Assimilation

Through this theme, the author establishes that Indian people have been persecuted and marginalized throughout American history through forced assimilation. The Indian boarding schools are one of the most glaring examples of this, and Gansworth discusses them at length in the first part of the memoir, explaining that three of his four grandparents had been sent to the schools. The most famous of these was the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, founded by Richard Henry Pratt with the mission to, in his words, “Kill the Indian! Save the Man” (9). The children that were sent to the boarding school were forced to cut their long hair (which in many Indian cultures has spiritual significance) and forced to speak only English. They were punished for speaking their native languages. They were also sent to work as servants in white households and part of their pay was taken for their room and...