“38” by Layli Long Soldier is a self-analyzing poem that emphasizes the connection between language and action when telling the story of the Dakota 38. Long Soldier begins with a little bit of situational irony when introducing the fact that on the same week Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation and becomes the liberator, he also orders the massacre and oppression of another group: the Dakota Nation. I referred to this piece as self-analyzing due to the author’s commentary on her own writing as part of the poem to clarify the importance of each linguistic decision. The powerful quote “everything is in the language we use” took me back to the beginning of the poem where Long Soldier states, “Here, the sentence will be respected.” She wasn’t only talking about respect in the grammatical sense, this is a commentary on all the “sentences” and or treaties not respected through the manipulation of language. The Dakota Nation’s “payment” for their land was confinement and starvation.
Something else that stood out to me was the change between Minnesota and Mnisota. Layli Long Soldier explains that “The word Minnesota comes from mni, which means water; and sota, which means turbid.” By referencing Minnesota as Mnisota she reclaims the original language that was stolen from her culture just like the land was stolen from the Sioux people. It is a subtle reminder through the piece that the displacement of language is synonymous with the displacement of land.
Towards the end of her writing, Long Soldier makes the point that poetry goes beyond it’s written form when discussing the irony surrounding Andrew Myrick’s demise. He was quoted as saying, “If they are hungry, let them eat grass.” in response to refusing credit to the starving Dakota people. After the Sioux Uprising, Myrick was found with his mouth stuffed with grass, which shows that there can be so much interpretation and meaning between action and language.
I liked when you mentioned that the “displacement of the language is synchronous to the displacement of the Dokata people” because I completely agree with you and it was very nicely articulated in your response. I believe that she changed her way of writing “Minnesota” to symbolically represent the issue she was taking about which was the massacre against the Dakota 38. Also, the way she started her poem was also very interesting to me, as you mentioned the irony in her writing really brings the readers attention towards the poem and is a very unique way to start. Great response!
Your analysis helped me better understand how Solider respected each sentence while retelling the brutal history of Dokata 38. The part where you said “manipulation of language” is such an important and powerful phrase that really encaptures Solider’s purpose in focusing on her diction and how the traties did manipulate the Dokata nation leading them to the unfortunate outcomes.