Non Nonceeya

Period 7

I Am Not Your Princess Poem Analysis

In the poem, I Am Not Your Princess, Chrystos uses poetic devices such as diction and

symbols to convey her struggle with common stereotypes and her attempt to be viewed as an

individual.

Chrystos uses specific word choice throughout the entirety of this poem which allows her

to express her anger and annoyance towards stereotypes. One particular example of this is when

she says If you tell me one more time that Im wise Ill throw up on you. It can be inferred that

the common stereotype that she is mentioning is the stereotype that all Native Americans are

wise because of the way she phrases the sentence. By saying Ill throw up on you it reveals

that she is disgusted. Shes disgusted that she is being viewed as a generalized person and not an

individual. People throw up on others when they are disgusted and shes at the point where if she

hears the stereotype one more time shell react accordingly.

Another poetic device that was present aside from diction was the use of a symbol.

Chrystos repeats her recipe of fry bread which had a deeper meaning than a basic food recipe.

She repeats, 1 cup of flour, spoon of salt, spoon of baking powder in the poem and makes it

seem like she is just revealing a basic bread recipe. However, the point that she was trying to get

across is that, This is only my recipe, there are many others In this scenario, Chrystos is

using a symbol to defy stereotypes. By saying, this is only my recipe reveals that everybody

has their own way of making fry bread, some parts may be similar, but they are essentially not

the exact same. This can be compared to stereotypes. Everybody is different, there are many

other (recipes)... and you cannot just judge somebody by their race because in the end, were all

human and different.

 Non Nonceeya
Period 7

This poem by Chrystos has a deep personal meaning to her but also to society. It can be

seen through her diction that stereotypes are bothersome and anger people. Furthermore, her

recipe symbol reveals that you shouldnt use stereotypes to view others because everyone is

essentially different. Stereotypes are not just prevalent for Native Americans but every single

group or race has their own set of stereotypes. This means that nearly everybody has been a

victim of stereotypes sometime in their life. As a result, Chrystos wants to defy these stereotypes

and prevent this in the future and wants society to view everybody as individuals and not

characterize each other by race or groups.