Moon Of The Crusted Snow By Justin Scott Quotes

Peace lies in tradition; a certain type of peace resides in the first scenes of Moon of the Crusted Snow. In this community one needs not a clock, for the breeze itself will whisper when it is time for supper. Over thousands of years, the Anishinaabe peoples know how to hear these words and listen. Evan knows to head home when “the chill in the air [tells] him that he should move quickly” (5). Still, on the way home he is able to observe the “deep orange glow coating the northern landscape as the sun [begins] to set, highlighting the deep evergreen of the pine and spruce trees that [tower] beyond the ridge” (5). The peace accessed after traditional Anishinaabeg practices is undeniable and frankly enviable. What interferes with this peace is

Introduced at the start of chapter 16, Justin Scott is a mysterious outsider who begins and ends with nothing but unease. At the first sighting of Scott’s snowmobile, the first notion of his existence we have, Evan immediately “[feels] butterflies in his gut” (98). Scott goes on to be described as having “a guttural baritone” (100) and generally appearing quite monstrous. As the story continues, Justin grows more and more worthy of such a title. Justin Scott is the personification of colonization and colonialism in Moon of the Crusted Snow. He leeches off the Anishinaabeg's resources and capitalizes on their hospitality by abusing all rights that were graced to him by the community’s elders. A paramount example is Meghan’s testimony of Scott’s treatment. She details that “he orders [them] around. He threatens [them]” (161). Justin has domesticated Meghan’s husband into something akin to “his little lapdog” (161), and Meghan feels she has lost her protection. She visibly looks “malnourished, exhausted, and... traumatized” (161). She looks to be shrinking, while Justin Scott “seems to be getting bigger” (162). However, even with all of this she continues to do his bidding and follow his instructions of checking the snares for food even when Nicole insists she “come back to [her] place for tea and something to eat” (162). The parallels here are vivid. Indigenous peoples invited the

In Justin Scott’s death a reclamation takes place. It is realized that “[the] white people who forced them here had never intended for them to survive” (212). Even before moving from their southern designed and southern styled community, the Anishinaabeg left when Justin Scott died. When they killed him; reversing his slaughter and putting an end to his triumph by giving the man who rejected and abused this land down to it. Justin Scott will drift to the depths of that sea and lay with the roots of the Anishinaabe, allowing them to reclaim their former way of life and “destiny” (212). This land is not their homeland, and with all colonial pressure released, they can finally go home. Throughout the novel, an accelerating tread towards home begins, the climax of that path being the death of Justin Scott. The tread to a less metaphysical home also continues, the climax of that being physically leaving the reserve. Abandoning the pain and the pressure and returning to a world of peace in before. Buried beneath the crusted snow, their roots nearly iced. But tap and break through, melt the