Christianity in Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson

The theme of spirituality takes place in many novels that we have read this semester. Natives has used spiritual guidance as a means of connecting with their past and honoring their ancestors. To Natives, spirits have always played an important role in their culture and everyday lives. When Natives were forced to convert to Christianity and over time have their beliefs sucked out of them, the spiritual connection was broken as generations passed. One novel that particularly spoke to me on this subject was Monkey Beach, by Eden Robinson. The main character, Lisa, is struggling to fins herself after being blessed with the gift of being a shaman. In this novel, the author exploits how the European or western “white” culture has destroyed the native culture so immensely, that the younger generation cannot identify a spiritual connection without society calling them mentally unstable. Lisa suffers to accept the gift she has been given, and instead fights it by numbing herself with drugs and alcohol, which also being in another major theme of alcoholism in native culture, due to the suppression of the Native American race.
The idea of spirituality is realistically a difficult word to define, everyone perceives spirituality in their own way, and uses it in different ways. When reading the Christian bible, John the Baptist discusses the idea of spirituality and defines it as, “Spirituality is all about becoming more like God, who is spirit and having our character conformed to his image.”(John 4:24) (Romans12: 1-2). When the Natives were forced to convert to Christianity, this is what they were told to believe, that spirituality means that you must conform you’re character to be more like God. This truly shows you how much the Europ...

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...t she is given a gift that in the past would be considered an amazing calling of the spirits. Due to the suppression of her culture and “white” ideas that were forced upon her race, she cannot get a full understanding of what’s happening to her. Eden Robinson kills off Lisa in the end, to show the devastating effects that the “white” culture has had on the Native American customs and beliefs. Their culture has been robbed; their beliefs have been crushed so much so that even their own people have been convinced they are wrong.

Works Cited

"American Native Spirituality." American Native Spirituality. Tahtonka, 28 Feb. 1998. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. .

Robinson, Eden. Monkey Beach. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Print.

The Holy Bible Containing the Old Testament and the New. Cambridge: Printed by John Field ..., 1668. Print.