# Iron Routine explained — American Indian Stories > Chapter companion for American Indian Stories by Zitkála-Šá. ## What happens The narrator describes the harsh daily routine at the boarding school, where a bell disrupts dreams of freedom and forces children into a cold, regimented schedule. She recounts the strict roll call, the indifference to illness, and the death of a classmate, which deepens her bitterness toward the civilizing machine and the paleface woman who neglects their physical suffering while imposing Christian teachings. ## Themes in this chapter ### Education as a Tool of Oppression The boarding school's iron routine and neglect of physical health illustrate how education was used to suppress Native identity and enforce compliance. ### Loss of Identity and Belonging The narrator's longing for 'Western rolling lands and unlassoed freedom' contrasts with the cold, oppressive school environment, highlighting her loss of cultural and personal identity. ## Character check-ins ### Mother Referenced indirectly through memories of happy dreams of Western lands, contrasting with the boarding school's iron routine. ### Judéwin Implied as a chum who might have answered roll call for the narrator, but the system prevents such help. ## Key lines > From happy dreams of Western rolling lands and unlassoed freedom we tumbled out upon chilly bare floors back again into a paleface day. We were torn from joyful visions of open plains and unbounded liberty and forced onto cold floors, reentering the white man's world. _Contrast between indigenous freedom and oppressive school life._ > It was next to impossible to leave the iron routine after the civilizing machine had once begun its day’s buzzing; and as it was inbred in me to suffer in silence rather than to appeal to the ears of one whose open eyes could not see my pain, I have many times trudged in the day’s harness heavy-footed, like a dumb sick brute. Once the daily schedule started, there was no escape; and because I was raised to endure pain quietly rather than beg for help from someone who couldn't understand my suffering, I often dragged myself through the day like a sick animal. _Describes the narrator's internalized resilience and the dehumanizing routine._ > I grew bitter, and censured the woman for cruel neglect of our physical ills. I despised the pencils that moved automatically, and the one teaspoon which dealt out, from a large bottle, healing to a row of variously ailing Indian children. I became angry and blamed the woman for ignoring our sicknesses. I hated the mechanical record-keeping and the single spoon used to give medicine to many sick children. _Critique of the school's inadequate and impersonal medical care._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se/chapters/v-iron-routine - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se/chapters