I believe Zitkala-Sa’s story of her life when thrown into the world of palefaces in some ways is and in some ways is not a good representation of the American dream. The American dream to me is a person using his or her skills and hard work to become successful. It’s about not discriminating against a person in any way, and giving everyone an equal opportunity to achieve happiness.
In “The School Days of an Indian Girl” Zitkala-Sa is fortunate enough to receive the opportunities she needs to become successful. While starting off she found school very tough and frightening, she was still able to capitalize on this opportunity and go on to college and become a successful orator. The sentence “Then there was a mad uproar in the hall, where my classmates sang and shouted my name at the top of their lungs [. . .]” really represents how Zitkala-Sa went from an Indian girl that was looked down upon by everyone to someone that was celebrated by people because of her hard work.
Even though it is wonderful that Zitkala-Sa was given the opportunity to receive an education, it came at a price that I believe does not represent the American dream. While learning to read and write, her culture was slowly ripped away from her. In the sentence “I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard thme gnaw off one of my thick braids”, Zitkala-Sa is being forced to cut her hair. Hair in her Indian culture was such an important thing and really represented who that person was. By cutting it off, the “palefaces” were essentially taking away her identity. In this way I don’t think Zitkala-Sa was living the American dream. All people should be allowed to be themselves and shouldn’t be forced to “fit in” with everyone else just to receive the opportunities others are getting.
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