Early Indigenous Literatures

Rejecting a narrative of either resistance or agreement, she bears down upon the turnips--just as she was told to.

The turnip smashing here defies resistance/submission precisely because she uses the strict confines of the school as the catalyst for her rebellion. More than just a sweltering of internal anger, the beating of the turnips amounts to physical exertion and satisfaction which animates the entire "weight of [her] body" (Zitkala-Ša 60). She is able to release back out the violence which the school and the settler state attempt to instill within her.

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