Keeper N Me Character Analysis

“If we want to live at peace with ourselves, we need to tell our stories” (3). In Richard Wagamese’s novel, “Indian Horse”, a man named Saul Indian Horse is introduced and he tells his story. He faces a lot of hardships on his journey, including racism, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. He is exposed to violence multiple times. Saul’s experiences help readers understand what it is like as an Indigenous person growing up in Canada.

In the short essay Pretty Like a White Boy by Drew Hayden Taylor and the short story Sara’s Gift by Barbara Smith, both protagonists come into conflict with forming their identity. The two characters illustrate Indigenous peoples' struggle with questioning their identity and searching for a belonging. The protagonists in both stories struggle with not fitting in because of their appearance. Drew Hayden Taylor never knew his white father, he grew up with his Ojibway mother and lived in the indigenous community, but was always looked at differently. “It’s Not Easy Having Blue Eyes in a Brown Eyed Village”(Taylor 504).

During his time in foster care, Garnet faces stereotypes and challenges his sense of self while playing a neighbourhood game. “One time were busy getting up a neighborhood game of cowboys and Indians. Except back then it was "cow-boys and itchybums” (Wagamese 19). The disrespectful term used in the game, “cow-boys and itchybums”, embarrasses Garnet, and he becomes resistant to embrace his identity as an Indian. He attempts to fit into the white society and distances himself from being associated with the stereotypes people have commonly imposed upon Indians, he is doubtful and struggles to find his place in the world.

Monkey Beach is an adaptation of “Queen of the North,” both written by Eden Robinson. The texts both touch on the theme of intergenerational trauma within Indigenous communities. Through the lens of different main characters, however, Monkey Beach approaches the topic differently through its portrayal of the transmission of trauma. In “Queen of the North,” the transmission of intergenerational trauma is most clearly seen through Josh reenacting trauma onto Adelaine. In contrast, as a novel, Monkey Beach offers a more nuanced depiction of the methods of intergenerational trauma transmission, such as the loss of Lisamarie's cultural identity.

People often cannot feel confident in who they are unless they know their past. In the novel Keeper’ N Me Richard Wagamese develops Garnet Raven as a young indigenous man taken away from him his family as a child, which in turn causes him to struggle through life feeling uncertain of who he is and longing for a sense of belonging. Initially, Garnet tries to conceal his true identity as an “Indiyun” because his people have been portrayed as alcoholics and unproductive people throughout his life. Due to this concealment he feels a part of him is missing inside and is determined to fit in somewhere. It is not until Garnet receives a letter in prison from his brother Stanley that he realises in order to fill this lonely pit inside him that

Those around Garnet impacted his development as a person in finding his true identity. “It's the start of findin’ your power” and “if you anit got no power you gotta connect up to a power source” (Wagamese 262), in this quote, the Keeper illustrates why Garnet needs to connect with his culture to understand himself. Garnet began

Tracey Lindberg’s novel Birdie is narratively constructed in a contorting and poetic manner yet illustrates the seriousness of violence experience by Indigenous females. The novel is about a young Cree woman Bernice Meetoos (Birdie) recalling her devasting past and visionary journey to places she has lived and the search for home and family. Lindberg captures Bernice’s internal therapeutic journey to recover from childhood traumas of incest, sexual abuse, and social dysfunctions. She also presents Bernice’s self-determination to achieve a standard of good health and well-being. The narrative presents Bernice for the most part lying in bed and reflecting on her dark life in the form of dreams.

Initial Assessment Garnet from the novel Keeper N’ Me seems like a rather resourceful individual that has relied mainly on himself to navigate through life ever since he aged out of the foster care system. The way in which he chose to survive during this time may have been influenced by the pervasively negative stereotypes against Indigenous people, his detachment from his community, family, and heritage, as well as the observed desire to fit in or belong. Garnet’s primary presenting clinical issues seem to be a diminished sense of self and self-esteem. This may be due to growing up in all-white households and schools with no formal education about his family history/heritage or of Indigenous teachings in general. The knowledge that he was able to gather from within these

This allows Circe to realize her desire to be human. They form a brief relationship where they become friends and Circe finds a desire to be a little more than friends. Glaucous claims to enjoy his mortality while Circe expresses jealousy for his mortality. (quote) This experience is

Garp is a really good book and it is very hard for me to get into a book, but once i started reading more it started to get better. I think that Garp has a hard life because he does not have a father figure and he never will. His mother Jenny Fields does not want anything to do with men, so he wont ever learn a lot of what boys may be thinking. He got married really quick and moved on with his life and wants to start wring and book, and for Helen his wife to go to college.

Growing up in all-white homes, going to all-white schools, playing with all-white kids can get a guy to thinking and reacting all-white himself after a while… I was a brown white guy.” (pg. 17) Garnet had no real sense of identity until he met and started working with Keeper. Before moving to White Dog Garnet would be anything but an Indian.

In his book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie portrays a teenage boy, Arnold Spirit (junior) living in white man’s world, and he must struggle to overcome racism and stereotypes if he must achieve his dreams. In the book, Junior faces a myriad of misfortunes at his former school in ‘the rez’ (reservation), which occurs as he struggles to escape from racial and stereotypical expectations about Indians. For Junior he must weigh between accepting what is expected of him as an Indian or fight against those forces and proof his peers and teachers wrong. Therefore, from the time Junior is in school at reservation up to the time he decides to attend a neighboring school in Rearden, we see a teenager who is facing tough consequences for attempting to go against the racial stereotypes.

This perspective gives the reader insight into how minorities at that time were regarded in relation to scapegoating – consequentially leading to the persecution of minority characters, including Jasper Jones, who is half-Aboriginal. Described as a ‘half-caste’, Jasper’s reputation among the Corrigan population is firmly established. “Jasper Jones has a terrible reputation in Corrigan. He’s a Thief, a Liar, a Thug, a Truant. He’s lazy and unreliable…

His lack of exposure to any sort of homey atmosphere limits his capabilities in bonding emotionally to anyone. Wagamese illustrates all of these links and themes through his writing by exhibiting the symbols of Garnet’s lack of a home, as well as a lack of a loving family, but in the end provides Garnet with both. When Garnet does arrive home and meets his family he is finally comfortable with his life. He finds peace and love with his family and poses as a true advocate for those who wish to have a home but are unsure of how to do

Krebs is used to the women overseas. With the women speaking different languages, he did not have to be creative with his words. He did not have to be kind or sweet to the women verbally. If he spoke to the women from the war they would not even know what he said. Between the rejection from his war stories and the rejection from women, Krebs begins to feel lonely and depressed.