Code Talker Identity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

Pretty much all the movies were about cowboys defeating Indians […] After watching those movies, some of the little kids planned to be cowboys when they grew up. (5.45)

"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.

Quote #2

The new religion presented new ideas, differing in disquieting ways from the religion we had learned at home. (5.71)

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.

Quote #3

The new religious teachings caused confusion. We students were taught only the white man's way at school and only the Navajo way at home. And each culture saw the other as wrong. (5.72)

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.