Native Literature Essay, Research Paper
It is unfairly noted that Native Literature written by Natives offends many
readers with its discussion of the first-hand social ills affecting fellow
Natives. However, the typical stories of Euro-Canadian relations constructed
outside the Aboriginal thought imprisons all Aboriginals into stereotypes which
obscure and distort their very real experiences. The obligation of the Native
artist is to remain grounded in cultural soil and ideals, which is determined by
Euro-Canadian standards, while at the same time establishing a foundation of
justice and truth within the context of their work. Ian Ross has addressed many
of these social ills in his play fareWel. Using humor, characterization and
personal experience Ross depicts reserve life from outside the Euro-Canadian
perspective, as being hopeful despite the blatant despair and antagonism reserve
life contains. The Partridge Crop Reserve in Manitoba is a fictional place where
the fictional characters Melvin MacKay, Sheldon Traverse, Rachel Traverse,
Phyllis Bruce, Teddy Sinclair, and Robert Traverse, become muses through which
Ross uses to convey poignant information about the need for social reform for
social ills. The representation of the treatment of Native women throughout
history has been from a one-sided view. Either they were seen as unequal or as
royalty, resulting in being branded as squaws or Indian Princess by the people
who adhere to the Christian point of view. Ross seems to understand this
falsehood and attempts to rectify it with the creation of the characters Phyllis
Bruce and Rachel Traverse. They are both reserved based Native Women, who lived
a hard and fast life, but respect the church, however they are neither squaws
nor Indian Princesses. Phyllis is a single-parent who was beaten by her husband
but attempts to use this experience to strengthen Rachel by saying, "You
can hide in the roof here OK? That’s where I used to hide so I didn’t get beat
up" (pg.66). There are few options for Native, uneducated, and
single-parent women and Phyllis chooses to use her mind to fight the struggle
which emphasizes the significant role woman as mothers and providers are forced
to play. Also throughout the play Phyllis is constantly looking for a way to
feed her kids while in the same thought explores how to feed a church full of
people with "sardines" and "moldy bread" (pg.66). This
highly illustrates that despite the obvious misfortune that Phyllis is entwined
in she stills feels compelled to do her duty to her church, her friends, and
herself. Phyllis is the symbol of strength for her enduring and overcoming.
Rachel was created to emphasize the insurmountable difficulties that Native
women face, first as being the Native woman, and second, for being unable to
achieve economic or social value. She relays this message to the reader when she
states, "?and when I left here I realized what I was?A woman. A Native
woman. With no education. No money. No future." (pg. 68) In order to gain
economic value she had to prostitute herself due to the lack of adequate means
to legitimate opportunities. It is a horror that is greatly misinterpreted by
her fellow Natives for instance, Teddy constantly refers to her as a
"hooker" (pg. 58) or a "slut" (pg.59), which only proves
that the spirit of a native woman can never be broken. In her desperate attempts
to gain economic freedom she was unfairly judged and subsequently lost social
status. Although Rachel yearns to leave the reserve it is her deep sense of hope
that the reserve will overcome the turmoil that keeps her there. Her welfare
check also keeps her in a constant reality check because without it she is
forced to resort to being the "whore"(pg.59) It is Rachel and Phyllis
that truly define the meaning of hope with their conquests for self betterment.
The essence of this play is captured by its ability to add comic relief in its
context through each characters unique disposition. But, it is Nigger with his
abnormal actions, thoughts and appearance, which brings humor to the play the
most efficiently. Our first experience with Nigger is when "Animush"
(pg.22) attacks him leaving him with an open scar and torn jeans. The humor lies
in the image of Nigger who is obviously in pain props "himself against the
doorframe" (pg. 22) while being "hit in the head with a fishhead"
(pg.22). The second entourage we witness is one of a drunken Nigger with his
even drunker friend Teddy. As Nigger claims to need "medcin"(pg.27)
his friend offers a drink instead of medicine for Niggers’ toothache. Alcohol as
a drink is not a form of medicine rather it is a depressant and should not be
substituted for the help of a dentist. Eventually, Teddy suggests that Nigger go
see a dentist and in reply Nigger adamantly states that "All those guys are
good for is pulling teeth." (pg.29). What Nigger makes apparent to the
reader is that he clearly needs a dentist, because his tooth needs to be pulled
out. The humor escalates when Teddy tells Nigger to "Use a belt or
something to tie around your head." (pg. 29) claiming that "that’s
what you do when you get a toothache" (pg.29). They are reduced to using
Niggers’ dirty old sock to tie around his head. The irony of this situation is
that there is no significant purpose for using a dirty sock or even a belt tied
around his head to reduce Niggers toothache. For the rest of the play Nigger
wears the sock around his head and it is when Melvin declares "I smell
tacos?" (pg.38) that the comical image and smell of Nigger becomes
painfully funny. There are other adventures Nigger goes through however, in the
mind of this reader these adventures were the most obvious examples of Ross’
subtle sense of humor. It is obvious that Nigger is uneducated and undisciplined
but he demonstrates that although society associates certain things like
education, material wealth as being signs of hope for the future, it is not
necessarily status that installs hope. Nigger offers a simple and lighthearted
approach to life, which illustrates that hope can be found wherever you look as
long as you incessantly look for it. Melvin MacKay needs to be discussed
alongside Nigger, because he too adds a large amount of humor. But unlike
Nigger, Melvin embarks on a mission of self-discovery and self-importance as a
Bill C-31er. He battles an addiction to gas sniffing but accepts the Church as a
place of refuge, where he can get a break from this painful habit. This is
apparent when he says; "I come here so I won’t sniff. This is the only
place I can’t sniff. I feel wrong about doing it here." (Pg. 61).
"Quitting this is like being a Christian to me. It’s hard. Hey you know
what but? (Pg. 54) The fact that Melvin accepts salvation with the Church
greatly implies that one of the many effects of Christianity has been an
installed sense of hope for the future. Ian Ross’ ability to mask the serious
issue of addictions among Native people by using Melvins’ benign and carefree
personality is unique to Melvin only. When Melvin gets mad enough at the
constant reminder that he is a Bill C-31er he rips his treaty card in half and
makes a very important discovery that changes how the audience now views him
beyond the obvious Indian image. "I figured out I’m an Indian from these
two parts of my Treaty card. See. My face is on one half and my number is on the
other half. That picture is what people see. The number is what the government
sees. And the card’s like me. In two parts. Part White. Part Indian. And you put
them together. And you get an Indian. Me. But not cuz’ the government says so. I
had to get mad to find that out. That’s good eh?" (pg.54). This quotation
reveals to the audience that Melvin has gained pride and acceptance of the given
position in life he was granted. In the eyes of many people he appears as a
"white" person, but finally understands that the way the world sees
you is directly influenced by how you see, treat, and act towards yourself.
Melvins new-founded self respect is the key to change and invokes an
understanding for the other Native people who can’t get out of their own
self-imprisonment. Teddy Sinclair is an interesting character as well, and if
analyzed could create a myriad of levels of discussions. However, in relation to
the purpose of this paper needs to be examined for his ability to convey an
important message about the need for self-reliance within the paradigm of
self-government. When the reserve fails to supply an adequate means of support
via welfare checks, Teddy takes it upon himself to establish a new system. As
elected "for thief. I mean chief" (pg.50) by Nigger, Teddy desperately
attempts to form an alliance against the "?whiteman’s
bull*censored*" (pg.62). What Ian Ross is attempting to teach the audience
through Teddy is that, even though there are many ideas towards corrective
measures in regards to Native politics, it is not necessarily appropriate to use
these measures hastily. Teddy’s many good intentions are similar to all the
intentions of all the "white" historians who fail to accept the native
reality. By establishing this new support system, Teddy denies the others the
ability to create their own self-dependency. Strengthening the thought that
Native programs, which are created in haste, are far to often gratifying for the
establishers and not the participants, which is apparent in the Freudian slip
made by Nigger. Characterizing Robert Traverse as levelheaded, educated and
wealthy in reserve standards, makes him the single most important symbol of hope
for the Partridge Crop Reserve. Nigger recognizes these things as important for
a chief to have, "?You got money. You dress nice. You’ve got a satellite.
You’re the only one around here with a job. We need a guy like you in the band
office." (Pg. 24) Robert however, feels that the position of chief is more
complex than simply owning material possessions. "?It’s been in
receivership. That’s like being bankrupt." (Pg. 24) and that the reserve
needs more than sensitivity to traditions to overcome its obstacles. It is
obvious that Robert is tired of having his things stolen, laziness and the
dependency the others have on welfare checks, ""What’s with you
*censored*in’ Indians huhn? Get a job. Get off of Welfare. Stop taking my
things." (Pg. 83) Although these things that Robert is upset about are made
to be important to the story only, the audience doesn’t have to fully analyze or
even understand Native culture to realize what Ross was intending to show
through Robert. Everyone has a sense of obligation to the things that made us
who we are, some of us however, feel more obligated to these things, and thereby
creating situations that a person normally would not normally feel pressured
into experiencing or even accepting. If Robert were to give up and walk away
from all the madness then there would be no balance between the binary forces of
right and wrong. It is also through Robert that the reader is brought into the
realities of all politics, not just in Partridge Crop Reserve politics
exclusively. On the one hand we have the character Teddy who naпvely
underestimates the responsibilities of elections and the position of chief. And
on the other hand we have the character Robert who is responsible and
understands that being chief is more than just a name. However, the reality
amongst these characters that the reader can easily identify with is the lack of
organization and agreement between the two leaders. After Nigger has been
presumed killed Robert says accusingly, " If you hadn’t played your stupid
politics none of this would have happened. Self-government. You’ve gotten
someone killed now. ?This is why Self-government will never work. Because
there’ll always be people like you. (Pg. 85) Teddy feeling insecure and
defenseless states, " And people like you Robert. Telling us to stay the
same." (Pg.85), this is typical in any form of argument beyond the scope of
politics, it can occur over insignificant details, or it can occur over matters
of huge importance. Usually it involves name-calling and Teddy and Robert are
not excluded from this area, words like "irresponsible",
"chickens-*censored*", "selfish", "Heathen" and
finally "Christian" (Pg. 85), were relayed between these two
characters within the same paragraph. Even after all the lost hope and despair
that Robert feel he knows that he is greatly indebted to his culture and must
use his skills and gifts to help the other people on the reserve attain a way of
life without dependency. "?fenced in and forced to give up everything
that had meaning to our life?But under the long snows of despair the little
spark of our ancient beliefs and pride kept glowing, just barely sometimes,
waiting for a warm wind to blow that spark into a flame again." (Acoose,
Pg. 55) For centuries Aboriginal peoples have been perpetually imprisoned within
physical and stereotypical surroundings by years of historical injustices. With
little hope and much despair they have fought desperately to regain their faith
and strength in the traditions of the past. This "little spark of ancient
beliefs and pride" wavers between conformity and traditions until it no
longer is apparent what the struggle is for. In order to foster strength and
pride in the Native culture it must be accepted for all its facets
unconditionally. Ross grew up on a reserve and it is with this knowledge that he
can accurately illustrate the reality of reserve life. It is authors like Ross,
who by his failing to conform to the Euro-Canadian perception of the Native
Experience fosters pride and strength to the native communities at large. Ross
makes a positive contribution to the literary world by writing and articulating
the Native reality. Ross and all respectful writers, who acknowledge it as such,
are the "warm wind" by which sparks ignite. Every community of all
backgrounds needs to educate and strengthen the next generation about and for
the continuance of cultural identities. Sadly, it is too often unfairly thought
that the suffering of Natives of their physical, spiritual, sexual, and
physiological abuses, are not parts of the Native cultural identity and
experience.
1. Iskewak Kah’Ki Yaw Ni Wahkomakanak, Janice Acoose, 1995, Womens Press, 2.
fareWel, Ian Ross, 1996, first published 1997 by Scirocco Drama, An imprint of
J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing. Inc