Essays

Dent in Native Identity

By Raman Kaur

Originally written for English 142 at Fresno State, October 2023. Published here in its original form.

Taking the children away from the tellers who had/in all past generations/told the children/an entire culture, an entire identity of a people (Silko 4-6). Storyteller (1981) by Leslie Marmon Silko presents stories that survived through the strict times of oppression. It is the stories presented by Silko that showcase an alteration of identity of Native communities. Silko shares stories she was told not only by others, but also of others. In those stories she reflects on how Native culture was distorted by the Europeans. Silko points out how the Europeans dismantled the Indigenous community as she writes, “She must have realized that the atmosphere and conditions which had maintained this oral tradition in Laguna culture had been irrevocably altered by the European intrusion” (Silko 4). Natives suffered aggression as they were forced to abandon continuation of their generational traditions and faith. Silko showcases alteration in Native identity as they were forced to take upon the language that of Europeans. Through aggression and oppression, Silko illustrates how the teaching of English came through the Native Americans. It was the Eurocentric influence in which the Native ways of living was diminished, and European ways of living are instilled. It is through the stories in Storytellerthat we witness the racial injustices the natives had to endure. Native communities experienced much pain and loss at the hands of the Europeans in which they were gradually pushed towards Eurocentric ideologies leaving a dent in Native identity. I argue that in ‘Storyteller,’ Silko writes of how colonialism obliterated indigenous culture resulting in oppression of generational Native religious and cultural ways leading to alteration of Indigenous identity.

The Europeans imposed harsh consequences to restrict Natives from practicing religious activities. One aspect of Indigenous identity is their faith. To dent their identity, Europeans strategically accepted and promoted an act of oppression, punishing Natives who followed their faith. This was a form of oppression in which they entangled the Natives in fear of punishment. Silko explained what happened to those who practiced their religious activities as she writes, “the Pueblo men and boys who were caught participating in the religious activities of the kiva or ceremonial dances were arrested and imprisoned by authorities” (Silko xxiii). This act of punishing caused trepidation in Native Americans of being arrested or imprisoned. It caused the Native Americans to farther themselves from their generational faith. Europeans strategically effected Native Americans faith by imposing such conditions, resulting in alteration to their identities as they abandoned their religion to accept that of Europeans. Babb points out that “along with their belief that it was their duty to convert others to their religion, produced a fertile environment for the gradual evolution of separateness,” (Babb 21) in which it reflects their self-proclaimed superiority over the Indigenous communities. With that, Europeans found it necessary to dismantle the Native beliefs buy imposing harsh consequences. This helps us understand how the consequences further hindered the belief system of the Native Americans and therefore forever denting Indigenous identity. 

An identity’s most innate feature is Language. It is through uniqueness of languages that communities’ foster relationships and stories. Unfortunately, the Europeans cleverly tried to kill the Native languages by imposing punishments for speaking the Native languages. They enforced English upon the Native Americans. Silko writes that “the human capacity for land and storytelling go hand in hand,” (Silko xvii) and “this exchange of information through stories about what had just happened was a primary factor in the survival of human species in a world,” (Silko xviii) then is it safe to say that by taking the language away from a community, the history of that community further affects their identity? It absolutely affects their identity as for understanding a culture, language is imperative for the survival of their history. Silko shares a painful way in which English was forced upon Native people as she writes, “the dormitory matron pulled down her underpants and whipped her with a leather belt because she refused to speak English” (Silko 19). It is evident that speaking Native language was considered a crime as Silko writes, “as soon as I started kindergarten at Laguna Day School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs school where the speaking of the Laguna language was punished, my beloved A’mooh stopped speaking Laguna to me and used only English” (Silko xxiii). Such enforcements not only stressed the individual but everyone else surrounding them, especially their families. In case of Silko, her family avoided Native language, so she does not get in trouble. The hardships families had to suffer due to enforcement of English language are unbearable. The enforcement of speaking English was not only limited to families or individual but across Indigenous communities. Silko writes about the atrocities one had to suffer as she writes, “the jailer was an Eskimo, but would not speak Yupik to her. She had watched people in other cells, when they spoke to him in Yupik he ignored them until they spoke English” (Silko 17). It’s unfortunate that the Europeans did such acts of violence. In true nature it was not Native American ways that were punishable but rather the opposite as it was the Europeans who were committing the crimes against Native Americans. They attempted to erase the true essence of a language which resulted in many Native languages being lost to that time period. Interestingly, Babb points out how Europeans purposely attempted to destroy Native culture as she writes, “Nordic origins satisfied a desire for racial history and antecedents, even if this imagined past was in direct conflict with the multiple ethnicities, languages, physical appearances, cultures, and class statuses that formed the actuality of American existence” (Babb 41). Being a bilingual, I can say that there are times when certain things or feelings cannot be interpreted in English and therefore when a language is lost so is the true essence of the stories of that culture. This tells us that the enforcement of new language on to a community that already has a developed language system severely dents their identity. When a language gets extinct so does the many other aspects for their culture such as their ways of living.

Native Americans were forced into the European ways of living as they were forced to abandon their generational ways living. The Europeans were so keen to make the new worlds people just like them as they thought less of them. Babb explains the effects of imposing such laws contribute to oppression of a society as she writes, “once explorations has fostered colonization, attitudes toward racial difference bred practices that further solidified group identity along racial rather than geographic or nationalistic lines” (Babb 19). The Europeans saw their way as the right way resulting in enforcing changes to the Native American ways. Silko compared old ways to the new European ways as she writes, “old days when they didn’t have toothpaste/and cleaned their teeth with juniper ash,/and how, instead of corn flakes, in the old days they ate/“maaht’zini” crushed up with milk poured over it” (Silko 32). She further explains how the old ways were changed to European ways as she writes, “It was like the other buildings that white people, the Gussucks, brought with them: BIA and school buildings, portable buildings that arrived sliced in halves, on barges coming up the river” (Silko 17). The Native American structures were gradually turned to European ways structures, erasing again generational ways of Native livings. The Europeans cleverly denounced the Native American ways as they successfully changed the way of their living by changing their daily hygienic routines, building structure, food and so forth. Silko provides us with the distaste of the European ways as she writes, “This world was already complete even without white people” (Silko 123). It is evident that the changes the Europeans brought about were not due to the best interest of preserving the Native American culture or ways but their own selfish interests and growth. It is well evident that Europeans felt superior to Native Americans as Babb writes, “The more English settlers came to see themselves as the rightful heirs of the New World” (Babb 22).This tells us that the gradual implementation of European ways of living forever altered the ways of Native livings resulting in alteration to Native American identity. 

The Europeans aggressively suppressed the Native Americans as they showcased their power within the realm of social settings. The Europeans knowingly let the injustices happen in all-encompassing social settings. The Native Americans endured much and became prisoners on their own land as they were not free from police violence. Silko explains how the police despised Indians as she writes, “’I don’t like smart guys, Indian. It’s because of you bastards that I’m here. They transferred me here because of Indians. They thought there wouldn’t be as many for me here. But I find them’” (Silko 119). It’s interesting how in this quote the police officer shows he despises the very people’s land he’s standing on. The Europeans superiority ways of governing coerced the Native people to accept an ideology that was alien to them. Babb further explains that “whiteness is not a term describing an immutable biological content, but rather a term reflecting mutable relationships of social power,” (13) which Silko extendedly shows in Storyteller as the Europeans crippled Native Americans freedom. The oppression of the Native American people not only led them to abandon their ways but had to face the oppressive police which terrorized them. The fear of cops is well displayed in Tony’s Story by Silko. The agitation the Native American people felt is well visible as Silko writes, “’what the hell does he want?’ Leon’s hands were shaking. Suddenly the cop was standing beside the truck” (Silko 118). It is important to understand that the terror was spread across a community that were not accustomed to policing ways. Indigenous communities’ social structure was free of police. Europeans purposely guided with superiority in which they unjustly treated Native Americans and ruthlessly denting their identity.

In ‘Storyteller,’ Silko writes of how colonialism obliterated indigenous culture resulting in oppression of generational Native religion and cultural activities leading to alteration of Indigenous identity. The stories that survived a dark period has forever dented identity of Native Americans. Leslie Marmon Silko reveals stories which shed light on atrocities the Native American people had to endure. The original people of the Americas were oppressed by those who declared their own superiority and imposed laws of governing onto Native Americans through oppression. The Europeans cleverly dismantled the ways of the Indigenous communities. Native Americans generational history was forever altered by Eurocentric ideology. Their rich traditions and beliefs are all dented because of self-proclaimed superior Europeans. Silko showcases alteration in Native identity as they were forced to take upon the language that of Europeans. Through aggression and oppression, Silko illustrates how the teaching of English came through the Native Americans. It is the Eurocentric influence in which the Native way of living is diminished, and modern ways of living are instilled. It is through the stories in Storyteller that we witness the racial injustices the natives had to suffer. Sadly, Indigenous communities endured a lot at the hands of the Europeans in which they were gradually pushed towards Eurocentric ideologies leaving a dent in their identity.

Works Cited

Silko, Leslie Marmon. Storyteller. Penguin Books, 2012. 

Babb, Valerie Melissa. “Toward a Philosophy of Whiteness.” Whiteness Visible: The Meaning of Whiteness in American Literature and Culture. New York University Press, 1998.