The document analyzes major themes in the works of Zitkála-Šá and Joy Harjo, two influential Indigenous authors in the United States. It discusses their exploration of nature, adaptation, family, and travel. For both authors, nature represents Indigenous peoples' deep connection to the land. They also portray the challenges of adapting to new environments while maintaining cultural identity. Family is depicted as providing emotional support despite societal changes. Travel serves as a metaphor for personal journeys and the displacement of Indigenous communities over time.

1. ZITKÁLA-ŠÁ AND JOY HARJO: MAJOR
THEMES IN INDIGENOUS
LITERATURE IN THE UNITED STATES
Gabriela Moran
April 14, 2018

2. Major Points
◦ Nature
◦ The strong association of nature with Zitkála-Šá’s Indian childhood and the disconnect between it and her academic life
◦ Joy Harjo’s use of nature to explain the struggles of indigenous peoples
◦ Adaptation
◦ Zitkála-Šá faces direct change within her own life
◦ The overall adaptation of indigenous peoples is forefront in Joy Harjo’s work
◦ Family
◦ Zitkála-Šá struggles with the differences in relationships within and outside her community
◦ Joy Harjo reflects on her past, current, and future family and how they affect her
◦ Travel
◦ The physical travels of both Zitkála-Šá and Joy Harjo mirror their personal journeys and the trials of indigenous
peoples over time

3. Nature
◦ Harjo uses nature to describe the history of indigenous peoples in America. In “the crow and the snake”, for
example, she tells the tale of a group of birds driven from their meeting place by a fake snake. By the time
one brave crow was able to bring back the rest, the meeting place felt off. The feeling of sanctity had been
ripped from them just as indigenous peoples had been run off their lands and where they reside now will
never be the same.
◦ Zitkála-Šá’s tale uses nature as a way to differentiate between her Indian childhood and her time spent in
academia and away from home. When describing home, she speaks of grasses, streams, and sloping land as
she spends her days playing with other children. They spend most of their time outside interacting with
nature while at school, she stays inside all day and is forced into a strict regime. Her time between school
sessions are met with more freedom than she had in months but she must always return to the stark world of
the “paleface” and give up those liberties she enjoyed.

4. Adaptation
◦ “The Path to the Milky Way Leads Through Los Angeles” is an excellent example of how Harjo views
adaptation. In order to create a better world for future generations to thrive in, we must take past views and
adapt them to fit a modern world. Just as she takes advice from the crow to “collect the shine of anything
beautiful,” humanity as a whole must find the good things in this world and keep them close. We can only
“wait and see” as the crow says in order to find out what the next world will bring. Until then, we must adapt.
◦ Adaptation is an important part of Zitkála-Šá’s development. She must leave behind her home in order to
pursue an education and, hopefully, survive in the world that the “paleface” are creating around her. Her
mother knows this when she says, “This tearing her away, so young, from her mother is necessary.” Zitkála-Šá
must change her ways of thinking in order to survive, but after spending so much time in academia she finds
that the “paleface” are simply doing this to erase their cultures. They are forcing assimilation. It was this same
“semblance of civilization” that allowed Zitkála-Šá to tell her tale and the history of erasure.

5. Family
◦ The dynamics of family are important to Harjo and the reader sees that in “kinetics of wind” where she
ponders exactly how connected she, her father, and her granddaughter are. She notes that at the births of
each of her grandchildren, a family member who has already passed will visit. Harjo describes birth as
“charged with the hopes and dreams of the parents, the relatives, and all other life that is connected with the
event.” The forces that connect family are strong in her eyes and their lives are delicately interconnected.
◦ Zitkála-Šá describes a culture in which everyone, regardless of blood, is related. They form tight-knit groups
and hold strong relationships. The progression of her relationships is seen throughout Zitkála-Šá’s story.
While in the beginning she knew just about everyone in her community, she was all of a sudden pushed into
a world where others tend to be cold and distant. Her instructors at school are stiff and her employer
seemingly doesn’t fully acknowledge her. The other students in Indian school suffer seemingly alone and
there is no mention of friendships forming. When she returns home, however, she is greeted by her mother
with open arms and plenty of love.

6. Travel
◦ The travels that Harjo experiences cement the fact that our existence is never a stable thing. In “traveling
through the dark” she discusses how traveling takes many forms and all of them contribute to one’s view of
the world. She describes her trips to the grocery store, dreams, distant countries, and with another. She would
always bring something back and it is typically something abstract. One always changes and gains something
after their travels. This is paramount to developing as a person.
◦ Travel is an important part of Zitkála-Šá’s story and is intrinsic to her development. By being pushed into the
world outside of her small community, her eyes are able to open to the injustices faced by her people. Her
epiphany is summed up when she says, “I had arrived in the wonderful land of rosy skies, but I was not
happy, as I had thought I should be.” She was so young when she was forced to come face-to-face with this
fact and it had such a dramatic effect.

7. Conclusion
◦ These four themes come together and form a basic insight into what it means to exist as an Indigenous
person in the United States. Adaptation is paramount in survival in a new world that they were forced to
move to. However, fully changing would mean letting go of everything that makes up one’s culture. Relying
on familial relationships and ancient ties to the land keeps those traditions alive. Indigenous peoples now
have taken these injustices into their cultures and formed a unique body of literature. They speak on how
their history is tumultuous yet they are still here. They grow fewer, yes, but they still pass on traditions as best
as they can despite what they have faced.