Analysis Of Miranda's 'Bad Indians'

In the book Bad Indians, Miranda talks about the many issues Indigenous People go through. Miranda talks about the struggles Indigenous people go through; however, she talks about them in the perspective of Native Americans. Many people learn about Indigenous People through classrooms and textbooks, in the perspective of White people. In Bad Indians, Miranda uses different literary devices to show her perspective of the way Indigenous People were treated, the issues that arose from missionization, as well as the violence that followed through such issues. Bad Indians is an excellent example that shows how different history is told in different perspectives.
In Bad Indians, Miranda uses her perspective through tone in the short letter “Dear

The word Fisher’s of men is a topic used in the bible as Jesus recruits Peter to be his disciple. When I read the title of the poem, I think about how the Indigenous People are recruited to follow the faith of Catholicism. However, in the poem, the idea that Indigenous People were just recruited to be Catholic is just the surface. In the poem, it says “Before long, they will be caught in the apostolic and evangelical net” (5). In the context it means that Indigenous People weren’t just encouraged to convert to Catholicism but they were forced to do it. Indigenous people didn’t volunteer to work in the missions. It was something forced upon them just like everything else that happened to them. The allegory conveys such a big part of history that is untold by schools. In elementary school I learned about missions, built a model mission, as well as visited and slept at San Juan Capistrano; however, I never learned about how the Indigenous People were treated. I’m positive it was like that for many other students as well. When Miranda uses the poem in Bad Indians, the allegory used portrays a part of history that isn’t told in classrooms and a part of history that isn’t talked about. The allegory highlights the truth about the way Indigenous People were treated. Miranda shows what really happened in history, rather

Miranda uses point of view to be discuss a personal event in her life that caused her to witness and see the violence that was the result of years of oppression and subjugation. In the personal story, “Genealogy of Violence Part 2” by Miranda, it shows the setting of her Native American father beating her younger brother. She says that, “… [the] instrument of punishment coming from two hundred years out of the past in a movement so ancient, so much a part of our family history that it has touched every single one of us…” (34). The violence that her ancestors suffered through missionization resulted in the punishments and beatings that Little Al went through years after the missionization of Indigenous People occurred. Indigenous People were beaten and hurt while working in the Missions. They were flogged and whipped to be “corrected” for their wrong doings. However, the floggings, beatings, and whippings they endured were passed on down to the following generations. Miranda’s father beat her younger brother and Miranda seemed to show that it was a result of the violence that occurred during the missionization. Miranda uses her own personal story to show the violence. It was something she endured and something she saw as she grew up with a Native American father. Miranda reveals an important consequence of the punishments that caused so much