DBQ 4 Nicholas Gilman

1. According to Pratt what was the problem with the Native American? Were their failure to
assimilate all their fault? How would his school make them better Americans?

Pratt asserts that the problem with Native Americans was their desire to retain their culture. He
contested that this retention of tribal traditions and language will prevent them from ever becoming
civilized. Pratt offers an almost hypocritical idea that all people are created equal, but the culture of
civilized white American is superior to all others. It is interesting to consider the implication of this
contention that human beings, regardless of race or genetic qualities, all possess the same ability to be
civilized if they adopt the white culture and abandon any tribal association, which is the source of their
savagery. He also claims that the failure of Native Americans to assimilate is a result tribal schools,
located on reservations, that continued to propagate the Native American traditions and culture, thus
preventing the Native Americans from shedding their savage identities. This education process was a
result of government program and thus the government is then responsible for its failure. His Carlisle
school resolves the issues he presents by not only offering an education but offers a cultural cleansing of
Native American traditions and language in favor of American patriotism and white American culture,
thus “killing the Indian, and saving the man.”

2. What were Zitkala-Su’s experiences at her school in Indiana. Why were they so traumatic for
her? Did her education as exemplified by her winning the speech contest ultimately separate
her from roots?

Her experiences were traumatic because she was thrust into a world that she did not understand nor
was this world interested in understanding her or her culture, as was the nature of school. She describes
the cold mechanized routine in which the school operated and with no desire to empathize with the
stress the students endured from being mandated to follow the societal system contrary to the
traditions of their native culture. She specifically describes the trauma of having her hair cut in such a
way to would have presented her as a coward to her people. As her education advanced she became
more isolated. Her desire to pursue further education, including the validating experience of winning the
oratory competition, cast her into an existence between two worlds. She was no longer fully accepted
by her family and her people over her decision to pursue this education, and, while successful, met with
bigotry and resentment from her white peers. The closing statement from the excerpt, describing her
experience of sitting alone in front of a crackling fire is reflective of the isolation she felt.