Claiming a Native Identity in Zitkala Sa’s American Indian Stories

Abstract

Abstract The quest for identity is one of the major problems of all time. The present thesis tries to demonstrate that Zitkala Sa’s writings and especially American Indian Stories are a way to make her voice heard. The study shows that Zitkala Sa uses her pen as a weapon to defend her people, and to give a genuine identity to Native Americans; an identity that is unique and different from others. This thesis gives a clear overview of the Indians sufferance represented in Zitkala Sa as one of them, and all the obstacles she faced in her journey to define her truly Indian identity after the attempts of the whites to assimilate them through the boarding schools, and how she became an activist who could assert many laws that protect her people.