I Lost My Talk By Rita Joe Summary

I Lost My Talk By Rita Joe Title- The poem might be about an indigenous woman who was forced into attending a Residential School by the government when she was young. Because of the residential school, she almost lost her native language. Paraphrase- An indigenous woman was taken away from her home when she was a little girl. She was sent to the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School (located in Nova Scotia) where she lost her cultural identity, self-identity and native tongue. Prior to attending a Residential School, the woman was fluent in her native language and freely practiced her culture's traditions. Once at school, she was forced to speak, think and create the way the school taught her to. She was told that the way she was brought up to understand the world was wrong. She now knows two languages: English and Cree. English is a more powerful language because it is the language of the

For example, "I speak like you" is a simile that compares how the woman now speaks like White people: in English. The phrase "I lost my talk" (found in the first stanza) is a metaphor. The woman does not literally mean that she lost her talk and cannot speak anymore. The woman means that she forgot how to speak her native language: Cree. Lastly, in the poem there are several phrases that mention "you". "You" represents the entire White race. This is a type of figure of speech called a synecdoche where a part is made to represent the whole. In this case, one individual is made to represent the whole White race. Attitude- The poet's tone seems to be accusatory and angry. She is angry that she was taken from home and forced to adopt a completely new way of living. She was deprived of her right to freely practice her culture. This is shown in the phrases: "The talk you took away", "You snatched it away", "Two ways I talk […] [but] your way is more