The Earth On Turtle's Back Analysis

The novel “The Back of the Turtle” by Thomas King is relevant to Canada in both present day and history. Through the setting, characters and theme the story is portrayed in a way that makes it sound like a calamitous prediction for the future of Canada’s treasured natural world. Riddled with corporate greed and environmental disaster, the story follows those involved and affected by the catastrophe that destroyed Samaritan Bay. His lifelike characters are tangled with labyrinthine emotions that add another layer of complexity to the story. In my opinion, the novel “The Back of the Turtle” by Thomas King is a great novel because of the depth of storytelling that the author can achieve, and deserves to be recognised as a “Great Canadian Novel”.

Native American origin myths are very intricate in their stories and tell the reader a lot about Native American culture. The story “The Earth on Turtle’s Back” shows the level of importance that the natives put on nature as they incorporate it into every part of their story. It also shows the respect for nature because of their thinking that they wouldn’t be on Earth without them.

There was only water and bare, empty land. In the center of this nothingness was a great mountain. This mountain stood tall and proud and it reached all the way into the heavens. At the very top of this mountain lived a pair of every kind of animal. In the center of this heaven grew a tree. This tree was not just any tree, it was the sacred tree of life, and it was not to be harmed in any way.

“The Earth on Turtle’s Back” by Onondaga-Northwest Woodlands retold by Michael Caduto and Joseph Bruchac, Is a mythical story based on the beliefs of Native Americans.

The diction in the excerpt is an essential component to the dramatization of the plot’s central incident. Jewett uses rich language to intensify the simple nature of the main character Sylvia’s journey up a “great pine-tree.” For example, in describing the tree, the narrator uses personification as he mentions the “huge tree asleep yet in the paling moonlight.” The use of personification harkens back to those universal moments in childhood in which everything alive had human feelings, and creates an emotional attachment between the reader and the tree. Jewett also uses other figurative language, like similes, to relate the grandeur of the tree to the audience. She writes, “It [the tree] was like a great main-mast to the voyaging earth…” In comparing the tree to the great mast of a ship, the author invokes feelings of awe at its size.

As the story progresses the woman’s cravings reach a point at which she desired some bark from the Great Tree. However as stated before in the passage, “the tree was not supposed to be marked or mutilated by any of the beings who dwelt in the Sky World”. “The women decided that she wanted some bark” proving that she made a conscious choice to violate the rules. This is a representation of how the Iroquois view women. How dare she, as a woman, decide to do anything without the authorization of a man. When she asked her husband to retrieve the bark he denied her request,

The pear tree is her inspiration and her first true desire. She longs to bud and blossom, like the tree, and cannot wait to discover herself and all the wonders of the world.

The World on a Turtle's Back is a Iroquois myth about the creation of earth. This belief is related to the biblical belief about creation. Both portray a story of a woman wanting to enjoy the forbidden fruit. After they eat of this forbidden fruit, good and evil is created. According to the myth good prevails over the day and bad rules over the night. The days of creation are represented by the woman planting roots and plants while riding the back of the turtle, the night is created by the right handed twin cutting off the grandmother’s head and tossing it into the sky, and the seas are filled by the body of the grandmother being tossed into the

The other reason that the pear tree is so significant because it serves as an allegory on how all men our victim to temptation. That is there fatal flaw and what causes them to sin. Look back to Adam and Eve once more. Eve was so easily persuaded by the serpent to sin and because of it, they are thrown out of paradise and into disarray. The pull of temptation in Augustine was apparent when he said “For I pilfered something which I already had in sufficient measure, and of much better quality. I did not desire to enjoy what I stole, but only the theft and the sin

The article concerning the Onondaga on the New World Encyclopedia website allow readers to better understand the key details pertaining to the Onondaga tribe presented in “Onandaga: The Earth on Turtle’s Back”. This secondary source provides important background information to the reader, which assists them in understanding the myth.

The literal language used in the beginning of the free verse does not imply the tree having any symbolic meaning to the speaker and her mother. It is casually said- “My mother and I debate, we could sell the black walnut tree…[to] pay off the mortgage” - which defines that in these lines the tree has not yet been introduced with its symbolic purpose. Initially, the tree is viewed as a property they are willing to sell. They rationalize the idea by noting that there are “roots in the

These oral stories, or histories, provides historical actors with an opportunity to depict their own stories in their own words, where usual written records often discount the great unwashed. For Indigenous peoples, individuality is critical to shared histories. Politicians, activists, and business leaders may materialize frequently in official documents and the media, usually manipulating it for their purposes, but the rest of us very seldom do. In The Back of The Turtle, Kings portrays a identical similar setting; a world full of media coverage that is manipulated by large companies, such as Dominion; “‘A spill?’ ‘No’ said Winter. “But evidently there has been some seepage. Possibly from one of our ponds.’ ‘Didn’t we fund an environmental

Even though forbidden from God, temptation leads them to eat from the tree and perform the first sin of mankind. In the form of a serpent, Satan seduces evil and gets Adam and Eve expelled from paradise. At this point they realize their nakedness and cover themselves with leaves. I feel this is the moment of time depicted in the figure.

The Great Tree must be uprooted.” (p. 22) said the Ancient Chief showing how one dream can present how the pregnant woman was destined to have this to any accidental extend to form something new. The mythical story reveals how planet Earth had no land, but one-hundred percent water. The animals saving her from a fall also explains how there is only animals that live in water. These animals also represent the help in forming life on Earth.

Moreover, this drawing of the tree is representative of the mind growth of Melinda. For instance, the drawing was poorly drawn at the beginning of the book, Melinda’s pressure and her life were weighing her down. As the drawing got better throughout the school year, Melinda’s strength and mindset also began to get better as well. If the tree meant “to shelter”, then Melinda sure developed a very nice shelter for herself in the end.