Back in the 1830’s when it was unimaginable to journey for months to a foreign country so uncultivated; two naïve sisters did just that. The Backwoods of Canada is a straightforward, realistic account complied of letters written back home of Catharine Parr Traill’s first years in Canada. Roughing It in the Bush is a witty, autobiographical tale written by her younger sister, Susanna Moodie. Both sisters came to Canada with the similar expectations to improve their opportunity in the social ladder in society. My goal in this paper is to show how [t]heir attitude to becoming pioneers was shaped by their temperaments. Catharine’s attitude is one quiet acceptance and is reflected in her no-nonsense writing, whereas Susanna’s attitude first appears to have an edgier, less optimistic outlook on her new homeland, but she covers it up with a dry sense of humour in style and dialogue when reflecting on her Canadian experience. I will compare the sisters background briefly to show their temperament before coming to Canada. I will discuss how choices made shaped both the sisters initial success and failure to Upper Canada. Finally, I will compare the differences in the sisters attitudes and how it is reflected in both their books. Upon examination, we first must look at the sisters’ temperament and attitude towards life. Their attitude on life comes out in their writing and we can sense how they would perceive their new homeland, Canada in the 1832. Catharine, the elder by 23 months was considered to be the “sweet-tempered and placid, was her father’s favourite child,” and Susanna, the youngest, “was the impulsive and defiant [one], with a wicked sense of humour” (Gray, 17, 18). Both sisters’ traits are clearly exposed in their approach t... ... middle of paper ... ...that was uncensored and realistic of her experiences as a rural pioneer with a farm. Catharine definitely had the easier time and it shows in her language with her matter-of-fact account that was written to help other women become successful pioneers (reference). After researching these two sisters, I realize that they both had fortitude beyond what I would be able to endure if I were in either of their shoes. Works Cited Parr Traill, Catharine. “The Backwoods of Canada.” An Anthology of Canadian Literature in English. 3rd ed. Ed.Donna Bennett, and Russell Brown. Don Mills, ON:Oxford, 2010, 102-108, Print. Moodie, Susanna. “Roughing It in the Bush.” An Anthology of Canadian Literature in English. 3rd ed. Ed.Donna Bennett, and Russell Brown. Don Mills, ON:Oxford, 2010, 102-108, Print. Gray, Charlotte. Sisters In The Wilderness. Toronto: Penguin, 1999. Print
Wilson, J. Bradely Cruxton and W. Douglas. Spotlight Canada Fourth Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2000.
O’connor, Flannery. "Good Country People" The Bedford Introduction To Literature, 5th ed. Ed, Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,1999. 393-406
How can you write about a culture whose history is passed on by oral traditions? Better yet, how can you comprehend a culture’s past which a dominant society desired to assimilate? These two questions outline the difficulty in understanding the historiography of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. In 2003, Paige Raibmon published her article, “Living on Display: Colonial Visions of Aboriginal Domestic Spaces.” Her work, although focused on Canada’s colonial “notions of domesticity,” presents the role of Aboriginals as performers to European notions of indigenous culture and identity. Early social historians believe that Aboriginals’ place in history is in their interactions with European Jesuits. A decade later, historians argue Aboriginals exemplify a subordinate culture fighting against assimilating and hegemonic forces. More recently, social historical perspective shows Aboriginals as performers of the white-man’s constructed “authentic-Indian.” Obviously, there is disparity between historians’ viewpoints but each decade’s published histories concur with James Opp and John Walsh’s concept of local resistance. Using Raibmon’s paper as a starting point, a chronological examination of select histories reveals an evolving social historiography surrounding historians’ perceptions of Aboriginals’ local resistance attempts.
Now, as the family of four travels across the continent, the narrator is able to slough off all the obligations which society has dumped on her. Almost relieved, “we shed our house, the neighborhood, the city, and…our country” (378). On the road, she is no longer forced to hide from the friendly phone calls or household chores. The narrator has been freed on the highway to Ontario, Canada. The Prisoner of War, held under siege in her own home, is liberated to be “hopeful and lighthearted” (378). This trip becomes a break from the life that she’s is currently leading, a life which society thinks should make her content. With this new bit of freedom the narrator is able to form an identity for herself.
Artistic ideals in Canada are often difficult to combine into one concise understanding given their changing nature. The colonial era as well as the late nineteenth century was significantly shaped by Pastoralism, a style that often depicted paintings of the countryside (Davis 36). The Homer Watson painting, After the Rain in 1883 is a pastoral style that depicts “nature reach[ing] its highest stage of picturesque beauty [that only occurs] when forests [have] been cleared, meadows or fields created or cultivated and farms established” (36). After the Rain shows a farmer’s field, where the land has been cleared of trees following what looks to be a major storm (38). Watson represents early Canada by placing emphasis on a secure, eerily comfortable, agrarian based society in a photographic-like piece of work. Homer Watson believed in his w...
Bennet, P.; Cornelius J.; and Brune, N. Canada: A North American Nation. Second Edition ed. Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 1995.
Humans intelligence, psychology, and emotional vales are learned and adoption occurring depending on the situation this is key because peoples perceptive on the same thing can be distinct which is clearly portrayed in this novel.. People have different personalities dependent, broken down, rebellion, coward, and so forth through different characters pieces of yourself can be reflected. This book was write about the Victorian romanticism era, but can still be understandable to today’s time. This symbolic interpretation of the Canada shows a meshing of two worlds where change is unacceptable, but learn about these problems from the past helped shape Canada. To we have reached a time where Aboriginals are respected and other immigrants are welcomed into Canada.
...in attempting to alter the policies and practices that keep them in their marginalized position, however one obstacle being that “conventions that refer to the rules may change, but rules that inform the conventions rarely do” (Fleras, 2010; p. 185). The frontier narrative has inadvertently placed a veil over Canadians that keep feelings of guilt and responsibility for the cruelty towards Aboriginals invisible, and simultaneously keeps visible the belief that it is because of the white-settlers that Canada has become what it has today. Some may argue that the frontier narrative is no longer relevant to Canada’s multicultural society, however as demonstrated, it is clear that the narrative has manifested itself and has played and continues to play a crucial role in the structuring of Canadian society and treatment of Aboriginals; the true first-settlers of Canada.
Thompson, John Herd, and Mark Paul Richard. "Canadian History in North American Context." In Canadian studies in the new millennium. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. 37-64.
Ellen McCarthy, « “As Canadian as possible under the circumstances": how girls grow up canadian in Margaret Awood’s The Robber Bride », Revue LISA/LISA e-journal, Vol. III - n°2 | 2005, 160-171
O’Conner, Flannery. “Good Country People.” Literature An Introduction To Fiction, Poetry, And Drama. Eds. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia 3rd ed. New York Longman, 2003. 247-261
Kelm, Mary, and Lorna Townsend. In the days of our grandmothers: a reader in Aboriginal women's history in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.
Johnson, Pauline. "The Lost Island." An Anthology of Canadian Literature in English. Ed. Donna Bennet and Ed. Russell Brown. Third Edition. Canada: Oxford University Press, 2010. 233-235. Print.
Moodie describes the environment as an area with wide and stormy seas and chilly blasts with wintry storms. The male speaker also fears the dark forests because he plainly says it (Canadian Poetry 1). It is also evident that what Moodie expected is not what she encounters since she states that her first day’s experience ends without much activity in the land of all their hopes. To add to that the emigrant views his new home in Canada and compares it with native land and then he remembers the warm hearts and bright shiny eyes of his loved ones that are far away. Copway’s regards to nature are clearly depicted when he decides to write about the Ojibwas. He attends a Methodist camp meeting with his father when his mother passed away where he is converted (Copway 14).
The Canadian imagination may be divide into two distinct (However, not uniquely apart) forms: hinterland, or that of the wilderness and being often associated with unstructured verse; and baseland, or that of the settlements, following closely with traditional structured form carried over by colonists. Although apart in terms of verse form and theme, the two are linked by a largely prominent patrilineal cultural norm. That is, that both branches of this Canadian imaginative effort borrow methodology from some other source, and are not unilaterally Canadian. With the former statement in mind, the nature of a true “Canadian” imagination becomes one of question: is it possible to ascertain a unique Canadian identity without including the biases of external cultures? Moreover, can it be possible to determine a true Canadian imagination by allowing for this range of diversity? This essay will explore a hypothesis that suggests the Canadian imagination is not truly unique, rather it is the byproduct of a cultural mosaic; moreover, it is an identity that displays no novel characteristics and is largely composed of an increasing number of external influences. Furthermore, while the previous notion might suggest Canadian imagination as being rightly a product of multiple influences, it is assumed that a truly unique identity is one that can be discerned upon reading and not left to ambiguity and questioning. For the purpose of essay, works by Al Purdy, A.J.M. Smith, A. Lampman, and Isabella Crawford will be examined to determine their consistency to a developing imagination and to what extent they portray uniquity.