Substance Abuse In Five Little Indians By Michelle Good

In the book Five Little Indians, Michelle good presents the ideas of coping and the strategies that people use to deal with abuse through characterization in order to show how the assimilation method failed, ultimately illustrating that residential schools did not benefit indigenous people, it only served to hurt them and start a cycle of intergenerational trauma that is still present today.

Throughout FIve Little Indians you can see each character and their different coping mechanisms for dealing with the trauma that they were put through as kids. One coping mechanism that is seen in more than one person is substance abuse. Both Kenny and Maisie are seen abusing substances as a way of dealing with trauma that they have gained from residential

Clara and Howie are great examples of this. “Everyone knew Clara had a hair-trigger temper in situations like these, when things were just plain wrong. Later, they decided that Harlan should have known better.” (Good 97) Clara later finds a way out of this anger but for many years the anger she had followed her and got her in trouble. Many people who went through the residential school system were or are very rightfully angry about how they were treated but many of them take out that anger on people who haven’t earned it like family members causing lots of trouble in the lives of indigenous people. You can see anger not only in the people that went to the schools but in the children of them as well. Anger is found within Kendra as well, most of it is anger at her father and his lack of appearance in her life. Unfortunately some people who have bottled up anger will take it out on those close to them such as family members which can start a terrible cycle of

After many years of being outside of residential schools each of them still holds onto the memories that they have of that place and find it very difficult to face those memories. In sharing his history at residential schools “A kind of euphoria filled Howie, even though he felt weak in the knees. It was as if the burden of history had been lifted from his shoulders.” (Good 279-280) Although Howie found it difficult to speak about the horrible things that happened to him at the residential school many people have found that speaking about the past is the best way to move forward. Many indigenous individuals have experienced PTSD due to the traumatic events that happened at the residential school they went to. PTSD is a complicated illness that affects not only the person but the people who are around them. Raising a child when you have PTSD over school may lead to some parents keeping their children from getting an education even when the children would be going to a much better