Early Indigenous Literatures

From tears to fury and fire.

With the young girl's suffering and tears, this section of the tale would seem to be an example of assimilation overpowering her. Yet, she stands in her resistance both by refusing to wear her school clothes--having, in fact, thrown away the shoes. She also, here, flames her "enraged spirit" which "felt more like burning the book" (73). Rather than being dissuaded or resigning to the force of settler colonial incorporation, the girl uses her feelings of bitter anger to fuel her continued resistance/rejection. Her anger is compared here to "the braided muslin burning in a small vessel of oil," thereby demonstrating that despite the English language and change in dress, her response will continuously be tied back to her Nation's marked ties to food and belonging (here with her mother) even as she must take on new forms and modes of attack.

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