# My Mother explained — American Indian Stories > Chapter companion for American Indian Stories by Zitkála-Šá. ## What happens The narrator recalls her childhood as a wild, free seven-year-old living with her mother in a wigwam near the Missouri River. Her mother draws water daily, and the narrator accompanies her, feeling a deep bond. During one trip, the narrator promises to fetch water when she is older, but her mother responds with a warning about the 'paleface' who might take the river. The mother then reveals the trauma of forced displacement, recounting the deaths of the narrator's sister and uncle during a brutal relocation, blaming the paleface for stealing their land and causing suffering. ## Themes in this chapter ### Colonial Violence and Injustice The mother recounts how the 'paleface' stole their lands, drove them from their home, and caused the deaths of her children and brother through forced relocation. ### Motherhood and Family Bonds The mother's protective love and the narrator's devotion are central, as the mother shields her daughter from her own grief while sharing the family's tragic history. ## Character check-ins ### Mother The narrator's mother, who draws water from the Missouri River and shares painful memories of displacement and loss. ### Warca-Ziwin The narrator's seventeen-year-old cousin, who fetches water for her own mother and is admired by the narrator. ## Key lines > I was a wild little girl of seven. Loosely clad in a slip of brown buckskin, and light-footed with a pair of soft moccasins on my feet, I was as free as the wind that blew my hair, and no less spirited than a bounding deer. At age seven, the narrator was unrestrained and energetic, wearing simple buckskin and moccasins, feeling as free and lively as the wind or a deer. _Describes the narrator's childhood freedom and connection to nature._ > If the paleface does not take away from us the river we drink. The mother warns that white settlers might deprive them of the river they rely on for water. _Foreshadows the threat of colonial dispossession._ > We were driven, my child, driven like a herd of buffalo. The mother describes their forced relocation as being herded like animals, emphasizing the brutality of the experience. _Highlights the dehumanizing nature of forced displacement._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se/chapters/i-my-mother - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se/chapters