Restoration. Complete? January 19, 2010

 

    Was there Harm that really needed repairing?

 To be honest i really don’t think that there was much repairing in the book, let alone the fact there was harm.  There were some harsh things but I really don’t think that there was much harm as some people would like to think there is.  People are drunks and drug addicts but of course people make stupid mistakes liek running away but it doesn’t really change unless they decide to change on the inside and out.

    I think that the only way people could really restore their harm was by making it worse. Uncle Mick had night terrors about Cookie ( Cathy) his lover, and it led him to death. He wasn’t paying attention, so he got stuck in a fighing net, which led to the death of being eaten by seals.

     The only way Aunt Trudy learned how to be “normal” was to get kicked out of her own village and had no family left to stand by her after Uncle Mick passed, and she went on an even worse drunken adventure. Jimmy was missing, Ma-moo-oo and Uncle Mick, passed away and she felt like she had nothing left to live for, which was sort of true. She was a vicious drunk and couldn’t see that even her own “fiance” Josh was getting sick of her “freak outs”.

    Lisa.  Smoker. Delinquent? After her mother and father left, in search of her brother she was left at her Aunt Trudy’s. She got into drinking and smoking, just like everyone else in the village. She shortly discovered that jsut because other people do it, doesn’t mean she should. I think realizing that everything happens for a reason really helped her, and life goes on, you can’t stay stuck in the past. 

    I think that this book shows that the residental schools really messed the First Nations people up, and made them hate their  lives even more.  I think that even though it is a new age the government has alot of growing up to do.

– Taylor 🙂

The Land Of The Dead January 18, 2010

The harm the characters experienced in the novel, Monkey Beach, is far beyond repair. How can you put together the pieces of someone’s life when everything has been destroyed?

 

The natives had no way to defend themselves, therefore, they would be pushed around and not given the chance to prove themselves. Everyone deserves a chance and should not be stereotyped because of their colour or religion. The government failed to see this and forced the natives to live a life they never asked for. The blindness of the government, caused pain beyond belief to the people on the reserve and for this, they will never be entirely forgiven. Though the government agreed to free the natives of taxes in their communities, what does this tell us? Yes they know now that they made a mistake, but do they understand the consequences of their actions? Maybe, but do they comprehend the outcome of this injustice? NO. Treating them like they did was inhuman and the best thing they can think of is eliminating taxes?? The situation is ridiculous and should have been handled better.

 

Saying that this mess would take years and years of forgiveness, would be an understatment. The natives deserved better and we, as a nation, should now put our ancestors mistakes behind us and put this descrimination to an end.

 

-Kaprise