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Four Souls Reflective Essay

Decent Essays

The second semester of this course has opened up several different strands of conversation, including sexuality, erotica, politics, mothering and women’s connection to water. The atmosphere in the class has changed slightly from the last semester, as the class has become more familiar with each other’s views and perspectives. This has increased the dialogue and discussions, though attendance is lower I find when I did go to class that the discussion was often interesting and in-depth. This atmosphere allowed students to bring their children without fear of being judged, which is very uplifting as acceptance in classrooms is sometimes not present. I found this very prevalent during my seminar lead, as my classmates seemed to be even more excited …show more content…

The book was a much needed relief to constant non-fictitious readings, as it allowed a different part of my brain to process the information and allowed me to truly enjoy what I was reading. Erdrich’s writing depicts a picture of women’s strength, which I found to be represented best through Nanapush’s story line. In the novel Nanapush relates to his discussions with the Earth and a man’s place on it, the Earth discussing her disdain of men living on her body; “And I allow it – not because you are a human and not because you are a man – but because you were born of a woman. I, the earth, respect a woman’s pain as it is freely given to the service of life… You’re only here on my patience and on the patience of women.” (Pp. 156, 2006) The indifference the Earth demonstrated towards men in this storyline really resonated with me, as I found it truly demonstrated the power Indigenous women hold and our responsibility as life carriers. This, of course does not negate the responsibilities and roles that men hold, but rather I found it spoke on women’s connection to the Earth and it seemed to be poking fun at current Patriarchal views. Erdrich’s words both depicted both nightmares and humour, which as a previous fan of Erdrich who enjoys darker themes I extremely enjoyed. Her novel was the perfect way to discuss the accumulated knowledge we learned throughout the course and allowed students to enjoy their readings during the stress of end of

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