The Reservation vs The City in Tomson Highway’s The Rez Sisters

Tomson Highway’s play The Rez Sisters shows both the negative and positive results of the interaction between Aboriginal and white culture (Nothof, 1). This is seen in the Rez (small town) vs. Toronto (city) mentality that the play’s characters use to measure value of things (Aurylaitė, 172). The influence of the city, white culture and its objects help shape the identity of the characters and even affect the community. For the characters Toronto is the place where all their dreams will come true (Aurylaitė, 172-173). It is Toronto that draws them into the desire of ‘the American dream,’ perhaps better described in current times as the ‘Western Dream,’ and materialistic wealth. Despite that the reserve of Wasaychigan is relatively isolated from the large metropolitan centers; the culture of urban whites has easily spread to the small community.

In the Rez Sisters the reserve of Wasaychigan and Toronto are seen very differently by the women. The reserve has no paved roads due to a lazy old chief that has broken this promise to his people repeatedly ( Highway, 6) and is seen as small, dusty and boring, a view (Aurylaitė, 172) which is reflected by Pelajia during a conversation with her sister Philomena:

Pelajia. Everyone here’s crazy. No jobs. Nothing to do but screw each other’s wives and husbands and forget about our Nanabush (Highway, 6).

Pelajia’s statement reflects the feeling that the reserve is boring and there are no activities of importance that she or the others can partake in. Pelajia is probably the character with the most desire to leave the reserve, though Philomena insists she won’t:

PELAJIA. I’m tired, Philomena, tired of this place. There’s days I want to leave so bad. . .

PHILOMENA. You’...

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... wants her brand new bathroom with the center piece of a brand new toilet. Annie wants to buy her Patsy Cline records and become a backup singer for Fritz the Katz, while Marie-Adele wants an island. In the end all of the characters have been affected by the city, even those who did not receive what they wished for.

Works Cited:

Aurylaitė, Kristina. Crossing the Boundary, Donning a mask: Spatial Rules and Identity in Daniel David Moses’ and Tomson Highway’s Plays. Cross Cultures: Readings in the Post/ Colonial Literatures in English 89. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007. Print.

Highway, Tomson. The Rez Sisters, Calgary: Fifth House, 1988. Print.

Nothof, Anne. "Cultural collision and magical transformation: the plays of Tomson Highway. " Studies in Canadian Literature 20.2 (1995): 34. CBCA Reference and Current Events, ProQuest. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.