Analysis Of Traplines By Eden Robinson

Theodore Fontaine is one of the thousands of young aboriginal peoples who were subjected through the early Canadian system of the Indian residential schools, was physically tortured. Originally speaking Ojibwe, Theodore relates the encounters of a young man deprived of his culture and parents, who were taken away from him at the age of seven, during which he would no longer be free to choose what to say, how to say it, with whom to live and even what culture to embrace. Theodore would then spend the next twelve years undoing what had been done to him since birth, and the rest of his life attempting a reversal of his elementary education culture shock, traumatization, and indoctrination of ethnicity and Canadian supremacy. Out of these experiences, he wrote the “Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools-A Memoir” and in this review, I considered the Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd publication.

The poem is directed those, perhaps politicians, who perpetrate the erasure of First Nations voices and stories. Residential schools, unequal treatment and educational funding are only some examples of how the Canadian government actively subjugated First Nations and their culture. Some aboriginals are victims of sexual assault, murder, and theft, as specifically noted in Simpson’s poem. The purpose of this poem is to inspire others to fight for equal rights; it also serves as a reminders of solidarity to other First Nations who have experiences oppression. Simpson calls on her generation, “the singing remnants,” to remember the mistakes of the past and speak out about past and present inequalities. Leanne Simpson’s work as an activist is evident in this

Phillip Gwyne’s novel, “Deadly Unna?” explores how the main character Gary Black, a white boy from the “Port” also known as “Blacky” grows up by not agreeing to racism. Blacky experiences prejudice and friendship from both the aboriginal and white communities. Blacky begins to develop a greater tolerance for aborigines and their culture, and then he further attempts to apply this knowledge to the intolerant and prejudiced town in which he lives. The boy who helps him shift in his opinion of aborigines is a local aborigine named “Dumby Red”, who lives in the aboriginal missionary “The Point”. Dumby is of Blacky’s Football team and helps Blacky in various ways to become more tolerant.

Michael Downey’s essay, “Canada’s ‘Genocide’: Thousands Taken from Their Homes Need Help” (Downey 445-448), imparts a harrowing account of the hardships and trauma induced by the controversial child apprehensions, often referred to as the ‘Sixties Scoop.’ The essay opens with Downey’s heart-rending recount of Carla Williams’ story, detailing her first-hand experience as a subject of this abuse, who managed to survive and come out triumphant. This explicit topic introduction foreshadows and gives invaluable warrant to his thesis: that the forced adoptions that occurred within Aboriginal communities during this era resulted in cultural and individual upheaval, as well as a belief that both the individuals and communities affected can

The Native Canadian culture revolves around the art of storytelling, and this natural gift is heredity. In Story of Starvation, by Marion Tuu’luq, she tells a tale of her childhood where she and her people go on a journey to find food. They are driven to the brink of starvation due to their lack of technology, and their practice of hunting for their own meals. Tuu’luq’s intense story shows the significance of the Native Canadian way of life, and the tough childhoods that many of them had to endure. Tuu’luq says in her story, “I am going to recount a story that I am sure I have told over and over again in the past” (Pg. 86). This repetition of the story shows the cultural impact of storytelling in the Aborigine community. This story truly does control Tuu’luq’s life, because she retells it in order to remember all that she had to face within her childhood in order to survive. The story is both a source of entertainment, and a source of historical prevalence in Tuu’luq’s life. Although, it was a horrid experience, she learns to cope with it and tell it in a way where the listener takes away the importance of remembering Native Canadian

During the 19th century the Canadian government established residential schools under the claim that Aboriginal culture is hindering them from becoming functional members of society. It was stated that the children will have a better chance of success once they have been Christianised and assimilated into the mainstream Canadian culture. (CBC, 2014) In the film Education as We See It, some Aboriginals were interviewed about their own experiences in residential schools. When examining the general topic of the film, conflict theory is the best paradigm that will assist in understanding the social implications of residential schools. The film can also be illustrated by many sociological concepts such as agents of socialization, class

[Lead in sentence/Hook] “Son of a Trickster,” by Eden Robinson, is the story about the coming of age and rough period of adolescence of a young Aboriginal boy. Through her novel, Robinson is able to convey a message that the Aboriginal people, mainly focusing on the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations, are dark and grating societies of Canada. In order for her readers to understand her perspective of the society, she first demonstrates the selfishness of the societies with the symbolism of raven along with its traits and attributes. Secondly, she uses supernaturalism which shows the mysterious and deceiving society of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations. Lastly, the connection of Jared’s relationships with his peers reveal the negative influences, trends, and issues within the Aboriginal societies. Overall, all these factors contribute the darkness of both reality and the story.

Residential School’s were introduced back in the 1870’s, they were made to change the way native children spoke their languages and how they viewed their cultures. The residential school system in Canada was operated by the government, where the native children were aggressively forced away from their loved ones to participate in these schools (1000 Conversations). The government had a concept, where they can modernize the native children, aged of three to eighteen and extinguish the aboriginal culture. In the twentieth century the Canadian Public School’s had arrived and had improved treatments than residential schools. In Contrast, the treatments within these schools were both different, whereas Canadian public school students had more freedom than residential school students because children were taken away from their families. However, the treatment in these schools were different and some what similar. Even though Residential schools and Canadian Public schools were similar in some form, there were numerous amounts of differences in how the children were taught, how they were treated and how their living conditions were like throughout these schools.

This narrative text is based off the film The Sapphires set in Australia in the 1960s. In The Sapphires we see a flashback of Kay’s childhood and how she is part of the Stolen Generation. I will use this storyline as the starting point for my diary entries. The film gave me background knowledge on Stolen Generation and their experiences they faced. However, I need to know extra information so I will do further research about the Stolen Generation, in order to give an accurate description of their experiences. This narrative is targeted towards everyone. It is designed to inform them about the Stolen Generation and how they changed when forcibly moved to an Aborigines White Institution. This piece of text will be written in a diary entry form. I will use informal and conversational language. I will also use descriptive language when describing objects and sceneries throughout the text.

Through his transmission of the residential school experience, the sharing of the strained relationship he had with his father, the statistics on Indigenous youth suicide, and while he shared the promising increase in this fact over the last couple of years, he held a discussion surrounding the number of Canadians who know what a residential school is (film). With this, I believe Wab’s main goal was to illustrate the significance of Aboriginal issues and inform society of how far it has come in working to better the relationship between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals, while highlighting how far we still have to go, and informing people of the possible directions they can take and/or how society can go about doing

Isabelle Knockwood’s novel Out of The Depths shines a light on Residential Schools in Canada through the first hand accounts of twenty-seven survivors who attended the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. Although Knockwood’s compilation of accounts are all from students of one residential school, the treatments and experiences echo the sentiments of students and authors over a much greater area. The affects of Residential Schools have had a lasting impact, affecting communities and individual generations later. Knockwood’s novel is very unique because it voices not only the harsh realities we associate with residential schools, but also personal experiences of appreciation for what the school(s) did. It will be interesting to look at

In the book Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson, the main character, Lisamarie, has to go through a series of traumatic events. However, these events play a crucial role in understanding the message of the novel. First Nations communities are still struggling with the aftermath of residential schools. This has led to a loss of culture. Lisamarie faces the death of many family members, and sexual assault which help her get in touch with her supernatural side. However, because she has grown up in a Haisla family that doesn’t practice a lot of its culture, she doesn’t know how to accept that part of herself. Several members of Lisamarie’s family attended residential schools which forces her to face intergenerational trauma. The author uses traumatic events that revolve around first nations communities to make the reader aware of the struggles that still affect first nation cultures.

Aboriginal women is sexualized, assaulted, and mistreated in today’s society, and the novel portrays this inequity. Lisa’s friend, Erica, was in Terrace, when Lisa witnesses her being harassed by a group of white men. The men were teaching Erica how to “fuck a white man,” when Lisa intervenes. The men call the girls “a squaw, “cunt”, and “bitch” (Robinson 250). The

Charlie Angus was elected as a Member of Parliament in 2004, a role which took him to the Forgotten Children of Attawapiskat. It was his experiences prompted him to write his book, Children of the Broken Treaty: Canada’s Lost Promise and one Girl’s Dream, which tells the story of Indigenous persons of Canada’s struggles, including treaty rights, residential schools, as well as the fight for education and safe housing. The book provides a challenge to many common assumptions, and it also explores many themes which are used to explain the events which have shaped Canadian culture and policies. Angus begins his book by touching on some of the original treaties signed between the first Canadian government and the members of the bands that are indigenous to the land. One of these was Treaty 9, which promised education for Indigenous children. The book then developed into the foundation of residential schools, and the horrors that are endured there. In addition to the horrendous amounts of verbal, physical and sexual abuse which took place in these schools, the students who attended these institutions faced the mass genocide of their culture, as the unspoken purpose of these schools was “to kill the Indian in the child” (Angus, 2015, p. 14). The beginning of the book, while very dark, provides an honest introduction to some of the themes that can be spotted throughout the book, and history itself. The three themes that primarily stood out to me as a reader were: cultural

Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach incorporates words and phrases from the Haisla language in an effort to reflect the protagonist’s culture while also satiating the cultural curiosity of a non-indigenous audience. The incorporation of Haisla is one of the mechanics of the Glorious Northern Gothic novel, as it provides a reformation of traditional Gothic conventions through an Indigenous lens. The Haisla language is presented through the protagonist’s narration and is usually introduced in an instructional tone or story. Italics mark most of the language in the text; however in some instances the words are not italicized or are only implied. It is through this process of marking that the use of Haisla language moves beyond a mode of integrating the protagonist’s culture into the story and provides a critique on Non-Indigenous Canadians’ appetite for Indigenous stories: what language the text contains and what language is omitted defines what parts of the culture Non-Indigenous Canadians have already consumed or are permitted to consume.