In the narrative The School Days of an Indian Girl, American Indian Zitkala-Sa chronicles her quest to achieve the American Dream as she obtains her education. To me, this narrative is a great example of someone determined to succeed in their own personal American dream, and also has the added and familiar element of oppression and discrimination on the road to success, which Zitkala-Sa fights her entire life. Throughout her schooling, Zitkala-Sa faces the obstacle of assimilating into a culture foreign to hers while trying to maintain her identity as a Native American. She seems to have everything against her: she barely understands English, she is separated from her family, and key parts of her identity are stolen, such as her long hair and traditional dress. This illustrated a familiar element of stories of the American Dream in that those in search of it often had to work their way up from the bottom of society, and were often also forced to assimilate into western culture. Zitkala-sa eventually finds her voice when she participates in an oratorical contest. Though she faces discrimination, the worst of which comes in the form of a flag emblazoned with “squaw,” she wins both of the contests she participates in. Against odds, Zitkala-Sa is on her way to achieving the American Dream, but is held back by the discrimination she faces. She acknowledges this, saying that “the little taste of victory did not satisfy the hunger in my heart.” No matter how hard she tries, at least in her time, Zitkala-Sa could not fully achieve the American Dream due to the prejudices that ran very deep in most people of her time. If achieving the American dream means having liberty and justice for all,
Zitkala-Sa is kept from fully achieving it because of the unjust prejudices held against her despite the fact that she obviously had the skill and talent to succeed.
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