"Nature as Monster" (Survival - Margaret Atwood)

 

Nature as Monster

                                        - Margaret Atwood

 

Introduction:

Nature poetry is seldom about Nature. It is usually about the poet’s attitude towards the external natural universe. The same tendencies can be present in the descriptive passages of novels or stories with natural settings. With this idea in mind, Atwood critiques the types of landscape that portrayed in Canadian literature and the kinds of attitude they mirror.

Nature in Canadian Literature:

It is not surprise that in Canadian literature “Nature” has a prominent place. But it often dead or unanswering or actively hostile to man or seen as unreal in summer or in spring, because in Canada most of the season is winter. So Canadian writers do not trust Nature. According to them Nature is ‘distrusted’ in Canada as written in Alden Nowlan’s poem. In English Canadian poetry during the 18^th century “Nature” was portrayed as sublime and picturesque, in the line of Edmund Burke’s ideology. But in the beginning of the 19^th century it was Wordsworthian Romanticism – “Nature was kind Mother or Nature who would guide man if he would only listen to her.” However, in the mid   19^th century Nature’s personality underwent change – “She became redder in tooth and claw” as Darwinism infiltrated literature. Thus, Canada was still under Burke or Wordsworthian influence. For example, in the early part of 19^th century in Susanna Moodie’s description of the “Surpassing grandeur” Nature is attributed Wordsworthian concept – Nature is a Kind Mother. But in her later work “Roughing It in the Bush” Mrs. Moodie doubtfully writes whether Nature is benign or not. This tension between expectation and actuality was not confined to Mrs. Moodie alone.

The Manitou:

In Alexander McLachlan’s “The Emigrant”, he expresses that he cannot understand or interpret the bogs, wading rivers, crossing logs, songs of birds in Canada, as he is an immigrant in the land. Like this, Charles Sangster and Leigh Hunt also give the “double” attitudes - such as benign and unfriendly - of Nature in their works.  Douglas Lepan in “a Country Without a Mythology” a stranger is wandering in a landscape without any “monuments or landmarks” but among “savage people” who were silent and moody and their langue was incomprehensible. In the following days he almost snatched berries and fishes forgetting that he is an English educated man. Probably “what is missing for him in this alien land are the emblems of tradition-saturated European civilization”. The landscape is harsh – it is too cold in winter and too hot in summer. However, the traveller maintains his desire for a Wordsworthian experience of Nature as divine and kind. Though he continues his journey, he does not get the vision that he aimed for. According to him Nature is ‘empty’ and there is no revelation. But for an Indian there is an image of the divine present in the landscape – the “manitou”.

Nature - Dead and Hostile: The mythic figure the “manitou” is not a “golden-haired Archangel”. It is rejected as impure or “lust-red”. Whereas the traveller’s Wordsworthian and European Christian fantasies are only wishful thinking, and of a destructive kind: they prevent him from making meaningful contact with his actual environment. That is why he remains a stranger. In fact, the person who demands Divine Mother may conclude that Nature is dead. Nature seen as dead or actively hostile towards man is a common image in Canadian literature.

Death by Nature:

While the author writers “Death by Nature”; it is the author who intends to murder the character. In fact, the Canadian authors’ two favourite “natural” methods for dispatching his victims are drowning or freezing – drowning is preferred by poets and freezing by prose writers. The reason is that there is lots of water and snow in Canada and both are good murder weapons. There are no deserts or jungles. There aren’t many venomous reptiles or vermin in Canada. In Canadian psyche, Death by Wild Animal is infrequent. Death by Indian has something akin to Death by Nature in Canada. Yet another way of killing is Death by Bushing in which a character isolated in Nature goes crazy as in Joyce Marshall’s story, “The Old Woman”.

The attitude towards Death by Nature vary based on the guilt ascribed to Nature. For example, in F.P. Grove’s “Snow” the protagonist is found dead in the frozen snow, after many days of his death. Hearing the news, his mother-in-law collapsing into tears says “God’s will be done”. Here Nature is dead or indifferent rather than actively hostile. “Death by Nature” has a different aspect in Earl Birney’s poem, “David”. In the poem, when two men went for an expedition to reach the peak called “the Finger”, one of them, David slipped and fell down on ice six hundred feet below and died. The death of David is ostensibly a kind of accident and any guilt for it belongs to the narrator who caused David’s fall by his carelessness. But the imagery of the poem casts a different light on the story. In  a sense, it is the beckoning of the “Finger” that has lured David’s fall, Nature-is-indifferent but after his fall Nature-is-hostile. Symbolically, David’s vision of Nature as a destructive and hideous monster.

Nature as Monster:

David’s name is suggestive as it alludes to the story from the Bible and so the Goliath is of course, Nature herself. But in many ways, Canadian David-and Goliath, stories, Goliath wins. In E.J. Pratt’s “The Titanic” once again Nature is shown as ‘hostile’. The description of ice berg that sinks the Titanic is worth some attention. Though this monster is of uncertain sex, yet in Pratt’s “Towards the Last Spike” Nature-monster is definitely female. In “Towards the Last Spike” that the monster is the Canadian shield which is in the form of female dragon or lizard. In fact, war is declared against her by Sir John A. Macdonald who wants to build a railroad through her. In the war, this time, he makes man win against the female giant. After this, one thing is very strong in Frye’s “The Bush Garden” – “the conquest of nature by an intelligence that does not love it” – started sympathizing at the defeated giantess. Now the concern is how to avoid destroying her – the female monster – the Nature.

Human as Monster:

So, now the concern is from  “Nature is hostile” and it should be won over to, how to save Nature. Now the understanding is destruction of Nature is equivalent to self-destruction on the part of men. Earle Birney’s “Transcontinental” is a sort of “Towards the Last Spike” revisited. But in Birney’s, it is not that the Divine Mother, but the man will have to clean up the ‘mess’ he has made. Man-the-aggressor is taken a step further in Peter Such’s novel, “Fallout”. In the novel man rapes the land using technology and Nature punishes him in the form of an ‘hurricane’. Dennis Lee’s “Civil Elegies” implies that North American war on Nature is not an enhancing of human civilization but a stunning of it. Once again it is “Four Basic Victim Position.”

 

Four Basic Victim Positions:

Position One is that Nature poetry in 19^th  century is Wordsworthian view which looks at Nature as Divine Mother. But in Position Two – there are many variations: (i)some poems talk about the hardness of the Nature and difficulties of coming to term with it. (ii) some poems talk about ‘believe’ and you say it is too cold, if you experience coldness. (iii) some poems talk about struggling against a terminology (probably a natural scene) which is foreign to you. (iv) the chronological reading of Canadian poems reveals that the gradual emergence of language appropriate to its object.

In Position Two you realize that you cannot win over Nature. But deciding to “win the war against Nature can move you into Position Three. Yet in Position Three you find the continuation of Position Two because you believe that Nature may not destroy weak man but it is giant towards giant man. In pre-Position Four, Nature is not looked as “Divine Mother” but as “evil Monster”. In the Position Four man himself is seen as part of the process; he does not define himself as ‘good’ or ‘weak’ as against a hostile Nature or as ‘bad’ or ‘aggressive’ as against a passive, powerless Nature. Such kind of Position Four is very rare in Canadian literature except some poets like Irving Layton, because he transcends the alternatives and moves into the processes of life-as-energy.

Conclusion:

Thus, in this essay, Atwood describes how the perception of the Canadian writers ranges from Nature as Divine Mother to Nature as Monster and the reflection of it in their writings.

 

Survival ["Survival"] (Margaret Atwood)

 Survival

-        Margaret Atwood

About the Author:

Margaret Atwood, a prolific Canadian author, is acclaimed for her profound contributions to contemporary literature, spanning multiple genres including fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Born on November 18, 1939, in Ottawa, Ontario, Atwood's diverse body of work often explores themes like power, identity, and ecological conservation. Her sharp literary voice and incisive wit have earned her numerous prestigious awards, such as the Booker Prize and Governor General's Award. A passionate advocate for environmental and social issues, Atwood's influence extends beyond her written works, impacting cultural and political dialogues. "Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature," one of her seminal non-fiction works, reflects her deep engagement with Canadian identity and the literary landscape.

About the book: Survival

Introduction: In Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature by Margaret Atwood contains a  comprehensive analysis of Canadian literature which helps readers understand the real meaning of the Canadian literature. Delving into the works of various Canadian authors, Atwood uncovers a persistent motif of survival in the harsh, often unforgiving landscapes of the country's history and environment. This groundbreaking study not only reframes how we perceive Canadian cultural narratives but also throws light on survival, resilience, and identity (both national and individual) in the lives of Canadians.

Introduction:

“Survival” is the first chapter in which she argues that the most important strategy that the Canadian writers learnt and also portrayed in their literary works is “survival”, because not only in the animal kingdom but also in the human world only “the fittest will survive”.

Personal Experience:

Atwood argues in the first chapter that Canadian writers have emphasized the concept of survival as a key strategy, drawing parallels between the animal kingdom and human society where only the strongest prevail. She reminisces about her early exposure to Canadian literature, reflecting on how her perception evolved from initially dismissing Canadian stories as inferior to recognizing their depth and significance in shaping national identity. Atwood challenges the notion that literature is merely for entertainment, emphasizing its role in reflecting and shaping cultural values and identities. Can you explain the significance of survival as a thematic element in Canadian literature according to Atwood's analysis? How does Atwood's personal experience with Canadian literature contribute to her understanding of national identity and literary values?

 

Survival Manuals:

 The text discusses how animal stories by Seton served as survival manuals, focusing on the perils of the wilderness. It emphasized dangers like getting lost or encountering dangerous animals. The world depicted in these stories was filled with traps and challenges, where there was no superhero to save the day. Atwood explores Canadian short stories by Weaver and James, highlighting themes of human struggles and fatal accidents. The Canadian writing portrayed a world of danger and menace, with a unique shape that differed from other literature. The essence of these stories and their depiction of the Canadian landscape is the subject of Atwood's book.

 

Symbol: An Identity

The text suggests that every country or culture has a unifying symbol at its core, such as "The Frontier" for America, symbolizing new beginnings and unfulfilled promises. This symbol serves as a system of beliefs that brings people together and motivates cooperation for common goals. American literature often explores the gap between the idealized vision of America as a utopia and the harsh reality of materialism and disappointment. Some individuals even mistake reality for the ideal, as seen in the example of "Heaven is a Hilton Hotel with a Coke machine in it." "The Island" is the corresponding symbol for England, popularized by a poet named Phineas Fletcher in the 17th century through his poem "The Purple Island." It employs a body-island metaphor, depicting England as a self-contained Body Politic with a hierarchical structure, where the King is the Head, statesmen the hands, and peasants or workers the feet, reflecting the concept of an Englishman's home as a castle.

 

 

 

Theme: Death and Decay

Canadian authors often depict their heroes experiencing death or failure as a central theme in their works. This emphasis on failure is seen as necessary to align with the characters' worldview and the overall tone of the narrative. While well-executed endings that align with the story's themes are generally accepted, poorly delivered conclusions can detract from the work's aesthetic appeal. Canadian writers tend to lean towards negative outcomes, such as natural disasters or unexpected tragedies, rather than resorting to positive, contrived resolutions. This preference for negative symbolism reflects a pervasive cultural tendency towards embracing failure over success. Some argue that Canadian literature's inclination towards pessimism aligns with broader 20th-century literary trends, but the prevalence of death and failure in Canadian works appears more pronounced and relentless. While some may view Canadian authors as morbid or neurotic, others find intrigue in the shared thematic elements among diverse Canadian writers, prompting speculation on the underlying reasons behind this commonality.

 

Survival:

The central symbol for Canada is Survival, known as la Survivance in both English and French Canadian literature. This concept represents the idea of staying alive in various forms and challenges. For early explorers and settlers, it meant surviving hostile elements and carving out a place to keep alive. It can also symbolize surviving crises like hurricanes or wrecks, often portrayed in Canadian poems. In French Canada, cultural survival involved preserving their identity under English rule, while in English Canada facing American influence, it gains a similar meaning. Survival can also be seen as a vestige of a past era that persists beyond its time. This concept of survival evokes anxiety and tales of those who made it back from harrowing experiences rather than triumphant victories. Overall, Survival in Canada inspires a sense of gratitude for escaping with one's life.

 

Basic Victim Position:

The text explores the idea of Canada as potentially being a victimized and exploited entity, akin to a colony where profits are generated for the benefit of a central power. Colonies are traditionally designed to serve the economic interests of the ruling entity, leading to cultural side effects known as the colonial mentality. The author suggests that if Canada is a collective victim, it should acknowledge the Two Basic Victim Positions, which range from denial to creative non-victimhood. Canadian literature, as outlined by Atwood, primarily focuses on themes related to victimization, especially Position Two where individuals feel powerless to change their circumstances. Despite this, the role of writers is seen as reflecting society as it is, rather than prescribing how it should be. Overall, the text underscores the complex interplay between economic exploitation, cultural identity, and the role of literature in reflecting societal realities.

Conclusion:

Thus in “Survival” the first essay in Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature, Atwood offers her critical views on Canadian literature and strongly appeals that Canadian literature has its own identity, a symbol which is on par with the identity of other nations. The Canadian identity is expressed in every page of its literature though, the country, in one or the other, underwent or undergoes victimization in the hands of imperialists

Cultural Identity and Diaspora (Stuart Hall)

 

Cultural Identity and Diaspora

-        Stuart Hall

Essay

About the Author:

Stuart Hall (3 February 1932 – 10 February 2014) was a Jamaican-born British Marxist sociologist, cultural theorist, and political activist. Hall — along with Richard Hoggart and Raymond Williams — was one of the founding figures of the school of thought known as British Cultural Studies or the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies. In the 1950s Hall was a founder of the influential journal New Left Review. Hall's work covers issues of hegemony and cultural studies, taking a post-Gramscian stance. He regards language-use as operating within a framework of power, institutions and politics/economics. This view presents people as producers and consumers of culture at the same time. For Hall, culture was not something to simply appreciate or study, but a "critical site of social action and intervention, where power relations are both established and potentially unsettled".

Introduction:

Stuart Hall beings his discussion on Cultural Identity and Diaspora with a discussion on the emerging new cinema in the Caribbean which is known as Third Cinema. This new form of cinema is considered as the visual representation of the Afro-Caribbean subjects- “blacks” of the diasporas of the west- the new post colonial subjects. Using this discussion as a starting point Hall addresses the issues of identity, cultural practices, and cultural production.

Discussion:

There is a new cinema emerging in the Caribbean known as the Third Cinema. It is considered as the visual representation of the Afro-Caribbean in the post colonial context. In this visual medium “Blacks” are represented as the new postcolonial subjects. In the context of cultural identity hall questions regarding the identity of this emerging new subjects. From where does he speak? Very often identity is represented as a finished product. Hall argues that instead of considering cultural identity as a finished product we should think of it a production which is never complete and is always in process.

He discusses two ways of reflecting on cultural identity. Firstly, identity understood as a collective, shared history among individuals affiliated by race or ethnicity that is considered to be fixed or stable. According to this understanding our cultural identity reflects the common historical experiences and shared cultural codes which provide us as “one people.” This is known as the oneness of cultural identity, beneath the shifting divisions and changes of our actual history. From the perspective of the Caribbean’s this would be the Caribbeanness of the black experience. This is the identity the Black diaspora must discover. This understanding did play a crucial role in the Negritude movements. It was a creative mode of representing the true identity of the marginalised people. Indeed this act of rediscovery has played crucial role in the emergence of many of the important social movements of our time like feminist, ani-colonial and anti-racist.

Stuart Hall also explores a second form of cultural identity that exist among the Caribbean, this is an identity understood as unstable, metamorphic, and even contradictory which signifies an identity marked by multiple points of similarities as well as differences. This cultural identity refers to “what they really are”, or rather “what they have become.” Without understanding this new identity one cannot speak of Caribbean identity as “one identity or on experience.” There are ruptures and discontinuities that constitute the Caribbean’s uniqueness. Based on this second understanding of identity as an unstable Hall discusses Caribbean cultural identity as one of heterogeneous composites. It is this second notion of identity that offers a proper understanding of the traumatic character of the colonial experience of the Caribbean people.

To explain the process of identity formation, Hall uses Derrida's theory ‘difference’ as support, and Hall sees the temporary positioning of identity as "strategic" and arbitrary. He then uses the three presences--African, European, and American--in the Caribbean to illustrate the idea of "traces" in our identity. A Caribbean experiences three kinds of cultural identities. Firstly, the cultural identity of the Africans which is considered as site of the repressed, secondly, the cultural identity of the Europeans which is the site of the colonialist, and thirdly, the cultural identity of the Americans which is a new world- a site of cultural confrontation. Thus, the presence of these three cultural identities offers the possibility of creolization. Finally, he defines the Caribbean identity as diaspora identity.

Conclusion:

In his 1996 essay 'Cultural Identity and Diaspora', the theorist Stuart Hall argued that cultural identity is not only a matter a 'being' but of 'becoming', From Hall's perspective, identities undergo constant transformation, transcending time and space. Thus, diaspora communities represent and maintain a culture different from those of the countries within which they are located, often retaining strong ties with their country and culture of origin and with other communities of the same origin in order to preserve that culture.

 

An American Brat (Bapsi Sidhwa)

 

An American Brat

-Bapsi Sidhwa

Essay

About the Author:

Bapsi Sidhwa (born on 11 August 1938) is a Pakistani novelist of Gujarati Parsi Zoroastrian descent who writes in English and is a resident in the United States. She is best known for her collaborative work with Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta: Sidhwa wrote both the 1991 novel Ice Candy Man which served as the basis for Mehta's 1998 film Earth as well as the 2006 novel Water: A Novel, on which Mehta's 2005 film Water is based. A documentary about Sidhwa's life called "Bapsi: Silences of My Life" was released on the official YouTube channel of " The Citizens Archive of Pakistan" on 28 October 2022 with the title " First Generation -Stories of partition: Bapsi Sidhwa".  She currently resides in Houston in the US. She describes herself as a "Punjabi-Parsi". Her first language is Gujarati, her second language is Urdu, and her third language is English. She can read and write best in English, but she is more comfortable talking in Gujarati or Urdu, and often translates literally from Gujarati or Urdu to English.

 

Introduction:

Bapsi Sidhwa is a prominent writer of Pakistan Diaspora. Her major works reflect her personal experience of the Partition of Indian subcontinent, abuse against women, immigration to the US, membership in the Parsi or Zoroastrian community, and other such related issues and concerns. Basically, Diaspora is an experience of dislocation and physical displacement from the motherland and it raises socio-cultural and psychosomatic identity questions which have led to a hybrid culture and a new process of cultural assimilation. Peculiar experiences caused by migration and native communities, rootlessness become a major issue of the post-colonial society and a prime concern of the post-colonial writers; and hence, it is also regarded as an identity crisis as well as search for identity. “An American Brat” is set partly in Lahore and partly in the United States is the story of a young Parsi girl’s Americanization. “An American Brat” is a novel which focuses on the diasporic experiences and their effects on the characters, especially its protagonist, Feroza.

 

Feroza’s Family: The story line of “An American Brat” is simple, lucid and pacy. Bapsi Sidhwa chronicles the adventures of a young Pakistani Parsi girl, Firoza Ginwalla in America. Her Lahore-based family, send her to the USA, for a three-month vacation, to broaden her outlook on life. They are concerned at Feroza’s conservative attitudes, which stem from Pakistani’s rising tide of fundamentalism, during the reign of the late President Zia-ul-Haq. Her mother Zareen is perturbed that her daughter Feroza has adopted an un-Parsilike orthodoxy in her attitude and outlook, thereby making her a misfit in her community. Cyrus Ginwalla, the father is apprehensive about another kind of loss of identity. He fears that his susceptible young daughter would fall in love and marry a non-Parsi. So, the solution is to send the girl for a holiday to the USA. She will become ‘modern’ in the truest sense of word. By thinking for herself she will challenge traditional views, static orthodoxy and grow beyond the confines of communality, and norms of a patriarchal society. Bapsi Sidhwa shows that the journey to the USA was supposedly a learning process but instead it makes her “too modern” for her patriarchal and seemingly liberal family. So, in this novel of self-realization, the self-awareness that Feroza Ginwalla acquires, ironically isolates her from her Parsi heritage.

 

Feroza’s First Encounter: During the course of the story, Sidhwa touches upon almost all those aspects that new immigrants and visitors to the United States experience at first hand – or hear recounted to them by others. Some of these incidents are meant to be funny, others critical of the unpleasant and even ugly underside of America. Thus, Feroza’s first experience of the United States is her encounter with the immigration official who badges her and tries to get her to admit that she has come to get married and the uncle is not at all uncle. The official gets her so upset that she ends up in tears, shouting that she will go back to her own country. Manek warns her to keep quiet and only barely manages to persuade the official of their true relationship and that he guarantees that she will return to Pakistan when her visa expires.

 

Feroza’s Transformation:

Feroza, after getting a crash course from Manek about how to survive in the States is soon on her way. She decides to join a college in Twin Falls, Idaho. Manek is happy with her choice because it is in Mormon territory. The ban on liquor, striptease, prostitution, the fact that coffee is not served in most restaurant, means Feroza would not be exposed to the free and easy ways of the rest of America. Nevertheless, even in Twin Falls, Feroza, through her roommate, Jo, is exposed to the underside of America. She soon picks up Jo’s manner of speaking bad words. Even in Twin Falls, it is possible to get liquor  and Feroz soon initiated into drinking. Jo picks up men casually and while Feroza is still restrained, she also enjoys going out with Jo and flirting “modestly” with strange young men. While she does wonder what her family will think of her, seeing the transformation that she imbibed. She even commits the cardinal sin of smoking – to Parsis fire is the symbol of Ahura Mazda and smoking an act of desecration. In depicting the Americanization of Feroza, Sidhwa contrasts the confined atmosphere og girls’ lives in the subcontinent with the freedom they enjoy in the States.

 

Feroza’s Love Affairs:

In the States, however, Feroza discovers that there are no restrictions and sexual relations are casually entered into. Feroza finds herself drawn to a young Indian named Shashi. They kiss and indulge in mild petting when they are alone, but their relationship is somehow strained because of the “taboos that governed the behaviour of decent unmarried girls and desi men”. Shashi is more attracted to Gwen a young black roommate of Feroza, and Gwen, the mistress of a while married man, is not averse flirting with Shashi. Knowing the affair between Shashi and Gwen, Feroza breaks up from Shashi, yet she does not break off the friendship existing between them. Later Feroza meets David Press whom she meets when she goes to look at a car he is selling. In her attempt to describe Feroza’s falling in love with David, “golden, languishing god” according to Feroza.

 

Zareen’s Attempts: Feroza believes that underneath the religious and cultural differences, she and David are alike, but Zareen, Feroza’s mother does not think so. When Feroza discloses her intention of marrying David, Zareen rushes to America to prevent this unsuitable marriage. She brings money to buy off David. She tries to explain Feroza that by marrying David she would cut herself off from her family and religion. She would never be allowed to enter the Parsi place of worship, never be allowed to attend the funeral rites of her parents.

 

Despite her outburst, Zareen wavers and starts questioning the strictures against interfaith marriage. Parsi men can marry outside the faith but still remain Parsi but Parsi women who marry non-Parsi are termed to excommunicated. Zareen sets about preventing the marriage of her daughter and David. She is unable to buy off David, because overwhelmed by the shopping malls, she spends all her money on a frenzied shopping spree. So she has resorted to other tactics to prevent the marriage. She advises Feroza to forget about David and marriage but to concentrate on her studies. Then she explains David about the Parsi culture and the wedding in Parsi community and how different the culture of him from theirs. Finally, David who wants to lead a peaceful married life, keeps himself away from Feroza. David’s attraction n for Feroza weakens.

 

Feroza’s Reaction: Initially Feroza feels depressed but gradually recovers, strengthened in her resolve to continue there. She has experienced freedom in America and refuses to live without it thereafter. She realizes that she has changed too much to even go back to Pakistan. She does not agree to an arranged marriage with one of the three nice boys chosen for her by her parents but decides to stay back in the USA. The migrant Feroza has adjusted herself well to a different culture and “there would be not going back for her”.

 

Conclusion:

Thus Sidhwa’s “An American Brat” deals with the subject of the ‘cultural shock’ and the later transformation that any expatriate experience in the West. Like in other novels, in this novel also the Parsi rituals and customs are brought out by Sidhwa. Thus, even as Sidhwa writes about how the sixteen-year-old Feroza Ginwalla becomes, what her mother, horrified at the change in her daughter, calls “an American brat”, the culture and politics of Pakistan and the joys and sorrows of being a Parsi woman remains Sidhwa’s concomitant concerns.

The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)

 

The Diviners

                                                        -Margaret Laurence

Characters

Morag Gunn

This 48-year-old novelist is the protagonist of the story. The plot largely revolves around her relationships to her family, her husband, her illicit lover, her daughter, and most importantly, her isolation in a world who misunderstands her and doesn't value her identity as a woman, just like the colonials didn't respect the humanity of the natives.

Christie Logan

This anti-parent character is shown as a demonstration of the frustrating vulnerability that Gunn is left with after she is orphaned by the death of her parents. Logan is her step father, to an extent.

Brooke Skelton

Gunn's husband, Brooke Skelton, is a Canadian man who doesn't respect the individuality and independence of his wife, causing her to seek out an affair.

Jules Tonnerre

An ethnic native, Tonnerre comes to represent the similarity between the plight of the natives against the colonialists and Gunn's own mistreatment by her culture. Tonnerre and Gunn share an affair, and this leaves her with lots of native concepts and stories to help her work through her isolation.

Pique

Morag's relationship with Tonnerre is certainly not perfect. When the two have the child Pique, Morag takes her away from Tonnerre, so her daughter, Pique, and she have something of a difficult relationship.

 

Plot Summary

The Diviners is a 1974 kunstlerroman, or novel about the writing of a novel, by Canadian author Margaret Laurence. The semi-autobiographical narrative follows the life and memories of Morag Gunn, a writer and single mother who grew up in Manawaka, Manitoba, and her struggle to understand and accept her identity. Laurence is considered one of Canada’s greatest writers. The Diviners is the fifth book in her “Manawaka” series of books set in or around the fictional town, including The Stone Angel and A Jest of God. In 1972, Laurence was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. She died of lung cancer in 1987.

The novel opens with a section titled “River of Now and Then.” Morag, 47, wakes up in her Ontario log cabin to discover her 18-year-old daughter, Pique, is gone. She has left a note behind asking her mother not to worry or “get uptight.” Pique, who is Metis, of mixed First Nations ancestry, has headed West in search of her roots. The note unlocks Morag’s own memories of when she was Pique’s age and headed East from her Manitoba hometown, looking for her own identity. Morag searches her house for photographs from her childhood, ones she has treated carelessly over the years but has never been able to throw away.

In the next section, “The Nuisance Grounds,” the narrative flashes back to Morag’s early years. Both her parents died of polio when she was young, and she was taken from her comfortable upper-middle-class home to a poor foster family in Manawaka. Her foster parents, Christie and Prin Logan, loved and raised her, but she treated them with contempt, looking down on their lack of education and impoverished circumstances. Christie was the town “scavenger,” or trash collector, taking the town’s refuse to the dump, which the town referred to as The Nuisance Grounds.

Christie proves a natural storyteller, and furnishes Morag with made-up stories about her ancestors. He tells her tales of a Scottish hero named Piper Gunn, claiming that he is Morag’s ancestor several generations back. Piper’s exploits are actually based on the real history of Archie MacDonald, but Morag will not learn the truth until much later. Piper’s wife is also named Morag, and this ancestor helps give Christie’s untethered foster daughter a sense of identity and belonging. She believes her past and her people were rich and respectable—that they, not the Logans, represent who she is and where she comes from.

The next section, “Halls of Sion,” sees Morag escaping Manawaka as soon as she can for university in Winnipeg. She marries a professor 15 years her senior, Brooke Skelton, and moves to Toronto. The marriage is not a happy one. Brooke is pessimistic and controlling. Morag wants children, but Brooke tells her the world is too harsh to bring a child into. He ridicules

 her attempts to write. He confines and restricts her. One night, Morag encounters a childhood friend, Jules “Skinner” Tonnerre, who is Metis, on the street. She invites him in for dinner only for Brooke to insult him. In response, Morag leaves the house with Jules and has a three-week affair with him without protection, hoping she will become pregnant. She does, and it ends her marriage.

The final section, “Rites of Passage,” follows Morag as a writer and single mother. She moves first to Vancouver, where she writes her first novel, Spear of Innocence, and gives birth to her daughter, Pique. Jules is rarely present in their lives, though he stays with Morag for two months when Pique is five. Jules and Morag are drawn to each other through their shared sense of alienation from their hometown and their ongoing search for acceptance and belonging. As a “half-breed,” Jules has always been looked down upon, considered inferior for his racial heritage. He tells stories of his Metis ancestors that rewrite history, just as Christie did with his stories of Morag’s fictionalized ancestors. Jules leaves and Morag moves to England with Pique, hoping she will find a community of like-minded writers to thrive in. But reality does not match her imagination, and she is as lonely as ever in her new home.

Eventually she returns to Canada, to the log cabin home of the novel’s beginning. She goes on a journey to Scotland as well, in search of her ancestors, but does not actually travel to Sutherland, where her people came from. She realizes that Manawaka is her true home, and returns there to find that Christie is dying. She tells him he has been a father to her. More than that, her true heritage is not Scottish but Canadian.
Pique returns home after her own search for identity. Her relationship with Morag is sometimes uneasy, but they reconcile. Morag returns to her log cabin home and finishes her novel.

Essay

About the Author:

Margaret Laurence  (July 18, 1926 – January 5, 1987) was a Canadian novelist and short story writer, and is one of the major figures in Canadian literature. She was also a founder of the Writers’ Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary organization that seeks to encourage Canada's writing community. One of Canada's most esteemed and beloved authors by the end of her literary career, Laurence began writing short stories in her teenage years while in Neepawa. Her first published piece "The Land of Our Father" was submitted to a competition held by the Winnipeg Free Press. Her early novels were influenced by her experience as a minority in Africa. They show a strong sense of Christian Symbolism and ethical concern for being a white person in a colonial state. Laurence won two Governor General’s Award for her novels A Jest of God (1966) and The Diviners (1974). In 1972 she was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Introduction:
The Diviners was a controversial book when it was first published. It continues to be challenged and banned from school districts for perceived coarse language and blasphemy. Despite this, it is widely considered a classic of Canadian literature. In 1993, it was adapted into a popular made-for-TV movie starring Sonja Smits and Tom Jackson.

Discussion: Themes

Lots of people are disenfranchised, and it matters.

Laurence chooses to liken her frustration to the plight of the native peoples in light of the past colonialism of Canada. This draws attention to the fact that the dominant class, primarily white men, has historically mistreated many people. This makes the story less about the particular person and more about injustice itself.

 

 

Writing is a spiritual and psychic process, as well as an act of the mind.

By describing Morag Gunn’s  relationship to writing, Laurence also explains the premise of the novel in a way. Basically, it's Laurence indicating to the reader that a life of artistic creation is a difficult, lonely, emotional path, and it causes her to face the emotions that she might otherwise avoid. It's out of love for the novel that this novel is born.

Men and women have a precarious relationship.

Conceptually, the reader might have expected Gunn and Torrerre to last as a couple, since their identities share common elements, but actually, Laurence chooses for Gunn to leave Torrerre, citing the difficulties of the relationship, even though he was a muse to her. Basically, the picture is that even a good relationship is made worse by the unfortunate social systems that limit their involvement.

Even women are not allowed to be part of each others' teams.

Poor Morag Gunn doesn't even get to take solace in her relationship with her daughter, because the daughter has a difficult time understanding Gunn and her decisions. Part of the reason certainly seems like Gunn trying to rationalize her opinions so she can maybe feel some community after all, but because of the systems she cites, even her relationship to her own daughter, or to femininity by proxy, is strained.

Literary Devices:

The father quest

Morag knows instantly that her daughter's pilgrimage to encounter the spirit of her father and her ancestry is archetypal. She knows from experience what a rite of passage such a journey can be. Her daughter is venturing into the unknown to learn who she herself is, and her desire to understand her ancestry is a symbol for that journey toward self because she is literally a product of their existence. This journey also symbolizes whatever heritage and culture she might be able to salvage.

The dual parent motif

Morag is familiar with hero motifs. In fact, she is a famous author because her own life was archetypal. For instance, she writes about her foster parents. This fostering led her to a life of existential confusion. Who is she really? Where is she from? Is here identity already complete and whole given that she doesn't know her true parents? This is a common motif in heroic literature. One might think for instance of Superman's foster parents, or of Moses's Egyptian and Hebrew parent pairs.

The controlling husband

There is a man whose name is almost "Skeleton." He is Brooke Skelton, a person who looks inviting on the surface, but who is eventually controlling and domineering. His personality brings a kind of personal death into Morag's life. She strives to please herself or him, but his domineering nature makes her pick either slavery to his angry ways or freedom entirely. The dilemma leads to infidelity. Perhaps one way of interpreting this symbolism is that Skelton represents patriarchy and control.

The pilgrimage

When her daughter leaves, Morag is in the process of writing a novel, and she finishes the novel at the end of this book, a sort of book within a book motif. She needs her daughter's wild behavior to remind her of her own youthful passions, and then she can finish the novel. This brings to mind her own deeply human experience of youth and becoming one's self. Like her daughter, this happened in the form of a pilgrimage, but for her it was pilgrimage to her home country, Scotland.

The reunion of mother and child

When the mother and daughter are finally united, Morag and Pique talk through the disagreements. They finally seem to work through it. The resolution that they accomplish is the twin symbol for the missing father and the journey. Pique has two parents, and one is not there, and that is her journey with him, learning what abandonment looks like and how she ought to feel about it. This experience makes her more sympathetic to her mother because their personality conflicts were evidence that her mother sacrificed and provided for her.

Conclusion:

The Diviners, thus establishes the fact that how a woman establishes her individuality after making lot of struggle and compromises. The novel can also be viewed as postcolonial one, because the family members like the colonizers do not understand the inner mind of the protagonist but every time they try to snub her effort and emotions in the name of love and the societal norms. 

Ned Kelly (Douglas Stewart)

 

Ned Kelly

-        Douglas Stewart

-         

 Characters

• Ned Kelly

The central character (antagonist) and the head of the notorious gang known as the Kelly gang. He is a criminal (a notorious bushranger) who outsmarts the police and escapes easily after every notorious activity.

Ned Kelly is a determined, intelligent and persuasive character and leads the gang successfully in various criminal activities.

• Joe Byrne

Joe Byrne is one of the notorious Australian outlaws, a prominent member of the Kelly gang and a friend to Ned Kelly. Joe Byrne is a loyal friend and a ruthless energy to Aaron.

Byrne actively participates in robberies and violent actions of the gang. He also helps Ned Kelly and gang in their escapades.

• Living

One of the bank employees (a clerk) at Jerilderie who is present during the bank robbery of the Kelly gang at the beginning of the play.

He is the man who teases another clerk named Mackin, and when confronted by Ned Kelly during the robbery, he never opens up about the bank manager.

• Mackin

Another clerk at bank in Jerilderie. He engages in the conversation with Living and is involved in the first stages of the practical joke on Tarleton, the bank manager.

• Tarleton

The manager of the bank at Jerilderie. Living and Mackin mock him for his idleness, calling him an “old cow.”

• Roo Kelly

The lover and companion of Ned Kelly. She is also involved with the gang but in a supportive position and is the one who informs Joe Byrne that Aaron has turned into an informer for the police.

• Aaron

A member of the Kelly gang who betrays the rest of the gang to the police. This betrayal culminates in his death at the hands of Joe Byrne.

• Thomas Curnow

During the critical situation at the Glenrowan railway station when the workers taken Hostages, Thomas Curnow begs the gang to set him free and assures that he would never inform about them to police.

However, in the climax, Curnow betrays the gang by information police about their hideout, thus defeating this evil gang.

• Richard

A police officer who is under the control of the Kelly gang. He is continuously drugged to keep him unconscious and unable to fulfill his duties. His captivity serves as an advantage for the gang until Thomas Curnow’s intervention.

• The Parson

A character who reflects on his own life in Australia and expresses his concerns about the constant threat posed by outlaws like  Ned Kelly.

Essay

About the Author:

Douglas Stewart (6 May 1913 – 14 February 1985) was a major twentieth century Australian poet, as well as short story writer, essayist and literary editor. He published 13 collections of poetry, 5 verse plays, including the well-known Fire on the Snow, many short stories and critical essays, and biographies of Norman Lindsay and Kenneth Slessor. He also edited several poetry anthologies. His greatest contribution to Australian literature came from his 20 years as literary editor of The Bulletin, his 10 years as a publishing editor with Angus & Robertson, and his lifetime support of Australian writers. Geoffrey Serle, literary critic, has described Stewart as "the greatest all-rounder of modern Australian literature"

Introduction:

Ned Kelly by Douglas Stewart is a play partly in verse written in 1940s. Originally staged in 1956 by the Elizabethan Theatre Company, the drama is set in historical context revolving around Australian bushranger, Ned Kelly. The play was first produced as a radio play in the year 1942. Ned Kelly (the real life gangster) has found a special place in the legends of Australian folklore. Today, the historical Ned Kelly is often seen as a hero-like figure by the children in Australia. Kelly’s courage to disobey the authorities; his daring escapades and his intelligence in outsmarting the police, have made Kelly a hero among kids in Australia who admire bravery and adventure.

Ned Kelly Background

Ned Kelly and his team were infamous Australian outlaws and bushrangers of the 19th century. It was led by the most famous, Edward Ned Kelly, this gang is most remembered for their confrontations with police or other authorities, and a number of bank heists. The most infamous confrontation of the gang was at Glenrowan in 1880 where Kelly with his gang faced off the police in a gun battle while they were all clad in protective metal armour.

The notorious acts of the gang have become legendary and iconic in the folklore of Australia with Kelly himself often portrayed as a Robin Hood figure (a sort of a modern day hero) by some and a ruthless criminal by others. This bushranger gang is the basis of Douglas Stewart’s play “Ned Kelly”, though his play may take liberties with historical accuracy, it gives the audience a measure of understanding of the legend and story of one of Australia’s most notorious outlaws.

Discussion

At Jerilderie

“Ned Kelly” begins on a Monday morning in a bank at Jerilderie on 11th February in 1879. Two characters, named Living and Mackin, the clerks at the bank joking and mocking each other’s carelessness in their work. They also criticise the bank manager Tarleton for his laziness, referring to him as “an old cow.” Joe Byrne, a member of the Kelly gang, gets disguised as a policeman and approaches the bank. He demands the clerks to hand over the money they have in hand. Joe Byrne taunts them and calls Living an “Inkpot.” Ned Kelly follows Joe Byrne to the bank where he looks for Tarleton, the manager. But the clerks remain tight-lipped on Tarleton’s location.

Kelly offers to give Living a gift to his girlfriend and Joe Byrne offers Living a token, a clock for remembrance. When Living is still unresponsive, Kelly even goes on to threaten him that if he does not tell him information regarding the location of Tarleton, he will kill him. And at this juncture Tarleton himself enters the bank.

Bank Robbery

Suddenly and without further ado, the key is taken forcibly by the Kelly gang and all the cash which they wanted was collected. The manager warns them that they will soon be caught by the police. Kelly assures that it is impossible for police to catch them because they have already captured a police officer by the name Richard.

Richard is constantly given a drug to be administered continuously so that he will remain unconscious and hence, cannot perform any duties. Cox administers him with the drugs at regular intervals.

Kelly even dares to the extent of telling to a newspaper editor that can write about their robberies. The first act concludes when the parson admits his discomfort about life in Australia, a country under constant threat.

At the Forest

Kelly and his gang seek shelter in a thick forest where they discuss their past robberies and crimes. Steveheart tells Joe Byrne that their friend Aaron has become a police informant. However, Joe Byrne dismisses this in the belief that Aaron has been his close friend from school days.

Ned Kelly’s lover Roo arrives and explains that Aaron is the one who informs the police on them. Joe Byrne becomes furious and publicly avows kill Aaron, regardless of the fact that he is always guarded by the police.

Ned Kelly announces his plan to stage an incident that will be remembered for years to come. Later, Joe Byrne and Dan Kelly, Ned Kelly’s brother, go to Aaron’s house and Aaron is mercilessly shot dead by Joe Byrne.

Workers taken Hostages

The Kelly gang takes workers at the Glenrowan railway station as hostages holding them at gunpoint and later proceeds to sabotage the railway track. They later relocate to a hotel with sixty villagers held as hostages.

Kelly plays with them, and Joe Byrne sings to them the song ‘The Wild Colonial Boy’, an anonymous Irish-Australian song about the bushranger Jack Donahue.

Thomas Curnow, a Hostage

Thomas Curnow, one of the captured people, begs the Kelly gang to let him out because he needs to meet his wife who is waiting for him near the building. He assures them that he will never tell a word about them to police. He is finally released, though Joe Byrne warns that it is unsafe to let him go.

Curnow goes to the railway station, stops one of the trains and informs a group of policemen about the presence of the Kelly gang at the hotel.

Police vs Gangsters Gunfire

The police surround the hotel that leads to a vigorous firing between the police force and the gangsters. During the battle Kelly wears a 42 kg bulletproof jacket that largely helps to protect his life.

The gunfire finally ends in the evening lasting for seven hours in which approximately 15,000 bullets were fired. All members of the Kelly gang, except Ned Kelly, are shot dead during the battle.

The End

Kelly sustains serious leg injuries but survives because of the bulletproof jacket. A priest confirms the deaths of the gang members.

Kelly is arrested, and it is speculated that Dan Kelly and Steveheart escaped to Africa, as their bodies are not found at the scene. Ned Kelly is executed on a momentous day, with his final words being “Such is Life.”

Some Questions to Ponder on:

Q: Who is Ned Kelly and what did he do?

Ned Kelly was a criminal, a notorious bush ranger in Australian who stole from the common people and robbed banks, and spent his life on the run from the police.

Kelly also killed 3 policemen at Stringybark Creek in 1878. The climax of the action took place in June 1880 when the Kelly gang staged a siege at Glenrowan that ended up in the deaths of several members of the gang and Ned Kelly himself was captured and later executed in November 1880.

Q: How did Ned Kelly die?

Ned kelly was alive at the end of the Glenrowan Siege and was later executed by hanging in November 1880 at the Old Melbourne Gaol in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Although Kelly defended himself and justified that the robberies he committed were because of the police brutalities and prejudice, he was proven guilty and was sentenced to death.

Q: What were Ned Kelly’s last words?

Some sources state that the final words of Kelly, right before he was hanged to death were “Such is Life”. These words have since become catchy and often used in regards to talking about Kelly.

Q: Why is Ned Kelly a hero for kids?

Kelly is viewed as a hero-like figure for kids in Australia because of several reasons:

• Most people see Kelly as a symbol of underdog, fighting against a powerful and oppressive authority.

• Kids are often captivated by the stories of Kelly that has been romanticised and mythologised over years, becoming an integral part of Australian folklore.

• Kelly’s defiance against authority, his daring escapades and his cunning tactics to outwit the police, all make him a hero-like figure among kids who admire bravery.

• Today in Australia, Ned Kelly is celebrated as a cultural icon, with his pictures appearing everywhere, even in children’s books.

Q: What was Ned Kelly’s famous letter?

Ned Kelly’s famous letter is known as the “Jerilderie Letter” that is indeed a longest one containing 56 pages of 8,000 words in which Kelly has tried to justify his actions.

The Jerilderie Letter can be viewed as an important historical record as it contains the text written by Ned Kelly in 1879. It was actually dictated to Joe Byrne, another member of the Kelly gang, and it was named after the town of Jerilderie in which it was written.

The letter can be viewed as the statement announcing Kelly’s position and is directed to the police and the public detailing the perceived injustices committed by the authorities. It is a comprehensive account of Kelly’s perspective regarding events that led to his becoming an outlaw.

On the issue of the killings of three policemen at Stringybark Creek in 1878, Kelly justified the killings as mere acts of defending themselves and laments the injustices he claims to have suffered at the hands of the police, which led to him and his gang named outlaws.

In the letter, Ned Kelly also condemns what he perceives as the corruption and brutality of the police force and advocates for justice for the poor and minority in the society.