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Indigenous Stereotypes In Dead White Writer On The Floor

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Recommended: Conclution about traumas

Two Indigenous elements that are strongly present in the texts Dead White Writer On The Floor by Drew Hayden Taylor and Five Little Indians by Michelle Good are trauma and stereotypes. The first Indigenous concept that is present is trauma. The five main characters from Five Little Indians suffered trauma from the residential schools, as well as Fred from DWWOTF. In Five Little Indians, Kenny suffered from all kinds of abuse during his time in the residential school starting at the age of six. Even after Kenny escaped, he was still plagued by his experiences there. “Kenny leaned over the toilet, his stomach in knots, heart pounding. He could smell Brother, leaning over him, hard against him, grabbing his hair.”(Good 256) This text proves our …show more content…

I can still see them. Smell them. It hurts, Mike. It hurts.” (Taylor 70) This quotation supports our evidence of Fred’s trauma by pointing out how he can’t escape the vivid memories. An additional Indigenous element present in both texts is Indigenous stereotypes. The most prevalent Indigenous stereotype in both texts is alcoholism. Kenny turned to drinking to numb the pain of his past, and suffers from this substantial abuse of alcohol to the point where his liver gets damaged permanently and he passes away in his sleep. “It was dark when the pain in his liver woke him up. It had been worse lately and his doctor had scolded Kenny, telling him his liver couldn't take much more” (Good 251) This passage explains that Kenny is irreversibly addicted to alcohol. Kenny is shown as a stereotypical Indigenous adult that is addicted to alcohol. It is explained in the book that Kenny is suffering from alcoholism because he has to cope with the immense trauma he went through in the residential school. This shows that the stereotype of the adult Indigenous person addicted to alcohol is misunderstood, as most Indigenous adults who are suffering from alcoholism are coping with their past trauma, not drinking just for the sake of

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