A Blurry Image On The Six O Clock News By Drew Hayden Taylor

In the short story, "A Blurry Image on the Six O'clock News" by Drew Hayden Taylor describes the conflicting relationship between Lisa and her ex-husband Richard. The short story narrated in the perspective of Lisa, which provides important insight into what kind of person Lisa is. Lisa can be characterized as selfish, oblivious, and sometimes ignorant. The phrase "What is Richard doing there?" gets repeated in the short story multiple times and the reason for this is to allow for the reader to investigate and understand the change in which Richard undergoes. Richard embarks on a powerful transition led by grief, guilt and one's own will, where he reconnects with his Ojibway heritage. Lisa believes that the transformation Richard undergoes

Richard's presence in the text is important because it show's a cultural difference, being an Ojibway person for Richard meant being there in times of crisis to help his people as this was most important; however, Lisa fails to see this, and she can only seem to focus on the more material aspects in her marriage. In this paper, the focus is going to be elaborating and investigating the relationship between Lisa and Richard and I will highlight the cultural differences showcased in specific events that will eventually lead to Richard being in Oka and answer the question "What is Richard doing there?". I am going to investigate these changes in two stages, before Donnelly's death and right after Donnelly's

Lisa describes "Richard, with his fashion sense and cool haircut, could easily have passed for someone of a more Mediterranean or Middle Eastern background" (Taylor 226); these lines provide important insight into Lisa's way of thinking as this statement she showcases her ignorance towards Richard's culture, as she is trying to say someone with Aboriginal heritage could not have "fashion sense" or a "cool haircut" (226). These show that Lisa could be erasing his identity in a sense, as she tries to pass Richard as someone else, as though she does not acknowledge his culture. In another instance, Lisa trying to make an effort to engage in Richard's Aboriginal heritage by attempting to go to a sweat lodge; however, could no longer continue as "it was the claustrophobia that got to her", and then proceeds to say "In fact, she preferred small, economic cars" (Taylor 228); this exemplifies that Lisa does not take Richard's heritage and culture very seriously, as something that is sacred to his culture is made as a joke. This of course affects Richard as he will turn away from his own heritage because it does not fit with his wife's lifestyle. Lisa puts very little effort in trying to connect with Richard's culture; this is exemplified in the statement "She even did her