Assignment task: Should I agree with the perspective of this response? Why or why not? Be specific. What is the most convincing part of this post? Why?
The young man from "The Soft-Hearted Sioux" was my choice for my fictional character. In this tale, a young man leaves his community and returns dressed differently and with a new religious conviction. He comes back as the person his father did not want him to grow up to be. He finds his father ill when he gets home. He made the decision to uphold and abandon his new lifestyle in favor of returning to their Sioux culture, values, and methods in order to rescue his father. As a result, he kills a cow for his father to eat outside. However, the Anglo man is forced to choose between murdering the young guy or being murdered himself as he tries to attack the young man for killing his cow. He decides to reject all that he has learned about Christianity. Nevertheless, he perseveres in defending himself, supporting his father's survival, and demonstrating his valor to his father. But in doing so, he broke the law, and when he got home, he discovered his father had passed away. He made the decision to turn himself in, which led to his own imprisonment and execution. But he made the decision to be even more persistent at that time and declare, "My heart is strong. I seem serene. I want to see fresh scenes since my eyes are dry. My hands are silently hanging at my side. My courageous and serene spirit waits for the guys to place me on the gallows so that I might take another flight. I go."" (p. 1901).
References:
The Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter 10th ed) Volume 1 (1290 pg count) AND Volume 2 (pg count) Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 10th edition (2023)
Zitkala-Sa: Biography, Vol. 2 pp. 604-607 and "The Soft-Hearted Sioux," Vol. 2 pp. 613-617 (fiction)