Symbolism In Cottagers And Indians

Reclamation of One's Lost Identity

The hundreds of years of oppression committed against the indigenous people by government authorities, the church, and private industry has constituted an abundant amount of systematic problems revolving around racism and ignorance. While simultaneously causing a mass cultural assimilation of a people's identity, culture, and tradition. The play Cottagers and Indians, written by Drew Hayden Taylor explores several indigenious issues, because of the severe effects that these problems and barriers placed by institutions have caused on the structure of indigenous society and their traditional heritage. After observing and deeply analyzing the exchange of dialogue between Arthur and Maureen in this conflict-filled

It allows for millenia old food traditions to be practiced and celebrated, while presenting an opportunity for an individual to reconnect with their culture and identity. The significance is also recognized by the author, this is illustrated in the following quotation, “What I am doing is something you can’t understand. It involves culture. History. Heritage. I am sorry if the celebration of our Anishinaabe culture is a slight inconvenience for you.”(Taylor 55). The true importance of planting manoomin is truly acknowledged through this passage. Furthermore, as Arthur describes, it involves culture, history, and heritage and is more than just a crop, rather a method for Arthur to celebrate his Anishinaabe culture. Additionally, the significance of food sovereignty is appreciated all the more in this following passage, “Food is sacred, and a gift of life from the Creator. The inherent right to food sovereignty is reciprocal, thus demanding us as humans to nurture our interdependent relationships with the land, plants, and animals that give their lives for our sustenance”. According to indigenous belief, food is a gift from the Creator, this information increases the significance that manoomin holds in the reader’s perspective. The wild rice crop has been instilled there by the Creator himself, and over time this gift was disappearing due to human

The following quote supports and establishes this pretense, “There is widespread racism in Canada, and its name is ignorance; ignorance of history, and inherent biases, and the lack of willingness to do anything about it.”. Maureen contains large amounts of willful ignorance because of institutional and parental influences, while being partially unbeknown to the history that has wronged the indigenous people. Furthermore, this ignorance is easily observable in the following quotation, “No, pity the poor Indians… I mean First nations… Aboriginal.. First Nation … Indigenous … whatever the current term is.” (Taylor 48). Resources are readily available in this modern era, however, rather than asking the appropriate respectful term or researching beforehand, Maureen resorted to guessing and then proceeded to give up as if the correct term did not matter or have value. Maureen is an accurate representation of a large part of the Canadian populace, this is a hard truth which needs to be acknowledged in order for improvement to be