Impressions of an indian childhood sparknotes

LastName, FirstName English 2: Critical Analysis and Intermediate Composition Ms. Blackwell Section # DATE Reader’s Response Journal • Including the name of the author and the title of the reading, summarize the text in one or two sentences • Develop at least two discussion questions • Define at least two unfamiliar words

American Indian Stories by Zitkala-Sa Reader’s Response Review

Summary In “Impressions of an Indian Childhood” of American Indian Stories by Zitkala-Sa, the narrator’s character is shaped through experiences such as fascination with the legends of her people which she is exposed to at each evening meal and training in attention to detail as her mother’s apprentice in beadwork, awareness of the customs and traditions of the Dakotas as described by tales of the braves (a brave transitions to a warrior and a feast is held in his honor and the narrator’s mother shares how a dead brave is honored), and direct exposure to the imposition of the “palefaces” as the narrator’s brother returns from an Eastern education and replaces the wigwam with a log home and (despite the mother’s misgivings) missionaries convince the narrator to leave home to pursue an Eastern education. Discussion Questions 1. Why does the writer begin the story with such a tragic tale as a mother reveals to her daughter how the “paleface”

drove them from their lands and the daughter’s sister and uncle died due to illness while traveling once they arrived at “the western country”? The mother also reveals that the river from where they draw water is now at risk of being taken away by the “paleface.”

2. Why do the narrator’s misgivings about her decision to leave home happen so soon after departure? 3. Is an education enough of a justification for such an overprotective mother to allow her daughter to leave with people

that the mother believes are dishonest? Why or why not? Unfamiliar Words • Wigwam – hut of the American Indians of the Great Lakes region and eastward having typically an arched framework

of poles overlaid with bark, mats, or hides • Defrauded – to deprive somebody of money or property by dishonest means

Exploring Perspectives: A Concise Guide to Analysis (Chapter 3, “Developing Assertions”), was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee.

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Analysis

The Nature of Analysis

Jeff is not happy. His clock shows 2 a.m., but his computer screen shows nothing. For the last four

hours he has tried to get started on an essay on William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but he just

doesn’t know where to begin. “It’s Professor Johnson’s fault I’m in this mess,” he thinks to himself. “My

other teachers always told me exactly what and how to write, but Professor Johnson asked us to focus

on what each of us finds important about the play. She even told us that no one knows Shakespeare’s

real intentions, and that a million ways to analyze the play are possible.” Jeff slams his hand down on

the table. “If this is true, how do I know when I’ve found the right interpretation?” And Professor

Johnson made it even more difficult for Jeff by instructing her students not to summarize the plot or give

unsupported opinions, but to come up with their own interpretations, show why they are important, and

justify them through close readings of particular scenes. “No one has ever shown me how to do this,”

Jeff grumbles to himself as he gulps down his third cup of coffee.

In actuality, Jeff already possesses the ability to write an analytical essay. He would have realized

this if he had considered the discussions and activities he engaged in during the previous week. In

planning a date, and in thinking of the best way to convince his parents to send him more money, Jeff

had to carefully evaluate a variety of situations to develop a point of view that he then had to justify and

show why it mattered. In each of these instances, he made plenty of assertions, statements which

present points of view; used examples, specific passages, scenes, events, or items which inspire these

points of view; gave explanations, statements which reveal how the examples support and/or

complicate the assertions; and provided significance, statements which reveal the importance of the

analysis to our personal and/or cultural concerns. Analysis is a way of understanding a subject by using

each of these elements, expressing an opinion (making assertions), supporting that opinion (including

examples), justifying that opinion (explaining the examples), and showing why the opinion matters

(extending the significance).

Though a complete analysis always needs to use these elements, the reasons for engaging in it

may vary widely. For instance, sometimes the goal is to persuade the reader to accept an interpretation

or to adapt a course of action, and other times the goal is to explore several possible interpretations or

courses of action without settling on any one in particular. But whether the goal is to persuade, explore,

or enlighten, analysis should always spring from a careful examination of a given subject. I always tell

my students that they do not need to convince me that their points of view are correct but rather to

reveal that they have thought about their subject thoroughly and arrived at reasonable and significant

considerations.

Though it would be impossible to outline all the possible manifestations and combinations of these

elements of analysis, this book will help you to create, balance, and express each of them with

precision, clarity, and voice. The first task is to make certain all these elements are present to some

degree throughout your paper, because when any one is missing or dominates too much, the essay

starts to drift from analysis to a different mode of writing. Consider, for instance, how Jeff might have

gotten off track when trying to respond to the following speech from The Tempest, when the character

Prospero becomes morose as the play he is putting on within the play becomes interrupted:

https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_exploring-perspectives-a-concise-guide-to-analysis/

https://www.saylor.org/books/

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

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Strategy for introductions - tell a relatable story (audience is students)

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Why is Shakespeare so popular?

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English 2 reading assignment

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no personal responsibility - it's 2 am!

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DEFINITION

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DEFINITION

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GQ: EXAMPLES

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ill-tempered

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How is analyzing different than summarizing? (guiding question)

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