Early Indigenous Literatures

The assimilationist processes in the school leak into the larger community.

This section of the tale is largely one of frustration and loss in which the girl must confront how her own internal trials have been reaching further out into her home, family, and nation. Even seemingly out of reach of the school, here we see the effects of the so-called "civilization" processes which make this once unburdened and respected child feel isolated in her own space. The "tight muslin dresses" and the conscripting English stand-in for the system of the school which seeks to infringe upon her Nation's sovereignty--here represented repeatedly in the image of her "soft moccasins" which she chooses over the "ribbons at neck and waist" Bonnin 72-73).

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