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Ignorance In Rendezvous By Thomas King

783 Words4 Pages

Within the story “Rendezvous,” Thomas King expresses his worry for global issues that stem from us humans using an excessive amount of resources for our well-being, while also including stereotypes of First Nations people. In this story, a town becomes bombarded with many animals of all kinds that typically live in the forest. When a Natural Resources professional, who was First Nations, came to visit, he mentioned the problem with the excessive amounts of animals, how it has happened, and how it can become worse. Despite this, his message does not show to be effective, and people of the town remain ignorant by disregarding his message. The citizens then become impacted by their decisions, and have to continue living with the abundance of animals …show more content…

Ignorance shapes us as human beings, as despite us not understanding a concept, we naturally assume that we do at first. It is a substitute for knowledge, and can be found offensive. Ignorance is greatly conveyed in this story through the character of Alistar, which was early in the story, thus, he is thought to have right-winged opinions. When Mr. Wagamese gets introduced to the town, shortly followed by Alistar saying “now we’re getting somewhere,” can be considered quite offensive. The fact that First Nations are seen to “know the way with nature” from us outsiders, is a racist stereotype that we have developed over time. Ignorance affects everyone, regardless of who they are, or how they identify. Most times, when someone comes off as ignorant, they are strained of knowledge and do not know if it's offensive. On the other hand, those who choose to be ignorant make us stray further away from the interconnectedness we have as a …show more content…

In this story, this is greatly expressed through the end of the story, where they come to the realization that overusing natural resources was a very real thing. Them cutting down the forests and trees at such a fast rate resulted in the animals having to home, and having to invade theirs instead. It consistently happened, and despite being warned for years, it wasn’t a top priority. There are 8 billion people on planet earth, and not everyone can be sustained as there are infinite wants and needs, but finite resources. Humans have both developed and destroyed the world, and it shows through technology, along with poverty, and war. North America is increasingly using more and more resources, which results in outsourcing, increased pollution, and more. However, we are not at wits end; there are things we all can do, and have done as an entire continent to keep ourselves from over consumption. One example is removing disposable plastic utensils, and using paper

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