Zia

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, physical abuse, illness, and death. 

Published in the 1970s, the novel explores the complex historical injustices faced by Indigenous peoples in early 19th-century California due to exploitative colonial policies. Through Zia’s experiences within the Spanish Mission system, O’Dell examines issues such as forced relocation, mistreatment, and assimilation practices that characterize colonial America, illuminating a historical legacy of oppression. O’Dell himself is not Indigenous, but by choosing Zia as his protagonist and point-of-view narrator, he positions the text as an exploration of the impact of colonization from an Indigenous perspective. 

The Spanish Mission system endorsed and executed the colonial policy of assimilation of Indigenous people into European culture and Christian faith, subjecting Indigenous communities to forced relocation and unpaid labor. Although Zia claims she came to the Mission of her own free will, O’Dell alludes to the historical account of the period that indicates the dubious methods and false promises used by colonial rulers to persuade Indigenous peoples to leave their homeland. For example, Zia remembers the priest’s assurances to her people, promising them fair work, food, fertile land, and acculturation to the Spanish language and Catholic religion. He notes that having already felt the repercussions of colonialism, the people accepted relocation to ensure their survival.

Zia’s perspective highlights the exploitation of Indigenous children within the Mission system, who grew up with limited memory of or connection to their Indigenous heritage. The Mission system relied exclusively on the unpaid labor of relocated Indigenous communities and prohibited them from practicing their cultural and religious traditions in favor of indoctrination into Western ideals and Christianity. Through Stone Hands, O’Dell explicitly frames this cultural erasure and injustice against Indigenous people as an attempt to reify colonial power through dominance and control. Stone Hands’s organized rebellion against colonial control exemplifies this struggle. Zia’s family history and the death of her mother due to illness provide an example of more subtle colonial injustices such as the impact of diseases introduced by white colonizers that devasted Indigenous populations. While the author highlights the goodwill and kindness of individual priests—Zia notes her positive relationship with Father Vicente who advocates for the rights of the Indigenous workers at the Mission—the Spanish Mission system as presented in the novel demonstrates that assimilation methods were both forcible and exploitative, rooted in the theft of Indigenous homelands.  

O’Dell frames the Spanish Mission system as one part of a complex colonial and political framework designed to exterminate Indigenous cultures. The military presence at the Mission underscores its role as both a religious institution and political tool of empire, highlighting the constant surveillance and control over the Mission’s Indigenous population. For example, Captain Cordova’s character, who imprisons Zia as an accomplice to Stone Hands’s organized rebellion emphasizes the role of military violence sanctioned by the Catholic Church to ensure the subjugation of Indigenous people. Colonial policies also reinforced the dehumanization of Indigenous people at all levels of society. Even once they’ve escaped the exploitation of the Mission, Zia and her brother are abducted by white sailors during their boat trip and forced into unpaid labor on a whaler.

O’Dell premises Karana’s death, a key point in the narrative, on historical facts, emphasizing the broad impact of Indigenous displacement following colonization. Zia fixates on finding Karana and bringing her to the Mission, believing that being together will preserve their family and culture. Zia defends her goal to “find a way to reach Karana and bring her home to the Mission” by asserting, “She belongs to our tribe” (61). Framing the Mission as Karana’s home suggests that Zia defines her own sense of belonging through familial connection. In contrast, Karana roots her sense of self in her independence and her way of life on the island. As a result, her relocation to the Mission ultimately results in her demise. Karana’s death shifts Zia’s perspective and motivates her decision to return to her village, emphasizing a path to healing colonial trauma through the reclamation of Indigenous homelands.