Where I Come From is Like This

“Where I come From Is Like This” by Gunn Allen
In her essay Gunn Allen utilizes effective ethos, logos, and pathos to convince ethnic studies woman, and feminist scholars, of her claim that European woman are in a bicultural bind between strong mighty Indian woman and Europeans who think of woman as weaker and lesser. Allen states that Indian woman were always thought as savage by the different views she had been taught, an example was when she talks about her Christian education they would tell her things about her tribes that she knew were not true because of the stories she had heard from her mom causing her and other American Indians situations of confusion. Gunn Allen shows examples of the menstrual cycle. Christian’s school thought differently of woman that undergo menstrual cycle and were segregated, thus causing confusion from Christian’s belief and her own. Woman had a natural power that can indulge and overpower these men and therefore caused them to fear Indian woman potential. Indian woman suffered from the cultural conflicts caused by having to classify with differences of two opposing cultural definitions of women.
Gunn Allen uses pathos to support her story of Indian woman being mistreated. An Example of pathos that is used in her essay is when she explains how Native Indians were beaten so that their children could understand that woman’s social status couldn’t been seen higher or more dominate then the males in Indian society. By this being performed little Indian girls wouldn’t get any ideas of trying to be better than men. “My memory includes the Navajo women who were badly beaten by her Sioux husband; but I also remember my grandmother abandon her Sioux husband long ago. I recall the stories of the Laguna woman beaten regularly by her husband in the presence of her children so that the children would not believe in the strength and power of femininity.” - Gunn Allen Pg 84 Allen gives an example of how woman were treated but she also supports her statement by giving an example of her own personal life by using her grandmother as an example of how she was also treated by an Indian man and therefore left and abandoned her husband. “As I struggled to reconcile these very contradictory interpretations of American Indians' traditional beliefs concerning menstruation, I realized that the menstrual taboos were about power, not about sin or filth. My conclusion was later borne out by some tribes' own explanations, which, as you may well imagine, came as quite a relief to me.” – Gunn Allen Pg 86 This shows Gunn Allen shows that she has a difficult time understand but when she did uncover the answers to her he questions it brought solace to her.

Ethos is shown a multiple amount of times throughout Gun Allen’s “Where I Come from Is Like This,” the first one that comes to mind is the ladies going through a lot and putting up with a lot, like her mom for example, and being strong and passing down their traditions to their daughters. She displays ethos by mentioning her reputation and what she did growing up. In the story she brings up how her mom told her about the Navajo lady getting beat by her Sioux husband. The women would go through a lot and in the end it would make them stronger. She also says “And I remember the women who drank, who got into fights with other women and with the men, and who often won these battles. I have memories of tired women, partying women, stubborn women, sullen women, amicable women, selfish women, shy women, and aggressive women.” – Gunn Allen Pg 84 Beating women is unethical and it made the woman act out and perform unethical behavior. In the end, it made them stronger though and believes in feminism. Another way it was displayed was when Gun Allen mentioned menstruation, “Had strange attitudes toward menstruation; they thought something was bad about it, that it meant you were sick, cursed, sinful, and weak…” –Gunn Allen Pg 86 The white people thought it was bad and unethical to menstruate. The Indian women knew it was normal but they were looked down upon by the white people because they thought it was bad and sinful. Ethics were a big party of Allen’s story and she did good mentioning them. Gunn Allen uses many examples of logos to prove her point. Allen shows logical explains on her point of views that Indian woman were stronger than the European people thought. “The tribes see woman variously, but they do not question the power of femininity.” Was stated to tell people how her Indian tribe thought of woman as higher ups. “Allen also goes to say that Indians barred menstruating women from ceremonies and indeed segregated them from the rest of the people; I was surprised and confused to hear this because my mother had taught me that white people had strange attitudes toward menstruation: they thought something was bad about it, that it meant, you were sick, cursed, sinful, and weak and that you had to be careful at that time.” Explains Allen’s confusion to hear how different European beliefs were to her Indian beliefs.
After reading her essay we comprehend that European woman are in a bicultural bind between strong mighty Indian woman and Europeans who think of woman as weaker and lesser. Indian woman had to struggle in their culture more after the arrival of the Europeans because they were stuck between European beliefs and the beliefs of their own tribe asking them confused and lost about their beliefs. Indian woman suffered more in their culture because of them having to be beaten by their husbands and they were also being shun by Indian men when they were into their menstrual cycle because they thought they were stronger then the tribal shaman. Overall Gunn Allen proves that both Indian Woman and European Indian woman have different culture beliefs and customs therefore they’re different but Indian woman are stronger willed then European Indians.