FREE ESSAY ON NATIVE LITERATURE WRITTEN BY NATIVES

NATIVE LITERATURE WRITTEN BY NATIVES

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 naively
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. Bibliography1. 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