American Indian Stories

“Impressions of an Indian Childhood” is divided into seven short chapters that portray Zitkála-Šá’s youth on a Dakota Sioux reservation. In “Mother,” Zitkála-Šá describes her respect for her mother. She notes her mother’s physical strength as she carries water from a nearby river and her emotional strength as she calls the “paleface” White settlers a “sham” and urges her daughter not to be fooled by them (4). Her mother also tells stories about Zitkála-Šá’s sister and uncle who died of disease when the White settlers forced them to move camps.

“Legends” describes Zitkála-Šá’s interest in hearing legends told by the reservation’s elders. She is excited when some of the older people are invited to her mother’s home one night and she hears some legends. However, she falls asleep before she hears the legend she is most excited about, one concerning the magic power of a woman’s facial tattoos. In “Beadwork” Zitkála-Šá observes her mother making beaded patterns on moccasins. Zitkála-Šá practices making patterns on scrap cloth. She describes how afterward she would run free playing with other children.

“The Coffee-Making” tells the story of an elderly man who visits Zitkála-Šá’s home while her mother is away. Zitkála-Šá makes the elderly man weak coffee from used grounds and cold water, which he graciously accepts. After Zitkála-Šá’s mother returns home, she and the elderly man are quietly amused at the girl’s effort to be hospitable, but they do not embarrass her.

In “The Dead Man’s Plum Bush” Zitkála-Šá’s community is excited about a young warrior’s return from his first battle. Zitkála-Šá’s mother cautions her not to harvest some plums from a bush. She explains that the bush was planted on top of a deceased warrior’s grave in his memory. “The Ground Squirrel” describes how Zitkála-Šá was given the job of watching her mother’s corn as it dried in the sun to prevent animals from stealing the harvest. However, a chipmunk or ground squirrel that stuffs its cheeks with corn distracts Zitkála-Šá. She reminisces about seeing her mother dry pumpkin, being gifted a bag of marbles from missionaries, and seeing river ice that looks like the marbles.

The final section, “The Big Red Apples,” describes Zitkála-Šá’s desire to leave the reservation to attend a mission school. She is captivated by the missionaries’ description of the eastern school as a “Wonderland” of apple trees, trains, and other things she marvels at (22). Despite her mother’s insistence that the “white man’s” words are “lies [and] their deeds are bitter,” Zitkála-Šá convinces her to let her leave the reservation and attend the school (22). Once she arrives at the school, however, Zitkála-Šá is frightened by an unfamiliar world.