Thursday, November 3, 2016
#2 Interpret/explain/explore the context and significance of the quote "we were supposed to kill the indian to save the child" Harrison G
This quote talks about how the teachers were taught to erase any Indian heritage the children may have in them. In the text, it says "we were trying to kill Indian culture"which they did by beating them and not allowing them to celebrate any of their own culture like stories, language, and dancing (Alexie 35). In reality, they were not actually killing Indians, but their way of life and tradition. The justification of the teachers in doing this was that they were "helping" the Indian people adapt to the American way of life. This is one of the strongest reasons for which Mr. P apologizes to Junior then tells him to leave the rez. This quote emphasizes on of the main themes in the story; to be yourself and not let others make you afraid. In the end "killing the Indian to save the child" is a contradictory statement because many consider life without culture not full life at all.
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I agree that this quote explains the teachers' job of "killing their (the Indians people's) way of life and tradition". They were almost trying to take away the identities of Indian children to make them more like American children in personality and ideas. I also think that Sherman Alexie's word choice when he used the words "supposed to" is significant because it shows how Mr. P disagrees with this idea now. I also agree that this reflects on the theme of being yourself and having courage against others. This theme has come up multiple times including when Junior says "What if somebody picks on me?" (Alexie 18). In this quote Junior is afraid that someone will hurt him, but Rowdy talks him into going to the powwow and having the courage to not let others make him afraid. Mr. P is also trying to give Junior this courage on page 35.
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