Zitkala-Sa's writing does not, indeed, legitimate these institutions. Zitkala-Sa's work violates traditional notions of autobiography on two levels: it does not put forth a model of triumph and integration, nor does it emphasize the importance of language in the overall process of self-authentication.(1) Therefore it is only when we approach Zitkala-Sa's writing in terms of how it subverts traditional modes of autobiographical and linguistic self-authentication that we can come to see its full richness and complexity, and understand the unique problem of a "canonical" search for language and identity in Native American writing.

Zitkala-Sa. American Indian Stories. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1985.