Breaking Reactions January 22, 2010

There were many characters who went through the injustice in the book together, but each character reacted to them in different ways.
Aunt Trudy and Uncle Mick were put in the same residential school together and were treated terribly with each other close by. I think that the fact that they had to go through such a horrible experience together, it would have built up a closer friendship between them, and it could have helped them stay alive and get through everything. Though they went through this together, Aunt Trudy and Uncle Mick have reacted differently towards life after this experience. Aunt Trudy is an alcoholic and smokes heavily to help cope with the memories that haunt her everyday. She has done many crazy things to people such as hitting Josh, her boyfriend, in the head with a beer bottle. After Uncle Mick’s death, Aunt Trudy and Josh fight about the possessions he has left behind. This fighting leads to Aunt Trudy throwing Josh down the stairs and breaking his leg. After Aunt Trudy finally gets her mind together and realizes what she has done, she picks up the phone and calls 911. She eventually leaves with Tab and moves to Vancouver.
Though Lisa and her immediate family were fortunate enough to not have to go to residential schools, they still have the stress of helping out, listening to, and dealing with the issues or problems Aunt Trudy and Uncle Mick are left with during the coping process. Lisa has a hard time coping with her surroundings and the life around her, and drops out of school. She moves to Vancouver and this is when the partying begins, along with drinking and boys. She goes about everything the wrong way, and makes her problems worse along the way.
– Rach 😛

React or Run Away? January 15, 2010

   Do you react or run away scared?

 

 

    There are many characters in the book that were involved in the issue of injustice.  Many of these characters went through terrible things at the residential schools and it is affecting them now as well. They throw many tantrums and have very serious problems that make them want to hurt their families even though they weren’t there and didn’t know what really happened unless they tell them.

    In the book Aunt Trudy had went to the residential school with Uncle Mick,  and they both went through some very tramatic events.  Aunt Trudy after being assaulted and screamed at, when she arrived back home she had turned into an alcoholic and throws very large tantrums which get her into alot of trouble with her children and the rest of the family.  In one of her drunken episodes she gets mad at Josh (her boyfriend )  for arguing with her over Uncle Micks trophy’s he left when he passed.  The drunken arguement got worse, and Aunt Trudy broke a beer bottle over Josh’s head and threw him down the stairs.  After a couple minutes she got her mind back together and calls 9-1-1 and he is taken to the hospital.  Aunt Trudy ruined things for her and her families life, she got evicted and she moved away from her family and friends in the village and moved to Vancouver.

 

    Uncle Mick had also went to the residential school and met a girl he fell in love with her name was Cookie (a nickname for Cathy). She knew that these schools weren’t right and she chose to follow the rules and in doing so she got kicked out of 3 Residential Schools.  At the age of fourteen she told one of the nuns

 ” ‘ You honkies want woemen to be like cookies, all sweet and dainty and easy to eat. But I’m fry bread you bitch, and I am proud of it. ‘ ”  (Robinson. 145.)

 Her brother Barry had nicknamed her Cookie one day and it stuck. Cookie had got sick of people telling her what to do and she broke up with Uncle Mick and later died.

    The First Nations people took a ride for the worst from 1900 – 1973, now that it has ended they are scared but no longer treated as badly.

 

– Taylor Whyte 🙂

How are the characters reacting to the issue of injustice?

 

Aunt Trudy pretty much broke down after being released from her prison like hold in a Canadian Residential school. She had been brutally abused, physically and mentally. She resorted to heavy drinking to forget all the bad things but it still hurts her to talk about it.

Uncle Mick was shot on one of the reserves. The woman he was having tea with had called the police on some Goons (Guardians of the Oglala Nation). They had been doing things she disagreed with and one day over enjoying a simple cup of tea they showed up and decided to shoot their guns off around them to scare her into silence.

Lisa’s Aunt Lisa also went to a residential school but not much was said on what her experiences were. It kind of leaves you to speculate on what happened.

Uncle Mick’s wife/girlfriend Cookie(Cathy) also went to a residential school. She fought against the system and dropped out of at least three. She yelled back at the nuns and told them she’d never be one of those perfect cookies like the high and fancy, well-mannered white girls. She said she was fry bread and she said she was proud of it.

“You honkies want women to be like cookies, all sweet and dainty and easy to eat. But I’m fry bread, you bitch, and I’m proud of it.” (Robinson, 145, 6-7)

 

 

The Song Of Your Breath

 

The characters reactions to social injustice in the novel, Monkey Beach, was for the worst. The natives living on the reserve were treated so badly, that they turned to alcohol and drugs to ease the pain. They saw no other solution and took their chances.

 

The main character Lisa, became a party girl which was the opposite of the impression I got from her at the beginning of the novel. She seemed like a sweet girl and no one could tell her what to do. She knew what she wanted and life was going fairly smooth considering the native resrictions. When her uncle Mick and grandmother passed away, life turned a corner and went straight downhill from here. These were the two most important poeple in her life and she would talk to them about everything. They were also the only two people to believe her when she would talk about her spirit sightings. With them out of the picture, who would she have to turn to? Her parents? No, they didn’t understand. Her brother? No, he was too young. Her friends? What friends? Without anyone to talk to, she wound up making friends for short periods of time and travelling with them to parties around the village and sometimes further than the village borders. She picked up smoking at an early age and drinking wasn’t far behind. Lisa dropped out of school and moved to Vancouver. Here, she continued partying with people she barely knew and life hadn’t taken any new routes since the day she realized she was alone.

 

Aunt Trudy reacted to the injustice in a similar way. Instead on constant partying, it was constant drinking. She became an alcoholic and this ruined her life, as well as her family’s. She would come home and take all of her pain out on her daughter, Tabitha, who did not deserve it. Tab became used to her mother’s actions and didn’t take any of her harsh comments to heart. No matter how much it hurt inside.

 

The injustice took a toll on everyone living on the reserve and changed their lives forever. If the government were to look back on this now, they should ask themselves this question…was it worth it?

-kaprise