Early Indigenous Literatures

Declaration, assertion, and agency as integral to Yankton childhood

The relationship of child to adult here is depicted not as one of subservience and punishment (as it is in the scenes of the missionary school in Bonnin's other tales), but as a process of trust. Tulsee's "childish faith" is a positive attribute which rests on her trust in the elders to have "knowledge" which makes "all things possible" (Bonnin 140). Her reverence is a positive relational structure which provides her support under the guidance of her community. Her mother's response--"Hähob!" is affirming and Tusee's "buoyant spirit" is relished as key to childhood "not weighted with a denial" (Bonnin 140). Childhood here is defined specifically by an acceptance and connection to self and community--the direct opposite to residential schools' attempts at control, erasure, and conscription.

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