Jeremy Stubbs

Honors English 12
Mrs. Peyer
Period 3
9/14/14
I Am Not Your Princess Poem Analysis
In Chrystos poem, I Am Not Your Princess, she uses strong allusion, tense
word choice, repetition and imagery of all senses to convey her tone of exhaustion. The poem
outlines how exhausted she is from people labeling her with stereotypes targeted towards Native
Americans.
The speaker uses a lot of repetition. She introduces specific stereotypes using
phrases, such as I will not, I wont and if you. Her negative word choice reveals how she
will no longer put up with these ignorant assumptions.
The speaker uses allusion when stating some specific stereotypes, such as [easing ones]
guilt with fine turtle tales. She describes being fed-up with receiving flyers about how to heal
herself. If she receives one more damn flyer about how to heal [herself], for $300 with special
feminist counseling, [shell] probably set fire to something. This stereotype is one wherein
people are just cruel. They give her flyers about healing ones self, simply to emphasize that fact
that she is Native American, while they know that if she actually fit all of the stereotypes stated,
she would not need a flyer to show her how to perform this activity. The speaker uses harsh
diction to state that she is on the brink of doing something extremely violent.
The speaker tells us that she makes fry bread with one cup flower, spoon of salt,
spoon of baking powder, [and then] stir[s], [and] add[s] milk or water or beer until it holds

together. [She] slaps each piece into rounds, let[s] it rest and fri[es] in hot grease until golden.
The reader uses gustatory, olfactory, visual and tactile imagery to describe an ordinary food that
she makes. It is only [her] recipe. It is her own personal twist on a traditionally Native
American food.
If you ever again tell me how strong I am, Ill lay down on the ground and moan so
youll see at last my human weakness like your own. The first three of the five lines are short
phrases, build up tension. The speaker then shifts her mood from rage to desperation. For half
of the poem, she describes how all of the stereotypes anger her, and then she cries out for
recognition as a human being. These, make the reader think that the speaker is threatening
violence; however, she then she uses a metaphor to compare her exhaustion and desperation to
herself actually laying down and moaning. When people face stereotypes, they feel like they are
being put on the spot as something less than human to be laughed at and rejected. When this
happens repeatedly, it pushes them to a state of complete exhaustion. As humans, we must all
work together to put an end to the injustice of stereotyping.