant culture’s way of life, but they are doing all they can to survive in it. [AS]

In 1492 when Columbus first “discovers” the Americas, the land is rich with animal life, plants, and people. The American Indian inhabits the land—each tribe with its own language and traditions. However, the early invaders feel that the Indian is wild and uncontrolled and, like nature, needs to be tamed and brought under submission. This historical backdrop details the minority status of the American Indian. Unlike the early immigrants, the American Indian did not immigrate to the Americas; instead, the American Indian is already here and is living his American Dream. Our class notes state it this way: “Instead of coming to America, America came to them.” Consequently, as the population of the white man grew, the American Indian was progressively annihilated. His American Dream is now the American Nightmare. Yet in spite of the pressures placed upon the American Indian to assimilate and in spite of their losses, the American Indian still survives. . . . [NB]

1a. The American Indians represent a narrative of “loss and survival” in relation to the American Dream. This is objective 3b, and it addresses the nature of American Indians as a minority. Immigrants come to America, but America came to the Native Americans instead. With frequency, the Indians were declared savages and murdered. Those that survived were placed in shifting reservations, often located on the most desolate territory. Yet, for the trauma endured, the Native American culture has continued. As a minority, there is certainly great loss, but there is an intense will to survive. This image of loss and survival is best witness in education of Native Americans. Originally, knowledge was shared through an oral tradition, as seen in the design of the Origin Stories. In the 1920s, when Zitkala-Sa wrote American Indian Stories, oral tradition existed, although she went to public school. In public school, there were traumatic experiences, also witnessed in Lone Ranger and Tonto. However, despite these difficulties and sacrifices, the Native American culture survived. The minority remains and continues.

First, one should consider the original education of Native Americans. There was no written language, which required knowledge to be passed through an oral tradition. While there are common stories, this allowed for adaptation from tribe to tribe. More importantly, said oral tradition increased bonds within the community. The elder members of the tribe were not as fast, nor as adept at gathering food, but they continued to contribute to the community through the sharing of stories. This strength of community is apparent in the stories themselves. For example, the legend of the Earth-Diver, a popular Iroquois tale of creation, involves several animals or monsters (depending on view) to help prevent the woman who will birth mankind from sinking into the underworld. These “monsters” are familiar animals, and it is finally the turtle that is successful. By using animals familiar to the environment, the story creates bonds with the land. Again, since storytelling is an oral tradition, the creation legend creates increased strength in the community.

Of course, when America came, the Indian culture suffered something of a change. Instead of a purely oral tradition, public education was offered to the children. While this appeared a generous offer, it was actually an effort to assimilate the Indian youth. Zitkala-Sa discussed this at length in Indian Stories. First, she was not allowed to see her family for great lengths of time. Second, her long braids were cut, a gesture to which she attached intense feelings of shame. Third, the curriculum of the school dealt heavily in Christian doctrine, an effort to break from traditional religion. These efforts were all attempts to assimilate the Indian children, by separating them from traditions. Sadly, this was extremely effective, because it caused Zitkala-Sa to suffer intense alienation from her own culture. At the same time, she was still not adopted into the dominant culture. This is what is meant by “loss” in the term “loss and survival.” In addition to being moved to a reservation, the Indians were severed from their own culture through education.

Moving forward to the contemporary, one finds the Indians surviving, despite the damage of the dominant culture. To a degree, there is rebuilding and a return to traditional values. Some of the characters in Lone Ranger carry on the oral tradition, as seen in many of the narratives. In fact, in some sense, the entire novel is an exploration of oral tradition, save for the fact that it is written.

However, this does slide from the point. The passage of interest in Lone Ranger is about Indian Education. Again, there is a complaint of hair being too short and not fitting into the outfit assigned. More interestingly, there is the passage within second grade, when it is demanded that the student’s braid be cut. In response, the parents lay their own braids out across the teacher’s desk. This is the survival aspect of the equation. It is an open defiance of the dominant culture, but it is being done in the interest of cultural preservation. Of course, the teacher finds this enormously frustrating, but the hair cutting is considered a robbing of dignity. Without beating a dead horse, this is what loss and survival means.

In conclusion, loss and survival deals with the American Indians in three parts: before America, the robbing of culture, and the civil disobedience that recovers it. Education was originally an oral tradition, which strengthened the community. In the 1920s, through public education, the government attempted to force assimilation from the Indians, expecting an abandonment of culture. At the present, this culture is being taken back, as Indians again embrace the items, symbols, and ideas that were originally important to their culture. [RL]

Native Americans qualify as a minority culture because they did not choose to voluntarily participate in the dominant culture, nor have they sought to leave behind their past in search of a new beginning as an immigrant or dominant culture may do. Thus, their struggle becomes one of surviving the dominant culture and American dream (nightmare) that is pushed upon them. Their response to this situation becomes a cultural narrative that speaks of loss and survival and a hope that someday their world will be renewed, rather than that they will someday be assimilated and have become American. This response of Loss and Survival as a cultural narrative is exemplified in the following three writings.

In the American Indian stories, Zitkala-sa’s mother exclaims, “There is what the pale-face has done!...We once were very happy. But the pale-face has stolen our lands and driven us hither. Having defrauded us of our land, the paleface forced us away.” This exemplifies the extreme loss that is felt by the mother and the culture. It is not just she but it is “us” that has lost something, and been force into “hither.” The survival part becomes apparent when Zitkala-sa decides to go away to the missionary school. Her mother feels that the education is in someway owed to her for repayment of the bad treatment the Indians have received saying, “She will need an education when she is grown, for then there will be fewer real Dakotas…The palefaces, who owe us a large debt for stolen lands, have begun to pay a tardy justice in offering our children some education.” It is for survival in the future that she then allows her daughter to go to school, but it is the hanging on to the old ways that leads to her resenting the education that Zitkala-sa receives because she feels that Zitkala-sa abandons the old ways for the ways of the paleface.

This same theme is present in American Indian Origin Story by Momaday. He speaks of “loss was in the order of things, then, from the beginning. Their emergence was a small thing in itself, and unfinished.” This, not only refers to the sense of an immediate loss that is not foreign to the American Indian but simply a natural part of being. Yet, rebirth, rediscovery, an emergence is always on the horizon. Thus, this exemplifies the minority cultural narrative of someday reconnecting to the past. There is always an apocalyptic event on the horizon to look towards which will bring back the way things should be.

This same theme is exemplified in the Lone Ranger when Thomas speaks of taking Victor’s father’s ashes. The long awaited someday or emergence is shown when he says, “your father will rise like a salmon, leap over the bridge, over me, and find his way home. It will be beautiful…He will rise, Victor, he will rise.” There is this sense that the rising is not just for the fallen man but for all. This is a rising above and out of the dominant culture into an era of return to the old ways.

These then are examples of how the cultural narrative of loss and survival are incorporated into the writings of the American Indian authors. It further exemplifies how the American Indian’s qualify as a minority culture. They have been forced into involuntary participation with the dominant culture, and cling to the old world ways and continually look struggle to survive their losses and look forward to the day when they will be rejoined with the old ways. [NL]