Tompson Highways play, The Rez Sisters, illustrates the various challenges Native Canadians face within today’s society. The audience and readers of the play are able to learn and understand the numerous problems which exist on the Reserve including poverty, gambling, abuse and addiction. Perhaps one of the bigger challenges found however, is within each of the individual characters. There is a loss of identity which in turn, diminishes one’s tradition, language and culture. Identity is how you view yourself and your life. It helps to determine where you think you fit in, but is often influenced by our experiences, society and our culture. The author Tompson Highway is able to express the daily native life as lacking many native values and
The acclaimed Canadian author Joseph Boyden is often praised for providing an insightful look into Indigenous culture and history through his debut, Three Day Road. While the novel does explore the haunting memories of an Indigenous soldier, it also tackles concepts about storytelling and the power of words. Consequently, this essay investigates the question; How does Joseph Boyden use literary devices and narrative structure in Three Day Road to illustrate the power of stories and language? The novel serves as an examination of the power of words and the different roles they play in communication,
Beth Brant’s journey through Writing as Witness is to reclaim power, particularly that which she perceives in relation to langauge and words. "I hope to convey the message that words are sacred," she says, establishing her perception of what the power words entails through emphasis on tribalography and reclaiming tribal culture and history. The power of language to shape our perceptions of other people is immense. Precise use of terms in regards to race and gender can have a significant impact on demystifying many misperceptions. Power of word also relates to identity, and when Brant speaks about her sexual identity and Mohawk heritage, she ultimately reclaims power, particularly the power of word is* it is understand from her perspective
``The woman warrior`` written by Maxine Hong Kingston is a collection of memoirs. It has a hybrid form: it is a myth, fiction, as well as autobiography. ``The woman warrior`` is a book about finding and discovering yourself in the circumstances of a Chinese family and an American upbringing, always fluctuating between the two worlds, wondering about your true self. In ``A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe`` a very important theme is the Identity Plot.
In Philip J. Deloria’s book, Indians In Unexpected Places readers are provoked with questions. Why is there an Indian on an automobile? Why is she getting a manicure? Why is the young man in football apparel? Indians have been secluded into a stereotype of untamable and wild animals.
Culture is something that is important to everyone. When a person goes from one place to another, the shock of the different culture can be considerably large on a person’s character and their identity as a whole. In Into the Beautiful North, Urrea illuminates cultural collision and its affect on character’s sense of identity through Nayeli’s naivety and her reaction towards how America truly is throughout her journey. Nayeli’s naivety really stems from her home of Tres Camarones.
Over the course of E. Pauline Johnson’s life, which lasted from 1861 to 1913, the treatment and status of First Nations Canadians began to shift. While Pauline Johnson wasn’t as affected by the treatment and status of First Nations Canadians, due to her move off of the Six Nations Reservation because of her father’s death in 1884, she made gains for her people as she ascended to fame. Pauline Johnson made accomplishments for First Nations Canadians in her life and work, those included her poetry, acting, and lifestyle. Even after Johnson’s demise, her name and work lives on because of her talent and charisma. Johnson was raised in a privileged home, where libraries full of books were a norm and reading was strongly encouraged.
Residential schools are significant to the people of Canada; it was an awful occurrence that happened for over 150 years. Settler Canadians recognize the pain they caused and are trying to resolve the complication, one way Settler Canadians are working towards reconciliation is by participating in events such as orange shirt day and by participating in campaigns like the Moose Hide Campaign, where you are supporting your commitment to honour, respect and protection for the women and children in your life by wearing a little square of moose hide on your shirt. Another way that non-Aboriginal Canadians reconciliate is by listening to the stories of children who survived or didn’t survive their experience. Two stories of children and their stories during this time are, Sugar Falls and Secret Path, the reader gets a better understanding of what happened during these times, and how these people felt and why they felt it. The themes of these stories is not only the hard times and experiences they had, but the strength they gained through it.
Native Americans in Canadian society are constantly fighting an uphill battle. After having their identity taken away in Residential Schools. The backlash of the Residential Schools haunts them today with Native American people struggling in today 's society. Native Americans make up five percent of the Canadian population, yet nearly a quarter of the murder victims. The haunting memories of Residential Schools haunt many Native Americans to this day.
The perpetuation of the Lakota people reveals the American religious experiences through the stratification of social inequality through the eyes of Lame Deer. Lame Deer provides a personal narrative that landscapes native religion through social injustice inflicted on the Sioux nation. His stories provide a personal interpretation of what it is to be Native American or Indian living in the white man's world. Lame Deer Seeker of Visions, provides the context of religion from the journey of the Medicine Man. Being Indian embodies myth, ritual, and symbolism of religious tradition as a way of cultural and individual identity.
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.
The book defines stories as being multifaceted and varied, as “dangerous and wondrous” (p.9), “all we are” (p.32), as a way to create our own path (p.25), or as medicine, that can cure or injure depending on how it’s told (p.92), and so on. Through his book, King teaches the reader about Indigenous stories, as well as very personal and human stories that illustrate the very concrete notions of Indigenous issues to the reader. King’s use of personal stories has for
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.
Marcus Garvey said, “People without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.” For the citizens of Otter Lake, a fictional reserve set in Drew Hayden Taylor’s Novel Motorcycles and Sweetgrass, they are disconnected from their cultural roots. Much of the older generation is suffering psychologically from the effects of residential schools, where their culture was taken from them. The younger generations in return feel no ties to their past as they were raised by people who feelings towards it were conflicted as they spent years being abused and told that their culture was wrong. As an author, one of their main roles is to convey a message.
The experiences and struggles of Indigenous peoples in Canada have been a recurring theme in many literary works. Rita Joe's "I Lost My Talk" and Basil H. Johnston's "The Prophecy" are two such works that explore the impact of forced assimilation on Indigenous culture and language. Both works demonstrate how the loss of language and culture can have a lasting impact on Indigenous peoples and their identities. While both works share similar themes, they differ greatly in terms of structure and literary devices. In "I Lost My Talk," Joe uses free verse and repetition to convey the confusion and chaos experienced by Indigenous children, while in "The Prophecy," Johnston uses structured prose and dialogue to make his story more engaging and understandable for readers.
There are many lessons throughout the novel that could be taught and learned in our world, this society, today. They may be true; however, the reasons the lessons are taught in the first place is because of the society being presented in this literary work, The Road. This gives the sociological approach a more appropriate understanding approach to the road. The society and the characters can be analyzed thoroughly and effectively this way. “When your dreams are of some world that never was or of some world that will never be and you are happy again then you have given up.