As Indians living in white culture, many problems and conflicts arise. Often times, they suffer microaggressions, racism and most of all, danger to their culture. Progressively, they lose pieces of their culture and slowly, as if it was a dream, many Indians become absorbed into white society, all the while trying to retain their Native lifestyle. In “An Indian Father’s Plea” by Robert Lake and “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, the idea that a dominant culture can pose many threats to a minority culture is shown by Wind-Wolf and Alexie.
Wind-Wolf, a young, innocent Indian boy is struggling to fit in while being torn apart between white culture and Indian culture. Having recently started kindergarten in a predominantly white school, Wind-Wolf …show more content…
His father describes to his teacher, “My Indian child is a slow learner...It takes time to adjust to a new cultural system and learn new things”(Lake 2). Wind-Wolf’s father explains to the teacher that she should try to be patient with Wind-Wolf because he needs time getting used to this new educational environment. Growing up, Wind-Wolf experienced and learned different things than his white peers. For example, “he’s been taught by our traditional people that there are 13 full moons in a year..13 planets in our solar system…”(Lake 3). Because of this, Wind-Wolf has a distinct perspective on education and possesses different knowledge compared to what his classmates have been taught in their classrooms. Another factor that separates Wind-Wolf from his classmates are his looks, hobbies, and beliefs. Because of these differences, he feels left out, but still yearns to fit in. One step he takes in trying to fit in is by cutting his own hair because at school, “he has no friends because they make fun of his long hair...but …show more content…
Alexie writes that his classmates and friends have been seduced into believing that Indians are expected to be nothing but failures because in school, “[Indians]We were expected to be stupid... expected to fail in the non-Indian world”(Alexie 4). Not only that, but, “most Indian kids lived up to those expectation inside the classroom, but subverted them on the outside”(Alexie 4). Inside of school, they respect teachers and classroom materials, but they’re not them true selves; they obey rules and follow what the teacher says by, “learning native songs, etc.”, but outside of school, they reveal their true, hidden self by fighting at Powwows, etc. Based on this, all of the Indian kids beside Alexie have already lost hope in life and given up on trying to “save their lives”(Alexie 4). Both cultures don’t admire intelligent Indian kids because they’re considered as disgrace to society. This is why so many Indian kids are unsuccessful because starting at an early age, bad influences are set on them and they progressively follow the same footsteps as their parents. As an undeveloped Indian child, Alexie could have easily been brainwashed into believing that “those who failed were accepted by other Indians and pitied by non-Indians”(Alexie 4) but he knew better. Alexie didn’t want to just “survive”, he wanted to
Wind-Wolf, a young, innocent Indian boy is struggling to fit in while being torn apart between white culture and Indian culture. Having recently started kindergarten in a predominantly white school, Wind-Wolf …show more content…
His father describes to his teacher, “My Indian child is a slow learner...It takes time to adjust to a new cultural system and learn new things”(Lake 2). Wind-Wolf’s father explains to the teacher that she should try to be patient with Wind-Wolf because he needs time getting used to this new educational environment. Growing up, Wind-Wolf experienced and learned different things than his white peers. For example, “he’s been taught by our traditional people that there are 13 full moons in a year..13 planets in our solar system…”(Lake 3). Because of this, Wind-Wolf has a distinct perspective on education and possesses different knowledge compared to what his classmates have been taught in their classrooms. Another factor that separates Wind-Wolf from his classmates are his looks, hobbies, and beliefs. Because of these differences, he feels left out, but still yearns to fit in. One step he takes in trying to fit in is by cutting his own hair because at school, “he has no friends because they make fun of his long hair...but …show more content…
Alexie writes that his classmates and friends have been seduced into believing that Indians are expected to be nothing but failures because in school, “[Indians]We were expected to be stupid... expected to fail in the non-Indian world”(Alexie 4). Not only that, but, “most Indian kids lived up to those expectation inside the classroom, but subverted them on the outside”(Alexie 4). Inside of school, they respect teachers and classroom materials, but they’re not them true selves; they obey rules and follow what the teacher says by, “learning native songs, etc.”, but outside of school, they reveal their true, hidden self by fighting at Powwows, etc. Based on this, all of the Indian kids beside Alexie have already lost hope in life and given up on trying to “save their lives”(Alexie 4). Both cultures don’t admire intelligent Indian kids because they’re considered as disgrace to society. This is why so many Indian kids are unsuccessful because starting at an early age, bad influences are set on them and they progressively follow the same footsteps as their parents. As an undeveloped Indian child, Alexie could have easily been brainwashed into believing that “those who failed were accepted by other Indians and pitied by non-Indians”(Alexie 4) but he knew better. Alexie didn’t want to just “survive”, he wanted to