Keeper N Me Garnet Identity Quotes

Rowan Slattery
Ms. Cameron
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May 4, 2023
A Sense of Belonging Forms an Identity
A person's identity is created from past experiences, interactions and those surrounding them throughout their life. In Garnet's earlier years, he built an identity that never felt like his own. In the novel “Keeper ‘n Me”, Garnet was constantly changing his identity and lying about his past based on who he was interacting with. Those around Garnet impacted his development as a person in finding his true identity. “It's the start of findin’ your power” and “if you anit got no power you gotta connect up to a power source” (Wagamese 262), in this quote, the Keeper illustrates why Garnet needs to connect with his culture to understand himself. Garnet began

Garnet's life with the Flower family was his first experience with a family and community around him. The more time Garnet spent with Lonnie the more he started to dress and act like him. Living in Toronto with the Flowers was the longest Garnet lived anywhere, but Lonnie never let him forget who he was. Garnet spent his life avoiding any connection to being Indigenous and without truly knowing himself. “A man can’t be his person if the man doesn’t know himself” (Wagamese 31), Lonnie knew that he was avoiding who he truly was; Lonnie was the first person to push Garnet to learn about his family. When Garnet went to prison he received a letter from his biological family asking him to come home. When Delma and Lonnie found out about Garnet's family reaching out to him they pushed him to find where he came from and who he was. “Can't be moving around forever. You gotta find yourself some roots” (Wagamese 41) Delma knew the only way Garent could find his true identity was by going to the family he belonged to. Although the Flowers were like family to Garnet, he could not feel like he belonged without knowledge of his family's

Garnet needed to be around family and community to have people accept him for who he is. When Garnet got out of jail he was very hesitant to go to White Dog, he was worried that he is so unconnected with his culture that they will not accept him. Garnet had been running away from his heritage his whole life and going to White Dog means he will finally have to face who he truly was. Garnet needed a safe environment to find his identity, going to White Dog created that for him. Even though Garnet was nothing like the community, they accepted him and wanted him to live on the reserve with them. Stanley could see Garnet was scared of what he didn't know, scared of not fitting in. “Maybe you learned differently than us, maybe you think differently right now, but that's all influence, man.” “maybe something wakes up inside you again. ’cause it never disappeared” (Wagamese 69). Stanley pushed Garnet to believe that he belonged with the family even though he was separated from them. Garnet's family treated him as though he never left the reserve and showed him what it is like to live on the reserve. Not long after moving to the reserve Garnet moved in with his mother he began to feel like he belonged. Living on the reserve was the first time Garnet did not shy away from his heritage but he embraced it. On the reserve, Garnet did not feel ashamed of being Indigenous, because he was allowed