Code Talker Identity Quotes

"Indian" kids want to grow up to be cowboys, after watching all the cowboy-vs.-Indian films at school. These films suggest how Chester's education is aimed to make him (and other kids) look down on his own Native American culture and identity.

Chester and the other Navajo boys at school are made to go to Catholic church. The conflict between Catholicism and Navajo religion is one of the ways in which Chester experiences an identity crisis.

White culture says Navajo culture is wrong, and Navajo culture says white culture is wrong. Who's right? Chester has to figure out the answer for himself.

In the midst of the battle for Mt. Austen on Guadalcanal, Chester appeals to both his Navajo and "Anglo" Gods to help him. Chester's a guy who's good at reconciling his two cultures—Navajo and American—and here we see him doing that.

It's hard enough being confused over whether they belong in the Navajo world or the "Anglo" world. But being confused for Japanese? That adds a whole other layer of complication—and danger. These U.S. soldiers must be pretty ignorant to think that Chester and his buddies are Japanese.

Chester's gone off and risked his life for his country, and here is this racist civil servant telling him he's not a full citizen. This scene shows us how as a Native American, Chester not only has to deal with enemies abroad, he also has to deal with enemies at home.

These four flags—carried in at a celebration that Chester's friends and family hold for him—represent Chester's many identities. (A POW/MIA flag is a "prisoner of war/missing in action" flag. Thank goodness Chester didn't go MIA, otherwise we wouldn't have his memoir).

Chester reflects on the cultural and other upheavals he's experienced throughout his life. In using the world "collided," he suggests that these upheavals have been violent.

Even though Chester is a modest guy, we can sense in his words here that he's proud of his own and his culture's contribution to the defeat of the Japanese. By saying that the code talkers have become "part of a new oral and written tradition," Chester's words also recall those stories he'd grown up listening to as a child. He's become a hero in his own Navajo tale.

These are the last two sentences of Code Talker. It's significant that Chester refers to his medicine bag here, because the medicine bag represents his link to his Navajo culture and identity. The reference to the medicine bag, in other words, shows us that Chester's identity is rooted in his Navajo heritage.