Hannah Hecht's Blog

1. Last week, we had an abbreviated class session. We finished watching Age of Innocence and spent a little bit of time discussing Alexander’s Bridge in order to come up with some discussion questions. One of the things that I found most interesting about Alexander’s Bridge was Willa Cather’s intense dislike of her own novel, a feeling we read about in the secondary text. According to the stuff we’ve learned in class, Cather was more of a prairie novelist, although she would later dislike that label. She would rather characterize herself as an American writer than a regionalist writer. She simply thought that the essence of the American experience was best exemplified through prairie writing. Alexander’s Bridge, however, is a piece of writing worthy of an expatriate. The secondary text said that Cather felt that Alexander’s Bridge was both juvenile and a bit of a betrayal to her Midwestern roots. Here are the review questions that I came up with:

• Do each of the women in the story stand for a different set of ideals?
• Compare/contrast Hilda and Winifred. What do the differences say about the two different countries? Or are they even meant to be symbols?
• Why was the first chapter from the perspective of the professor? What ever happened to him?

2. This week, we read American Indian Stories by Zitkala-Sa. The book consisted of nine short stories and one essay, all concerning the lives of Native Americans in the United States. The first four were autobiographical and showed vignettes of important points in the author’s life. “Impressions of an Indian Childhood” explained what it was like for the author to grow up as a member of the Yankton Sioux, “School Days of an Indian Girl” told the story of her transition to an Indian school run by whites in Indiana, “An Indian Teacher Among Indians” describes her first job, and “The Great Spirit” recounts an episode where a converted Native American Christian preacher comes to try and persuade the author to convert to Christianity. The following stories are all legends that the author grew up hearing or short stories that she wrote to help English-speaking Americans sympathize with the Native Americans. The final installment, “America’s Indian Problem,” is an essay directed at non-natives of the time that speaks in favor of Native American rights.

One of my favorite stories from the group was “A Warrior’s Daughter.” The story reads like a Native American fairy tale with a strong female protagonist at its center. When the main character’s suitor gets captured by enemies, she sneaks into the enemy camp disguised as an old woman and rescues him, killing any enemies who try and stop her. At the end, she hoists her lover onto her back and runs triumphantly home. It is understood that though there are many warriors in the story (her father, the lover, and the warriors who go fight the enemy), the main character, Tusee, is the bravest warrior of all.

I also really enjoyed the nonfiction pieces at the beginning of the book describing Zitkala-Sa’s early life. They gave a window into the life of a Native American in the late 19^th century. For me, the real turning point in those stories is when her mother decides to send her off with the white men to get a white education. The mother knows that her daughter will have to endure unbearable hardship, but education ends up being the thing that allows Zitkala-Sa to become vastly successful.

3. “Zitkala-Sa: The Representative Indian” by Susan Rose Dominguez helps to bring a lot of different themes from American Indian Stories to light. It also is a resource of biographical information which helps readers to put the short stories in context. It especially helped me to understand the meaning of “America’s Indian Problem.” The secondary text explains that “America’s Indian Problem” was published in a women’s magazine in 1921. Zitkala-Sa intended for the newly enfranchised middle-class women to reach out and help the American Indian. She outlined specific points that would allow American Indians to find success as Americans. Her essay was successful, and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs formed the National Indian Welfare Committee.

The essay also filled in some of the blanks about Zitkala-Sa’s life that the short stories didn’t directly address. For example, it explained that her uncle and sister were killed by General Custer and his Seventh Calvary. It also explained that she attended Josiah White’s Institute in Wabash, Indiana. The article also includes information about her musical talent, her husband, and her life after her stint as a teacher, information that is not included at all in the stories. The secondary text for this week provided more background information than criticism, but I found the background information to be very useful and informative.