American Indian Life

Indians had many hardships throughout their lives starting in their childhood. Henry Pratt created the boarding schools where children would go to.The government forced Indians to go to boarding school to forget their heritage. One of the phrases he said was, "kill the Indian, save the man." When I heard this phrase, the first thing that came to my mind was how there were people who tried to get rid of the Indian culture. American people wanted Indians to forget where they came from and make them more “American”. Sadly, Walter, an American Indian, and a couple of classmates were Indian boys who were forced to be in the boarding school. For the Indians, boarding school was a tragic experience for them because they had to suffer physical and mental abuse. While they were at the boarding school they suffered from loneliness, and got beat-up from other people. An example from the movie, Thick Dark Fog, was when an Indian lady mentioned how they got strapped down, called savages, called uncivilized, had books slammed on top of their fingers. When Indians grow up they don't remember their parents because when they were at boarding school the bad people made sure they forgot where they came from.   The boarding school experience affected Indian's psychology because they suffered from childhood memories and had flashbacks that brought pain to their lives.

The Indians who were at the boarding school faced a lot of trauma. One of the traumas Walter faced was known as the "thick dark fog." Thick dark fog represents was fog blocking the Indian’s way and keeping them from a better life. When Walter and his classmates were at the boarding school, the mean teachers made them feel ashamed of themselves. The Indians had memories about the past that made them suffer from the situation they lived through. Every Indian who was at the boarding school was controlled and trained to be someone else, not themselves. The biggest trauma for Indians was not being able to find  their road/path to their future because their past was always blocking them. The difference between personal and community trauma is when you have to live through suffering and loneliness alone known as personal trauma. You go through the process alone and feel that nobody else is going through the same experience like you are. But in a community trauma, you have friends you can rely on and get help on so you won't feel alone. For example, in the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Arnold Junior  is living a hard life because he is poor, has no friends, and has a bad health condition. Oscar the dog is Junior’s dog that he can trust but one day the dog dies and has no one else to be with. However, he finds a friend named Rowdy and they become great friends who are more like brothers. "But Rowdy is my best human friend and he cares about me"(Alexie 16). The author was not alone and is better to live in a community where you know there are people to count on.  

When Walter grew up to become an adult, he left the boarding school to move on with his life. He didn't easily forget about his past but a way he healed himself was how he and his wife wrote down all the bad memories from his childhood. Walter and his wife took four years to recover and feel relieved. This was a good way to forget the past because when you write down your life you let your feelings and expressions out and don't hold it in. Another way he healed himself was that he forced himself to go out to the world and talk about his life experiences. This is a good way to overcome your fears and letting people know how hard Indians used to live. What really opened my eyes was when Walter read a book about the Holocaust. He wanted to connect people who had suffered greatly. The people who survived the Holocaust  lived an awful trauma like Walter did and they overcame all their obstacles. After he read a book about the survivors of the Holocaust, he felt inspired by them. Walter could hear, see, and feel the creator. He knew he was “Lakota” and at the end he became a successful Indian.