How Did Pauline Johnson Affect Canada

Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine focuses on the lives of a family of Native Americans. The way that they are represented in the novel provides an insight into modern day native American culture unparalleled by any history book. The way women, children, men, religious figures, and senior citizens are represented in the book allow readers to see the way native Americans interact with others. These interactions allow us to see how native

Throughout history, photographs have been known to depict and represent culture, character, information, and ideology. Through specific elements of form, and close scrutiny, photographs give a representation of the “bigger picture” by providing content and invaluable information that text, on its own, does not produce. Dr. Carol Payne, a professor of art history at Carleton University, wrote an essay in 2012 for the Oxford University Press. This essay focused on the relationships between photographic images, Canadian culture and identity, and indigenous people. Her thesis was to discuss how an image can present a sense of national identity (Carol Payne 310). Professor Payne’s thesis was supported by examining three specific case studies. First, she investigated how photographs authorized by the Government of Canada have supplied a construction of Canadian identity. Second, Payne showed how photographs support the Canadian

“Dance me Outside” by W. P. Kinsella tells the story of little Margaret Wolfchild, an eighteen year old Indigenous mother who is brutally murdered by Clarence Gaskell at the Blue Quills Dance Hall (21). The film by the same name attempts to convey a similar message, but there are key differences such as overlooking the Gaskell’s trial. The broader scope of film allows for the story to be told through multiple perspectives, aiding in rounding out the characters and providing them with a realistic dynamism. In her book “Iskwewak Kah Yaw Ni Wahkomakanak” Janice Acoose criticizes Kinsella’s portrayal of Indigenous women, particularly a character from a different story of Kinsella’s named Linda Starr (69). Acoose asserts that Kinsella “exhibits

Richard Wagamese’s semi-autobiographical novel Keeper’n Me paints the portrait of a young man’s experience—one shared by many Indigenous peoples across Canada—revealing a new perspective on Aboriginal life. First Nations have often been romanticized and the subject of Western fantasies rather than Indigenous truth concerning Aboriginal ways rooted in “respect, honor, kindness, sharing and much, much love” (Wagamese, 1993 quote). Keeper’n Me tells the story of Garnet Raven, an Ojibway, who is taken from his family as a child by the Children’s Aid Society, and placed in a number of (white) foster families, where his Indigenous identity is stripped away. He serves time for drug charges, during which he receives a letter from his brother, inviting him back to the White Dog Reserve to rekindle ties with his people and learn about Ojibway culture, traditions, spirituality, and philosophy with the help of his community and his teacher, Keeper, an elder and recovering alcoholic who was instructed in his earlier years by Raven’s grandfather. In viewing the novel through the theoretical frameworks of the “Middle Ground”, “Orientalism”, and “Agency”, Keeper’n Me explores Canadian-Indigenous relations in a moving, yet humorous way, as well as the meaning of “being” a First Nation in modern society,

In Thomas King’s short story, “Borders”, he writes about the Canada-America border. Within the short story, the main character refuses to identify her citizenship even though she is from Blackfoot. Even though the story is being told through the young boy’s point of view, the main issue focuses on another character, the mother. When approached by guards on the border, the mother insists that she is a Blackfoot, which causes issues because her son is a minor and must stay on the Canadian side of the border.

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston addresses prevalent topics faced in America today. How should women act? Should women be treated differently from men? In her memoir, Kingston faces many obstacles with her Chinese-American identity such as finding her voice as a young woman. In “White Tigers,” Kingston tells her own version of a popular Chinese ballad, “Fa Mu Lan,” while incorporating her own reality back into the section. In her literary criticism, “Empowerment Through Mythological Imaginings in “Woman Warrior”,” Sue Ann Johnston comments on Kingston’s use of myths in the memoir, and believes that myths are Kingston’s most effective means of conveying messages to readers. Although these myths are effective, Johnston overlooks Kingston’s incorporation of these myths back into her own life. As demonstrated in “White Tigers,” Maxine Hong Kingston reveals that a woman warrior requires strength, dedication, independence, and confidence through her mother’s talk-stories and personal struggles during her life.

While reading this passage, I discovered plenty of topics on which I shared similar views about stories and life in general, but also those which taught me about ideas I had never really considered prior. In my opinion, "in all the tellings of all the tellers, the world never leaves the turtle's back. And the turtle never swims away," (King, 1) is a very strong statement to start off with because it causes wonder among the readers as to what the literal meaning is, or if there is one at all. Through reading further, I understood that the author basically meant no matter how many details are incorporated or removed from a story, or whether there is a change in the sequence of events, the central concept, or teachings of the literary work remain.

Throughout the course of a given year, approximately 5.2 million people are affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Nearly 7.8% of the United States population will experience PTSD in their lifetime, and 3.6% of adults ages eighteen to fifty-four will experience PTSD (“What is PTSD?”). Henry is one of these people. Using symbolism and foreshadowing within the story, “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich portrays a few motifs throughout the story and these include the bond of brotherhood, sacrifice, and the effects of war.

The poem My Mother The Land by Phill Moncrieff poetically describes the struggles the aboriginal people faced at the hands of the European people and colonisation throughout history. The fact that the author based the poem on accurate historical events adds to the authenticity of representations and engages the reader in an emotional journey with the struggles the aboriginal people faced with the somewhat loss of their country, culture, identity, people and place. The author uses a variety of language features and text structures to create this view point, for instance the author uses several language features and text structures throughout verse one to demonstrate the loss of culture and people.

In She Had Some Horses, Mvskoke poet Joy Harjo utilizes repetition, symbolism, and various forms of structure to explore and illuminate the relationships Native women form in a world that prioritizes white men. Joy Harjo, hailing from her ancestral lands in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been an important and influential woman in what has been dubbed the Native American Renaissance, and this is reflected in her poetry, artwork, and music. She writes of human desire and nature, of the earthly and spiritual worlds, and of the expansive swathes of southern grounds that were stolen from her tribe many years ago. Throughout all her many collections of work, the main constant is the quiet but meaningful voice she has perfected; full of wisdom and a deep understanding

Canada has 23 different Prime Minsters that was in charge of Canada since 1871, but all of these men did not have a positive effect on Canada, while they were in office. Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the 15th Prime Minster of Canada was an exception. For 15 years of being Prime Minster, Trudeau was a great Prime Minster because he united a country which was historically divided and ushered it in a unique bilingually identity. During his time in the office, Trudeau made great advancements in social, political and cultural spheres of Canada.

Overcoming a challenge, not giving up, and not being afraid of change are a few themes demonstrated in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Perhaps the most prominent theme derived from the novel is defying the odds, or in other words rising above the expectations of others. Junior Spirit exemplifies this theme throughout the entirety of the book. As Junior is an Indian, he almost expects that he will never leave the reservation, become an alcoholic, and live in poverty like the other Indians on the reservation—only if he sits around and does not endeavor to change his fate. When Junior shares the backstory of his parents, he says that his mother and father came from “poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people” (11). He knows that if his parents were not born into poverty, his mother would have gone to college, and his father would have become a musician. Additionally, on page eleven Junior says that his parents “dreamed about being something other than poor, but they never got the chance to be anything because nobody paid attention to their dreams.” Junior believes that he is trapped in this “circle” of poverty, and his dreams will be ignored just as his parents’ dreams had been. However, after Junior launches an old geometry book across a classroom, and it hits his teacher, Mr. P, in the face, Mr. P realizes something substantial about Junior: He has fought since his birth, beginning with the

In “The Osage Firebird” by Sudipta Bardhan, the author discusses the life and hard work of Maria Tallchief. Betty Marie, best known as Maria Tallchief, always wanted to be a ballerina. Since she was a kid, until she became an adult, her dream was to be a professional dancer. Maria made her dream come true and became a dancer.

Comparisons can be made between anyone or anything. This becomes especially true when comparing authors. Langston Hughes emerged in the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote from a of darkness based on his childhood. Lucille Clifton met writers who influenced and encouraged her work. Colleen McElroy spent much of her youth on the move. She began to write and teach to tell her stories. The explorations of cultural heritage in the poems by Hughes, Clifton, and McElroy can be compared and contrasted in many different ways.

In her autobiography, I Came a Stranger Hilda Polacheck reveals the conflicting role of women in the late 19th / early 20th century as workers, caregivers, and social activists in a conflicting age of progress, hardship and missed expectations. Coming from a very traditional Jewish family in Poland it seems that Polacheck was destined to be a full time mother and wife never having immersed herself in the American society where women were becoming more and more relevant. The death of her father changes all of this forcing herself, her mother, and her siblings to fight for survival. This fight is not only what transformed Hilda Polacheck into the woman we remember her as today, but into an American .