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Good Hair by Sherman Alexie questions the inevitability of leaving behind traditions through the connection of hair to culture. In the poem, Alexie calls attention to the pressure surrounding people of color, specifically Native Americans, to pare their associations with their customs in order to assimilate into Western society due to the burden of racism and oppression.
Alexie also touches on the idea and practice of appropriation and alludes to the pain and suffering the Native Americans are plagued with as a result of the lack of acceptance towards their people at the hands of the European settlers. He does this by making effective use of diction, imagery, figures of speech, symbols, and form. Throughout the poem, Alexie utilizes
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Throughout the poem, the subject of the questions shift from general inquiries to questions that are specific to the pain, suffering, and alcoholism that Indians particularly face on their reservations. Alexie furthers the theme of the inevitability of the loss of identity by utilizing diction to create an impassioned yet sarcastic tone. The poem sports informal diction which is exemplified by his usage of hyphenated words such as “warrior-pretend,” “ceremony-dumb,” and
“horseback-never,” (line 5). Each joining of words contains a perceived traditional Native
American attribute to their culture paired with a word that denotes the lack of association with these traditions. By combining these words with a hyphen, Alexie, in turn, intertwines the two to illustrate the loss of culture. Without their braids, the person can live without carrying the traditions and cultural aspects of their race outwardly for the world to see. In Alexie’s mind, the lack of braids equates to the lack of identity and culture. In his teens, Alexie left his reservation to attend an all-white high school (Britannica 1). Perhaps this suggest the personal connection between giving up his culture, which in turn implies the inevitability of losing traditions in
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As a case in point, in couplet eight, Alexie questions, “Did you donate your hair for somebody’s chemo wig? Is there a cancer kid who thrives because of your braids?” (line 16). On the surface, Alexie appears to be simply pondering if they cut off their hair to donate to a good cause. However, this statement is sarcastic. Alexie is actually using this to symbolize the idea of culture appropriation. He wants to know if they gave away their Indian culture so that someone of another culture can prosper off of it. This is a problem as many companies, and ordinary citizens, take traditional Native American imagery and tradition and use it for profit or personal gain whilst simultaneously pressuring actual Native Americans to assimilate into western European society. This connects to the poem as a whole because it connects to the after effects of racism. Alexie sarcastically want to know why they gave away their hair and culture when others are so eager to take part in their idealized versions of it. Lastly, Alexie sets forth a particular structure and form in this poem. The stanzas are arranged in open form instead of free verse because the stanzas are separated into lines of
The author also referred to the hair of Zeena and Mattie quite often. Zeena had only “thin strands of hair”, and she wore a “hard perpendicular bonnet” above her head. The sight imprinted in the reader’s mind is not a pleasant one. Zeena appears to be stern and rigid. On the contrary when Mattie’s hair was described, it is more appealing. Ethan remembers her “smoothed hair and a ribbon at her neck”. A ribbon is more appealing to the reader than a “hard, perpendicular bonnet.” Mattie’s hair was also described as looking like a “drift of mist on the moon”. Unlike Zeena’s uninviting hairstyle, Mattie’s hair had a soft and silky quality to it. Mattie seemed to walk about the house with a halo of light surrounding her, almost like an angel. The conflicting hairstyles of the two women represented an overall difference in personalities. Mattie was a feminine young girl, while Zeena was an old hag who made no attempt to better her appearance.
The process of assimilation, as it regards to the Native Americans, into European American society took a dreaded and long nearly 300 years. Initially, when the European’s came to the hopeful and promising land of the “New World”, they had no desire or reason anything but minimal contact with the Indians. However, starting in the 1700s the European colonists population skyrocketed. The need for more resources became evident and the colonists knew they could attain these necessities by creating a relationship of mutual benefit with the Native tribes. The Indians, at first skeptical, however became growingly open to the colonists and the relationship they were looking to attain. Indian furs were traded for colonial goods and military alliances were formed.
“Quantie’s weak body shuddered from a blast of cold wind. Still, the proud wife of the Cherokee chief John Ross wrapped a woolen blanket around her shoulders and grabbed the reins.” Leading the final group of Cherokee Indians from their home lands, Chief John Ross thought of an old story that was told by the chiefs before him, of a place where the earth and sky met in the west, this was the place where death awaits. He could not help but fear that this place of death was where his beloved people were being taken after years of persecution and injustice at the hands of white Americans, the proud Indian people were being forced to vacate their lands, leaving behind their homes, businesses and almost everything they owned while traveling to an unknown place and an uncertain future. The Cherokee Indians suffered terrible indignities, sickness and death while being removed to the Indian territories west of the Mississippi, even though they maintained their culture and traditions, rebuilt their numbers and improved their living conditions by developing their own government, economy and social structure, they were never able to return to their previous greatness or escape the injustices of the American people.
Nevertheless, both Welch and Alexie challenge the dominating constructions of Native identity in their attempts to dismantle all forms of identity (both inside and outside indigenous cultures). By deconstructing the stereotypical tribal experience, Zits, Charging Elk and the Narrator offer a more freely defined model of Native American identity. Each character is thus liberated from colonial ascribed identities, and is able to take on a more ahistorical one. In taking on this model, the protagonists subvert the artificial distinction of society, and reveal a true identity of the contemporary Indian.
It is evident that the Native Americans were unfairly removed from their homeland because the Europeans settlers saw them as savages not worthy to live among them. The Native Americans responded to their cruelty with pleads of desperation. These pleads of desperation were annoyed and instead excuses of doing what’s “best” for them both proceeded.
The novel Lame Deer, Seeker of visions is a biography of a Lakota Medicine Man who lived in the 1900’s. this book is his personal views of the situation that Lame Deer’s people have been left in after everything that had happened as the “white man” immigrated to what they believed to be unknown land and theirs for the taking. through the story he speaks of the history of the desecration done to the Native Americans by the European invaders. as well as explaining to Richard Erdoes, through hours of interviews, the way of the Lakota People and their Rituals and customs. this depiction shows the vast spirituality of the Lakota as well as what they hold highly in their religion. It is explained how the “white Man” took over their sacred land and destro...
Assimilation = to take on the traits of the dominant culture; compelled though force or undertaken voluntarily to be accepted into society or simply to survive
In short, Alexie forces the reader to see Native Americans as rock-and-roll wannabees. What could be ea...
The poem is a combination of beauty and poignancy. It is a discovery in a trajectory path of rise and fall of human values and modernity. She is a sole traveler, a traveler apart in a literary romp afresh, tracing the thinning line of time and action.
This also brings up the questions of: Can cultural appropriation be defined and can it be avoided? With the new fads of Chinese character tattoo's, Hindu god t-shirts, and the selling of such things as Native sweat lodge kits and ceremonies, does this not show that North Americans can appreciate other cultures and that western culture has become a product of a multicultural society.1 Through examples of film and art, sports, and religion, I will answer the following questions and specifically how cultural appropriation has affected North American First Nation peoples. There is much confusion when it comes to the meaning of cultural appropriation. The literal meaning begins with Culture-Anthropological: the sum total of the attainments and learned behaviour patterns of any specific period, race or people; Appropriation's meaning is to take for one's own use.[2] Most people today then know cultural appropriation then as "to take someone else's culture to use for your own purpose".2 I believe that the argument is not that appropriation is "stealing", as some people claim, but that it does matter how a person goes about putting to use the knowledge
The poem is about the early stages in the narrator’s pregnancy. The doctor gives her news that the baby may be unhealthy. In a state of panic, we see the narrator turning to the methods of her homeland and native people to carry her through this tough time, and ensure her child’s safe delivery into the world. Da’ writes, “In the hospital, I ask for books./Posters from old rodeos. /A photo of a Mimbres pot /from southern New Mexico /black and white line figures—/a woman dusting corn pollen over a baby’s head/during a naming ceremony. /Medieval women/ingested apples/with the skins incised with hymns and verses/as a portent against death in childbirth” (Da’). We not only see her turning to these old rituals of her cultural, but wanting the items of her cultural to surround her and protect her. It proves her point of how sacred a land and cultural is, and how even though she has been exiled from it, she will continue to count it as a part of her
Contrary to popular belief, discrimination of Native Americans in America still widely exist in the 21st century! So you may ask, why? Well, to answer that one question, I will give you 3 of the countless reasons why this unfortunate group of people are punished so harshly for little good reason. So now, let’s get into it, shall we!
There are various issues on Indian Reservations that have significant impacts on the lives of many Native American people, young and old. Among these are domestic violence, suicide, severe medical issues, and extreme poverty. These issues have a negative impact on family life, employment, and self motivation. A vicious cycle is created by the continuance of issues as generation after generation of Native Americans are exposed to similar conditions and find themselves struggling to adapt to a judge mental society and some cases, to survive. Two works of literature that portray the lives of Native Americans and their struggles are Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich and Where White Men Fear to Tread by Russell Means. The character Albertine
People had already been living in the America long before the white man ever “discovered” it. These people were known as the Native Americans. They had lived peacefully on the land, for hundred of years till the early 1800s when white settlers began their move towards the West. As these white settler came upon the Native Americans they brought with them unwavering beliefs that would end up causing great conflicts with the Native people, who had their own way set of values. It was clear that the white man and the Native Americans could not live among each other peacefully for their values and culture were much too different.
I can't remember the day my hair and I parted ways. We used to get along when we were young! Displayed in the ponytail fountain on top of my head, she was quite cooperative....