Critiquing Modern Cannibals Of The Wild By Basil Johnston

Critiquing “Modern Cannibals of the Wild” by Basil Johnston

Indigenous struggles have been ignored throughout Canadian history for centuries. They have lost their sacred land, human rights, and communities. Johnston effectively portrays these struggles by putting us in the shoes of Indigenous peoples and reflecting on the damage we have caused to them, whereas Rice directly conveys his message without the same vibrance. Due to the above, Johnston effectively uses stylistic elements to address the negative impact of human greed and environmental exploitation, surpassing the limited impact of similar stylistic elements of Rice’s essay which primarily focuses on personal experiences and lacks the exploration of broader societal issues. These

Johnston showcases diction to create exaggeration and emphasis which calls back on the theme of the essay. These diverse choices of words include: “giant cannibals who fed upon human flesh to allay their perpetual hunger… The more he ate, the larger he grew, and the larger he grew, the greater his hunger. The weendigo’s hunger always remained in proportion to his size” (Johnston 212-213). The use of these words shows the exaggeration the author intends to deliver to emphasize the theme of the essay. By using such extreme language, Johnston draws attention to such words and promotes a call of urgency to act on the issue the theme talks about. On the contrary, Rice showcases a limited use of diction that does not create exaggeration and emphasis on the theme of the essay. This is shown in the following passage: “ I feel confident and enfranchised to uphold the spirit of the language itself in a literary way” (Rice 1). In this example, he talks about his hopes for incorporating and seeing more Indigenous languages in English literature. This is his own personal opinion and is based on his own personal experiences, therefore, it is not considered as exaggerated and urgent like Johnston was able to deliver with his complex use of words. Moving on, Johnston showcases diction in his essay to create complexity and prevent it from being dry by using words that are rich and descriptive. For example, “Mantled”, “Kin”, “Cupidity”, “Kindred”, “Desolated”, “Injudicious”, “Opulence”, “Ostracized”, and “Carnage” are some examples of the use of complex words in the essay (Johnston 212-214). The choice of these complex words adds depth and richness to the essay, creating precision and clarity in their meanings. It also adds credibility and authority because it shows that the author knows what he is