Forced to live with the enemy
After True Son was taken in by Indian family, he was taught the values and ideas promoted by the Indian tribe. As a result, he became an Indian even though he had no Indian blood in him. One of the things he was taught is the idea that white men are bad and dangerous and thus he must hate them. Ironically, True Son is taken away from his Indian family and forced to live with the people he was taught to hate and to associate with danger and corruption.
True Son
After taking True Son from his Indian adoptive parents, Dell noticed how attached True Son was to his Indian relatives and how the Indians grew attached to them as well. For Dell, True Son’s name and his adoptive parents’ attachment to him is ironic considering how the Indians regard those outside their tribe and their beliefs in general.
Not so smart
The general idea is that whites believe themselves to be smarter than the Indians and vice-versa. Yet, there are many things that one nation knows and the other doesn’t and this is one of the things True Son notices on the march back to Pennsylvania. True Son notes how the whites are unaware of their surroundings and do not know to protect themselves in nature: they are not careful to camp far away from the trees that have branches that could fall on them, look downward instead of being aware of their surroundings and are unable to choose good camping places. True Son notes all this ironically when he is with the white soldiers and remarks that while the white man may have a certain type of knowledge, they lack the most basic knowledge about nature.
Double standards
For True Son, the sight of the industrialized world, lack of nature and buildings that look more like prisons and less like homes make him feel even more homesick and accentuates even further his belief that Indians are superior to white men. Ironically, for Dell, the sight of the brick buildings, lack of unexplored and dangerous woods and the sight of wide, paved roads make him feel safe and calm.
Uncivilized
After arriving at the white settlement, the children taken from the Indian tribes were examined by the people coming to find the children that have been taken away from them. The process is described as being uncivilized, almost violent, with people pulling and poking at the children brought everything happening in an unorganized manner and chaotic. The description of the process can be considered as being ironic if the reader takes into consideration the way the white society was described by Dell.
