The Girl Who Was Saturday Night Analysis

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Canadian novels are great at showcasing the major Canadian themes by the growth of main character in it. The novel showcases the constant struggle of Nouschka Tremblay to leave behind the memories of living under her father’s shadow and grow into a unique identity. This way, Heather O’Neill, in her novel “The Girl Who Was Saturday Night”, explains how Nouschka grows while trying to leave behind all the fame that her childhood presented her with, in search for her true identity. Nouschka’s way of thinking changes to be more mature as she tries to grow out of her “home” by, spending time with Raphaël and even marrying him, and fails. Nouschka thinks that spending time with Raphaël would help her live a better and more independent life. This happens …show more content…

Nouschka describes her father as a popular Quebecois folk singer who used her and her brother to gain fame and has an ironic tone at the end when she mentions herself and her brother. “Oh and how could I forget... he had two kids who became famous because he had them on stage… with him.” (12, O’Neill). From the ironic tone of the quote it can be inferred that Nouschka was not fond of her father and what he did to her. Thus, it can be established that she was trying to get away from her father’s shadows to live an independent life. In doing so, she comes across different and undiscovered aspects of life such as abuse and reproduction which change the way she thinks about life. Furthermore, at the end of the novel Nouschka addresses one of the most important lessons that she learnt. “When you are born and put into your crib, the whole world sticks their heads over the tops of the bars. They would give you names and they have all sorts of different ideas about you. These are all just fairy tales.” (403, O’Neill). The lesson was that the world may present one with all sorts of aspirations about them, however it is important that one has a unique identity that they must build. The novel’s plot is the evidence for the fact that Nouschka was trying to become herself, and in doing so she changed and became a completely different individual as shown by the quote from the beginning of the book to the end. To sum it up, Nouschka expressed great signs of growth and changes as she explored her world in a different