Free Spirit No More

Mary Kate Ryser-Oatman

Journal #6

Zitkala Sa, "Impressions of an Indian Childhood"

January 23, 2009

"Loosely clad in a slip of brown buckskin, and light-footed with a pair of soft moccasins on my feet, I was as free as the wind that blew my hair, and no less spirited than a bounding deer. These were my mother's pride,-my wild freedom and overflowing spirits" (Sa 1107).

As a child, Sa was a free spirit, roaming where she pleased with her mother and full of life. After knowing the rest of the story, this passage shows foreshadowing of what is to come for Sa.

The first time I read this passage, I clearly did not know what the rest of the story entailed, so I did not assume that this was foreshadowing. This quote first reminded me of the Disney movie Pochahontas. I knew there was a somewhat true story of her and the tribe she was from, and that there really was a Captain John Smith, but I am only familiar with the movie from when I was little. In the movie, Pocahontas is the Chief's daughter. She is older than Sa was in this passage, but her spirit is still as free as Sa's. When Captain John Smith comes over from England (they are supposed to be one of the first settlers), he tries to show her that his way of life is almost better than hers, since his world contains muskets and "civilized clothing". In the end, Pocahontas falls in love with John Smith, but does not follow him to England until the second movie. The second movie shows Pocahontas in England being assimilated into the European life, in which she dresses, speaks and eats like a "civilized" person. She becomes lost in the European way, and loses her former culture.

This story really reminded me of Sa and the entire journey she took. This passage that looks into her childhood and shows a glimpse of her free spirit and wild personality is one of the last that readers learn of in the story before she is whisked away by the missionaries. Her free will was left behind when she was taken East, and I do not think she ever found it again when her schooling was over. Her loose buckskin and her moccasins were replaced with tighter dresses and real shoes when she was sent away, and she lost some of her identity and freedom with that change. Her Indian name means Red Bird, and this ties into the passage above. As a child, she is as free as a bird, her long hair flying in the wind, just gliding along by the river. I was disappointed that she seemed to lose most of her connections with her culture and her family. She became civilized, but at what price? Her relationship with her mother was ruined and the little girl she once was became a distant memory of a time she did not fully associate with anymore.

Wikipedia also describes Sa's childhood as very happy and carefree, "When she was with her friends, they were free to run after their shadows and the shadows of the clouds. In the evening, she listened to the stories of the elders while she gazed out into the open universe above her. She was surrounded with people she could trust." Sa had such a carefree childhood full of love and freedom, she did not have to completely disconnect with that past when she left for school. She seemed to have little interest in regaining that freedom years after it was taken from her, because she was so used to the "civilized" way of living.