The Summer Of The Bitter And Sweet By Jen Ferguson

In colonized countries like Canada, Indigenous peoples confront numerous challenges related to their identities and pasts. Consequently, they strive to overcome these obstacles–to improve their quality of life. This idea is displayed in The Summer of the Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson, which revolves around the life of an eighteen-year-old Métis teenager from the Canadian prairies, named Lou. The novel shares the numerous challenges Lou faces while working in her family’s ice cream shack over the summer, due to her family’s difficult past, and their Indigenous identity. These issues include Lou receiving frightening letters from her rapist father, encountering discrimination in a predominantly white community, and discovering that she is

Finally, Indigenous peoples address the issues of colonization, by coming together as a community and standing against injustice perpetrated by colonizers. In the novel, Lou and her Indigenous friend Tyler both meet and burn down the restaurant of Mr. Reilly, a white man, after he tragically takes the life of Tyler’s mother. This is revealed when the text mentions, “Somehow, the road, here in the same truck we sat in after we set O’Reilly’s on fire, after we took something back from the man who murdered Tyler’s mom, this is the right place” (Ferguson 36). The presented evidence suggests that Lou and Tyler, both Indigenous girls, are seeking revenge on Mr. Reilly–thus representing Indigenous resistance against colonial injustices. In addition to this, the brutal death of Tyler’s mother reflects the broader complication of systemic issues faced by Indigenous peoples. Furthermore, the two teenagers joining forces exemplify the profound unity, and unwavering solidarity, within Indigenous communities, as they stand together against oppression perpetuated by