# VII: Incurring My Mother’s Displeasure explained — American Indian Stories

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

## What happens

The narrator returns East for a second term, secretly carrying a medicine man's charm for protection. After earning her diploma, she defies her mother's wishes to pursue college, causing a rift. She struggles with loneliness and prejudice but wins an oratorical contest at her college and later a state competition, despite racist taunts. Yet victory feels hollow as she longs for her mother's forgiveness.

## Themes in this chapter

### Education as a Tool of Oppression

The narrator's pursuit of white education creates a painful divide with her mother and exposes her to racial slurs and humiliation.

### Loss of Identity and Belonging

The narrator feels homeless and heavyhearted, torn between her mother's world and the cold, prejudiced white society.

### Resistance and Resilience

Despite defiance of her mother and facing racist attacks, the narrator perseveres and wins oratorical contests, asserting her voice.

## Character check-ins

### Mother

The narrator's mother disapproves of her continued education, urging her to return to the prairie life; her displeasure weighs heavily on the narrator.

### Ohiyesa

The narrator, referred to as Ohiyesa in the text, experiences loneliness, prejudice, and a bittersweet victory in oratory contests.

## Key lines

> I silenced her by deliberate disobedience. Thus, homeless and heavyhearted, I began anew my life among strangers.

I chose to ignore my mother's wishes, leaving me feeling without a home and deeply sad as I started over among people I didn't know.

_Highlights the narrator's painful choice to pursue education against her mother's will._

> The little taste of victory did not satisfy a hunger in my heart. In my mind I saw my mother far away on the Western plains, and she was holding a charge against me.

Winning the contest didn't fill the emotional void I felt; I kept thinking of my mother out West, still angry with me.

_Emphasizes the emotional cost of success and the unresolved conflict with her mother._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se/chapters/vii-incurring-my-mother-s-displeasure
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/american_indian_stories_se/chapters