Essay Indian Culture in A Stench of Kerosene

The reason that the wife became upset is that she was not in search of a solution to her problem but she was in search of support.

husband’s domination, she only needs more rest in a quiet place with fresh air and that

traditional gender constructs cast men as dominant and women as submissive, and the narrator certainly is bound by these constructs (81). Her husband sees her as a tool by which his needs are met, and line 1 shows that he is pleased with her cooking ability, as he “gives… an A” for the dinner she prepared the previous night. However, she also receives “an incomplete” because she did not finish the ironing (3). Should she modify her performance according to her husbands desires? If she wants the elusive praise that he grudgingly doles out, then the answer is to the affirmative. The wife is little more than hired help at this point, which is another form of objectification she is subjected to.

The 1960’s and 70’s were a turbulent time in the United States, as many minority groups took to the streets to voice their displeasure with policies that affected them. During this time period a large movement for civil rights, including Native American’s, would seek to find their voices, as largely urbanized groups sought ways in which they could reconnect with their tribe and their cultural history. In their book, Like A Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee, Paul Chaat Smith, and Robert Allen Warrior take an extensive look at the events leading up to the three of the largest civil rights movements carried out by Native Americans. Beginning with the takeover of Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay by Indians of All Tribes in 1969; the authors tell in a vivid fashion of the Bay Area activism and Clyde Warrior 's National Indian Youth Council, Vine Deloria Jr.’s leadership of the National Congress of Indians, the Trail of Broken Treaties and the Bureau of Indian Affairs takeover, the Wounded Knee Occupation and the rise of the American Indian Movement.

The American desire to culturally assimilate Native American people into establishing American customs went down in history during the 1700s. Famous author Zitkala-Sa, tells her brave experience of Americanization as a child through a series of stories in “Impressions of an Indian Childhood.” Zitkala-Sa, described her journey into an American missionary where they cleansed her of her identity. In “Impressions of an Indian Childhood,” Zitkala-Sa uses imagery in order to convey the cruel nature of early American cultural transformation among Indian individuals.

As she is not docile, the Wife must be something to the contrary, and of course

of the situation and to show that she now has the upper hand in their

For this month’s book report I read a book called ‘The Indian in the Cupboard’ by Lynne Reid Banks. This book was about a boy named Omri and his small Indian toy.

As she is not docile, the Wife must be something to the contrary, and of course

puts her son’s comfort and life above all and swallows her pride. Furthermore, as a woman of the

1. What were the common characteristics of all Indian cultures in the New World, and what were the important differences among them?

After reading Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools by Ward Churchill, I have come to realization of some matters. First of all, while your goal might had been to civilize the Indians by teaching them English, manners, and change their whole appearance, the outcome was totally different. Your goal might have been successful to you, in the end you got what you wanted: to kill the Indian and Save the Man. But also, you stole those kid’s identities by taking them away from their families. You traumatized them, and making them go through so many forms of abuse. “Kill the Indian, save the men” or like U.S. Indian Commissioner William A. Jones said in 1903, the goal was to “exterminate the

order to be a part of society and she does not want to see all the other women who have to do the

reluctance to admit her father’s death. When he dies, she refuses to let anyone remove his body from their house. It’s as if she feels she needs his comforting and protection.

Comparing A Stench of Kerosene and Country Lovers Both A Stench of Kerosene and Country Lovers demonstrate cultural