ipl-logo

Toronto At Dreamer's Rock By Drew Hayden Taylor

899 Words4 Pages

Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock is a magical story showcasing the past, present, and future of Canadian First Nations people from Rusty, a teenager's perspective. The author Drew Hayden Taylor shows how quickly and drastically someone's life can change based on experiences and people who come into their lives. Rusty at first isn’t confident as a First Nations boy and has little care about his culture, but later on, is taught the importance of it which leads him to try to make his dreams of becoming Grand Chief a reality. Rusty learns that getting a proper education will help him achieve his goals, which changes his negative opinion of school. Rusty starts off with low self-esteem and looks down on himself and his culture. Later he learns that he …show more content…

“The girl doesn’t know I exist. I don’t know if it’s because I’m Indian or because she thinks I’m a flake”. At the beginning of the story, Rusty doesn’t believe that the girl he likes would ever like him back because he is Indigenous. This causes him to become more ashamed of who he is and he doesn’t try to talk to her. “This says I’m going to be Grand Chief of the Aboriginal government. And it’s dated 2023”. “That’s a pretty powerful title, Rusty. I hope you can find it in yourself to live up to it”. Rusty gains confidence because of Michael's prophecy about him becoming Grand chief. Rusty decides to try and work hard to fulfill this dream. Rusty learning the importance of confidence in his culture is very important to his future, his future is also later affected by his stance on …show more content…

He later realized that this wasn’t the path he wanted to go down so he gave up drinking and his reckless behaviour. “He looks around, shrugs then holds up his beer bottle in a mock salute. To Dreamer’s Rock, the one place on Manitoulin you won’t find beer bottles”. Rusty went to a place that was sacred to his culture and decided to get drunk there. This would have been seen as very disrespectful and Rusty didn’t acknowledge or care much about this. “All I know is I came up here to get drunk and be alone for a while. So much for that idea. I never thought about all this Indian stuff before. I just sort of took it for granted. I guess I have some more thinking to do. I think the main thing about being Indian or Odawa is … we’re better-looking. Rusty learned the greater meaning of who he is and the importance of respecting his culture. He decided it was time to move on from his heavy drinking and start focusing on figuring out who he is. Rusty is able to learn how to respect himself and grows to become interested in finding out who he is, showing another form of character

Show More
Related
2156 Words | 9 Pages

Embark on a captivating journey through two compelling novels, delving into the complexities and resilience of Indigenous communities in Canada. Drew Hayden Taylor's Motorcycles and Sweetgrass immerses readers in an indigenous community, exploring the impact of systemic issues on personal and familial identity. Meanwhile, Eden Robinson's Son of a Trickster follows a troubled teenage boy navigating addiction, family struggles, and supernatural forces. Through the characters in Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson and Motorcycles and Sweetgrass by Drew Hayden Taylor, the themes of identity, family dynamics, and hardships are intricately woven together, providing insight into the challenges faced by Indigenous communities in Canada. These themes

Read More
690 Words | 3 Pages

By portraying indigenous characters in a nuanced and realistic manner, he challenges preconceived notions, enabling readers to recognize the inherent humanity we all share. Through his storytelling, he hopes to break down barriers and facilitate a better understanding of indigenous experiences, histories, and perspectives, thereby contributing to Canada's ongoing discussion of reconciliation and healing between indigenous and non-indigenous

Read More
1188 Words | 5 Pages

The detrimental and unfair categorization of people by race, gender and more, commonly known as discrimination, affects many in society both mentally and emotionally. Many instances of this act of hatred occurred among Aboriginal and Native Canadians in the 20th century. However, for a little Native Indian boy stepping onto the rink, this is the norm that surrounds him. Saul Indian Horse, in Richard Wagamese’s “Indian Horse”, faces discrimination head on, where his strengths for hockey are limited by the racial discrimination from the surrounding white ethnicity. Consequently, this racism draws him into a mentally unstable state, where he suffers heavy consequences.

Read More
1624 Words | 7 Pages

After the terrible happening of Residential Schools, the neverending history of suffering can cause a child to reciprocate their feelings by abusing substances. In Tracey Lindberg’s Birdie, it’s stated briefly of the ways in which Bernice relies on alcohol on many lonely nights. “She knows that she shouldn’t have gone to the motel with him. There are a lot of shouldn’t haves. Drunk gin.

Read More
420 Words | 2 Pages

Another, even though he was raised in a Pomo - Indian family, because of his blonde hair and blue eyes, and unidentified background he was unable to say / be truly apart of the Indian roots that molded him. Being a stereotype. Within emptiness he was able search and find more about himself than he expected. Learning about his lost Spanish Father, his

Read More
993 Words | 4 Pages

“If we want to live at peace with ourselves, we need to tell our stories” (3). In Richard Wagamese’s novel, “Indian Horse”, a man named Saul Indian Horse is introduced and he tells his story. He faces a lot of hardships on his journey, including racism, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. He is exposed to violence multiple times. Saul’s experiences help readers understand what it is like as an Indigenous person growing up in Canada.

Read More
571 Words | 3 Pages

Writer Sherman Alexie has a knack of intertwining his own problematic biographical experience with his unique stories and no more than “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” demonstrates that. Alexie laced a story about an Indian man living in Spokane who reflects back on his struggles in life from a previous relationship, alcoholism, racism and even the isolation he’s dealt with by living off the reservation. Alexie has the ability to use symbolism throughout his tale by associating the title’s infamy of two different ethnic characters and interlinking it with the narrator experience between trying to fit into a more society apart from his own cultural background. However, within the words themselves, Alexie has created themes that surround despair around his character however he illuminates on resilience and alcoholism throughout this tale.

Read More
747 Words | 3 Pages

First, in the novel Indian Horse, the main character, Saul, forms relationships with his community allowing guidance and support after his time at a residential school called St. Jerome. Saul discovers people who treat him well while directing him through the challenge of dealing with the remaining trauma experienced at St. Jerome. Saul is introduced to a family who refers to them as the Kelly family; they consider him part of their community. Saul makes use of their relationship to cope with the struggles of enduring trauma and develop as a person. Fred Kelly states “We all wanted to go out and find you, but we know we couldn’t.

Read More
608 Words | 3 Pages

Blackfoot is a native tribe that resides in the Great Plains of Montana and Canadian provinces of Alberta. King writes about how the mother had to face several guards and spend a few nights in the car with her son because of their treatment by Canada. In my point of view, I find the theme to be that aboriginals are treated as objects and are forced to give up their identity and lifestyle. Just like in America, it seems like that Canada is pushing aboriginals are pushed to the side and cover it with some sugar. For instance, when parked at an border office, a woman tried to persuaded the mother to pick a identity by saying “I can understand how you feeling about having to tell us about your citizenship, and here’s what I’ll do.

Read More
483 Words | 2 Pages

Indigenous people are commonly portrayed negatively in mainstream media; these stereotypes proliferate in many famous films, programs, mascots, and fashion. Thomas King’s poem, I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind, explores similar topics, examining the misconceptions of Indigenous people and how they live in modern Canada. These two concepts are precisely captured in lines 24 through 32. This segment opens with King addressing his audience that, while they may alienate the indigenous people, they are more alike than some would like to admit.

Read More
1087 Words | 5 Pages

For example, he uses to call people according if they are white or Indians. He does not care about learning their names or mentioning them; in addition, when the police tell him that he does not fit in the profile of the neighborhood, he thinks, “I didn’t really fit the profile of the country but I knew it would just get me into trouble” (Alexie 10). This idea shows how people feel about their sense of belongingness, and the gap between his culture and the culture of the country has just increased exponentially. He is not a real American because he is just an Indian. However, even he is in his own reservation with his family, the narrator says, “I was one of those Indians who was supposed to make it, to rise above the rest of the reservation like a fucking eagle or something” (Alexie 10).

Read More
1121 Words | 5 Pages

In his book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie portrays a teenage boy, Arnold Spirit (junior) living in white man’s world, and he must struggle to overcome racism and stereotypes if he must achieve his dreams. In the book, Junior faces a myriad of misfortunes at his former school in ‘the rez’ (reservation), which occurs as he struggles to escape from racial and stereotypical expectations about Indians. For Junior he must weigh between accepting what is expected of him as an Indian or fight against those forces and proof his peers and teachers wrong. Therefore, from the time Junior is in school at reservation up to the time he decides to attend a neighboring school in Rearden, we see a teenager who is facing tough consequences for attempting to go against the racial stereotypes.

Read More
1364 Words | 6 Pages

King announces that “I’m not the Indian you had in mind / I’ve known him /. / the bear-greased hair, the pungent smell / the piercing eye, the startling yell / thank God that he’s the kind of friend” (I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind, King, 1). These stereotypical physical features often stem from hearsay or forms of media, and these stereotypes are responsible for just some of the prejudice afflicted upon Indigenous people. Later in the poem, Thomas King enlightens the reader that “(I’m that) Indian. / the one who runs the local bar / the CEO, the movie star, / the elder with her bingo tales / the activist alone in jail / (...) /

Read More
887 Words | 4 Pages

Washuta explained on page 5, “I cringe every time I hear “part Indian,” feeling my arm sliced off at the shoulder,” (Washuta 5). This statement created a feeling of heartache. This made the audience understand her pain and helped communicate the importance of her argument by adding a very human nature to it. The author also included many rhetorical devices in this essay. One of these devices was repetition.

Read More
1394 Words | 6 Pages

For Cheryl, she embraces her Metis culture and heritage. “‘I wish we were whole Indians’” (40). Throughout her time at school, Cheryl reads history books about Metis people and historical figures such as Louis Riel. She would also passionately write on what she thinks about the Metis people. At university, she writes a piece which points about the crucial effects white people have brought along in North America.

Read More

More about Toronto At Dreamer's Rock By Drew Hayden Taylor

Related Topics

Open Document