# IV explained — American Indian Stories

> Chapter companion for American Indian Stories by Zitkála-Šá.

## What happens

The narrator, starving and desperate, hunts for food to save his dying father. After failing to find game, he steals a cow from a white man's herd, but is pursued. In a violent confrontation, he kills the pursuer and returns home only to find his father has died.

## Themes in this chapter

### Colonial Violence and Injustice

The narrator's desperate act of stealing cattle and the resulting violence stem from the displacement and destruction of Native food sources.

### Resistance and Resilience

Despite starvation and spiritual despair, the narrator takes decisive action to save his father, showing resilience in the face of overwhelming odds.

## Character check-ins

### Ohiyesa

The narrator, a young man struggling to provide for his starving father.

### Mother

The narrator's mother, who urges him to bring meat for his father.

## Key lines

> My son, your soft heart has unfitted you for everything!

My son, your gentle nature has made you incapable of providing for us.

_The father criticizes the narrator's Christian-influenced softness, contrasting traditional warrior values._

> In my hand I found my long knife dripping with blood. At my feet a man's figure lay prone in bloodred snow.

I realized I had killed a man in self-defense, his body lying in the snow stained with blood.

_The narrator's dissociation during the violent act reflects the trauma of being forced into a situation contrary to his beliefs._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se/chapters/iv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se/chapters