Disciplined Hearts
Essay by 24 • December 5, 2010 • 1,268 Words (6 Pages) • 1,602 Views
Disciplined Hearts
I enjoyed reading Disciplined Hearts by Theresa O'Nell because i find that many people today do not know a lot about the Native American culture and what they have been through. Their cultures history is not talked about as much the African American or Hispanic's are. Most Americans know about the hardships that the African American and Hispanics had to overcome to assimilate to the level that they are today. I think O'Nell is trying to talk about the history of the Native American culture because, she believes that the reason that their culture is not well-known because of the fact that they have chosen to keep living like their ancestors and not assimilate to the American culture.
It is not out of line to expect Native Americans to live like their ancestors, and I agree with the way that O'Nell made the government look like the wrongdoers. She talks like "indians" are just part of stories or like they have not kept up with the times. This book points out many of the problems for native americans by bringing out problems in identity, culture, and depression dealing with the Flathead Tribe in Montana. The book is divided into three parts to accomplish this. Part 1 is about the American government's policies that were put on the reservations and how it affected the culture of the Flathead Tribe attached to that reservation. This is the base for is to come in the next two parts, which talk about how lonliness an pity tie into the identity and depression.
O'Nell talks about how the indian culture is much more than the typical American may perceive. She talks about how storytelling in Flathead culture is very important and shows the reader many of these stories dealing with the "white man." One that really caught my attention that had to do with the identity of the Native American was the story about a chief that got pulled over by the cops for no reason al all. The story starts off with the Chief of the Flathead tribe driving his granddaughter around and getting pulled over. When he was pulled over he was issued a ticket, for not wearing a seat-belt. When he confronted the officer about how they are not allowed to pull people over for the sole fact of not being buckled in, the officer said that the vehicle "looked suspicious." This is a prime example of how the Native American identity is looked down on in a sense to many American people. They are ignorant to what the culture and ways of a Native American is, so they act on the bad things people ignorantly say about them on a regular basis.
Also on the subject of their culture, O'Nell brings out a good point in talking about their reservation land. The government set aside land for the Flathead tribe to call theirs. Then, not understanding their culture and how Native Americans like to live the way their ancestors did, the government opens their land to the public to build and live on. The government also starts to issue citations for illegal hunting, which is part of the Native American culture which is not the right thing to do. In order to open these lands they had to sign an agreement with the Flathead Tribe and since they could not get the signature, they just forged the signature and got their way. Because people don't understand the Native American culture, problems for the Flathead tribe arose and brought them down. It also seems as if the government is trying to destroy this culture, and after reading this book, I believe that its because they don't know exactly what being Native American is.
O'Nell also tries to put a finger on exactly what it is to be "indian." She deciphers about how the identity of a Native American involves categorization. This being the difference between bring racially, ethnically, and culturally Native American. She has a line up in the book about how when someone is married into the Native American culture and takes it in, they are considered culturally Native American, even though they are not Native American by background. The she also shows a diagram that really helps put a finger on how they in a sense, rank, their Native American level. It consists of concentric circles where the middle is 100% Native American and each level out the people get a little less Native American. Basically the way she describes it, I personally got the vibe that being a Native
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