“Mother”
Zitkala-Sa’s Mother is petrified by death. When Zitkala reassures her of her backing, with fetching water, once she is fully grown, her mother responds, "If the paleface does not take away from us the river we drink." The paleface is death which snatches the lives of people. Zitkala-sa’s mother’s sorrowfulness is ascribed to the bereavement of family members. Her incapability to speak of to death using its name designates that she dreads it; hence, she employs the term ‘paleface’.
“The Legends”
Stories are indispensable, cogent forces in the enculturation of Native-Indian kids. Zitkala-Sa recalls, “At the arrival of our guests I sat close to my mother, and did not leave her side without first asking her consent. I ate my supper in quiet, listening patiently to the talk of the old people, wishing all the time that they would begin the stories I loved best. At last, when I could not wait any longer, I whispered in my mother's ear, "Ask them to tell an Iktomi story, mother." Owing to the narratives, Zitkala-Sa gained in-depth knowledge regarding the values, such as bravery, of the Native Americans. Her adoration for the tales infers that they inspired her awareness absolutely; if not, she would not have sat up to pay attention to the stories on the subject of legends.
“The Beadworks”
In “The Beadworks” Zitkala-Sa validates the materiality of Observational Learning. Zitkala- Sa elucidates, “Close beside my mother I sat on a rug, with a scrap of buckskin in one hand and an awl in the other. This was the beginning of my practical observation lessons in the art of beadwork.”Zitkala-Sa got to grips with the art of bead making by viewing her mother who was an adept in it. The beadworks are constituents of the Native-Indian culture; thus, Zitkala-Sa’s erudition augments her know-how of culture.
