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Essay on peace shall destroy many
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The Rudy Wiebe novel titled, “Peace Shall Destroy Many” is about a small Mennonite community and the people living within. This book brings to the surface many issues that have been occurring in the small community including the injustice and prejudice towards the aboriginal people. Most of the people in this particular Mennonite community treat them like they are in-humane; not even referring to them by their own names. They do not respect their heritage, lifestyle or the way they do things. Lastly this novel shows a great example of this Mennonite was more concerned with following their strict church rules than trying to help and evangelize to the Aboriginal peoples.
“‘Half-breed’ to Hal was merely a species of being that did certain things he himself was not allowed to do because they were ‘bad.’ Usually when talking near his elders, he was careful to avoid phrases that might catch a sensitive adult ear but then he always forgot what they had termed ‘bad’ before (Wiebe 8).”
From the very beginning of this novel there is no respect for the Metis people. They are referred to as the ‘half- breed,’ the people in this community do not think that they deserve the respect to even call them by their proper name. Readers get the impression “right off the bat” that the tone of voice while even mentioning the aboriginals or metis is said with pure disgust. Hal is just a kid, and already readers become aware of what ideas have been put into his head regarding the aboriginal and metis people. He plainly says, “because they were bad (Wiebe 8).” This is already an in humane way of treating people. It shouldn’t matter where you come from, who your parents are, or what you have done in the past; everybody deserves an a...
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...e are valuable and deserve to be treated with respect. No one should ever be treated the way the “breeds” were, it is completely unacceptable. In this novel the author is getting at the root of treating aboriginal people right, but readers may also get the impression Rudy Wiebe may be trying to address a bigger issue that still applies to people and their lives today. Rudy Wiebe may in a roundabout way, be trying to get at the issue of what we now know as, bullying. Everybody deserves to be treated with respect. Background, lifestyle, friends, family, race, religion should not determine how a person deserves to be treated.
In conclusion, Wiebe’s novel shows clear examples of how unjustly the Aboriginal and Metis people were treated. Through this, he sends a subtle message to the reader that all people deserve respect and to be treated equally.
Canadians are just recently beginning to realize the detrimental aftermath of the years of trauma experienced by Indigenous peoples of Canada, such as the survivors of the residential school system. It is often difficult for these people to overcome the impact that follows. Undoubtedly, it requires help and support from others, but these people must make their personal healing journey themselves. The passages “Rock Bottom” by Steven Keewatin Sanderson and the “Legend of the Sugar Girl” by Joseph Boyden prove that although trauma can significantly undermine groups of people, they can overcome their difficulties. Both authors illustrate how trauma negatively affects characters, causes them to fall victim
This is an essay demonstrates a strong agreement that the burnt stick is a novel about inequality. Since from the eighteenth to the twentieth there were a lot of clues in this novel shows inequality between white and aboriginal. Protagonist John, the light skinned aboriginal kid from the novel had been taken away from his family by the government in a really early age, send the campus around Australia to learn white people’s things with the big father in Pearl Bay, during the process was really heartbreaking to John, but the majority ignored his feelings, because they don’t have the same skin colour. This tragic experience makes him come back to his hometown after he turn be an adult, but there was no one still exist. By analysing the three points show from each paragraph, this essay will contend that the inequality shows in this novel.
The negativity seen in today’s society and the awful stereotypes about Aboriginals would never exist if was not for all the racism and savagery they had to endure. Zen Master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” A reader can identify that one of the main messages to be taken from Indian Horse, is that hope drove Saul to keep on working hard and that residential schools were never able to take away Aboriginal people’s hope. A reader would think that Saul’s acceptance of coaching the Moose is not for his own gain, but also to help the kids who play on the team, both physically and
The idea that indigenous Australian communities are underprivileged and do not receive the same justice that the white community accrues is represented through Jay Swan and his interactions with the corrupt white police officers and the indigenous locals of the town. My empathetic response to the text as a whole was influenced directly by way the text constructs these ideas as well as my knowledge of the way indigenous Australians are represented in the mainstream media and the behaviour of the police force as an institution. These contextual factors and the way Sen has constructed ideas influenced me to empathise with the indigenous
Though the stereotyping and alienation is strong in Dougy and Gracey’s community they manage to break away from it. The whites feel that the Aborigines get everything free from the government and never do any work of their own, and according to the book, most of them do just this.
Many Aboriginal children across Canada are distressed as most of them have difficulty finding their inner quality and enhancements in life. This is visible in the life of Saul Indian Horse, the main protagonist in Richard Wagamese’s “Indian Horse”. Saul has many struggles in his life that he had to overcome, He could have come down a negative path, but instead learns from them. Saul’s personal growth is a result of overcoming racism, surviving residential school and his passion for hockey.
Living in Canada, there is a long past with the Indigenous people. The relationship between the white and First Nations community is one that is damaged because of our shameful actions in the 1800’s. Unnecessary measures were taken when the Canadian government planned to assimilate the Aboriginal people. Through the Indian Act and Residential schools the government attempted to take away their culture and “kill the Indian in the child.” The Indian Act allowed the government to take control over the people, the residential schools took away their culture and tore apart their families, and now we are left with not only a broken relationship between the First Nations people but they are trying to put back together their lives while still living with a harsh reality of their past.
In the novel ‘Us Mob Walawurru’ Composed by David Spillman and Lisa Wilyuka we observe the life of a young Aboriginal girl and the dilemmas that she and the Luritja people must face. The narrative illustrates the significance of respect in the Luritja tribe. It is presented that respect is shown to all cultures and backgrounds which makes a very caring and joyful atmosphere. The Walawurru community honour their laws and guidelines, and use the land with great admiration. Although in times disrespect is shown by some of the Walawurru members, overall respect is an extremely important aspect in the Walawurru people’s lives.
Her book makes me do a lot of personal reflecting on how I can help reshape my family to celebrate their Métis identity. Fiola makes me realize once inner security and self-confidence is claimed that racism can be addressed in constructive ways, to get to the root of our problems. Realizing that I am internally racist to my own culture was very hard but the book helped provide me with evidence that other people can reclaim their identity and be proud. The Indigenous people she interviewed helped me realize that I can do reshape my identity and become a spiritual women. I found a lot of peace within her sharing these stories and expanding on how the Métis people lived and have gotten to where they are today. Fiola (2014) talks about Louis Riel in an inspiring light how he managed to “straddle two cultures, Native and white, and came as close as anyone to envisioning a sympathetic an equitable relationship between the two. That Canadians may someday achieve this vision that remains Louis Riel’s legacy”. Louis Riel is a dominant figure to many Métis people, including my self. Riel shows me that many people have made sacrifices to get me to where I am today as a Métis
...derstand what they are and are going through. If the reader belongs to another minority or is a new emigrant to Australia will identify itself with the anger and frustration other readers might feel guilty just because they thing they belong to a privileged group. I felt the injustice of inequality that emerges form this poem collection and the uselessness. There were no suggestions how repair what was done . The author shows in the poem that the hurt and anger are part of the aboriginal identity.
Thomas King uses an oral story-telling style of writing mingled with western narrative in his article “You’re Not the Indian I Had in Mind” to explain that Indians are not on the brink of extinction. Through this article in the Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada textbook, King also brings some focus to the topic of what it means to be “Indian” through the eyes of an actual Aboriginal versus how Aboriginals are viewed by other races of people. With his unique style of writing, King is able to bring the reader into the situations he describes because he writes about it like a story he is telling.
Her book focuses on the myriads of issues and struggles that Indigenous men and women have faced and will continue to face because of colonialism. During her speech, Palmater addressed the grave effects of the cultural assimilation that permeated in Indigenous communities, particularly the Indian Residential School System and the Indian Act, which has been extensively discussed in both lectures and readings. Such policies were created by European settlers to institutionalize colonialism and maintain the social and cultural hierarchy that established Aboriginals as the inferior group. Palmater also discussed that according to news reports, an Aboriginal baby from Manitoba is taken away every single day by the government and is put in social care (CTVNews.ca Staff, 2015). This echoes Andrea Smith’s argument in “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing” that colonialism continues to affect Aboriginals through genocide (2006, p. 68). Although such actions by the government are not physical acts of genocide, where 90% of Aboriginal population was annihilated, it is this modern day cultural assimilation that succeeded the Indigenous Residential School System and the Indian Act embodies colonialism and genocide (Larkin, November 4,
Canadians view themselves as morally correct, yet the Indigenous peoples are oppressed and discriminated by Canadians. The Aboriginal peoples culture would last longer without Canada since Canada wants to control first, but not by understanding the culture and heritage. Aboriginal peoples express how they felt about the Canadian “Myth of Progress”. Some other works take a more satirical look like “Tidings of Comfort and Joy” but the points still stand. One of the points is Canadians are discriminating the Indigenous peoples to be lazy and corrupt.
The world continually changes and yet Canada refuses to change its views on the Indigenous Peoples. In the novel, Motorcycles and Sweetgrass by Drew Hayden Taylor, a community is suffering under the thumb of society. The theme of acceptance in history regardless of the pain and suffering is explored to bring more peace. Assimilation has harmed many Indigenous Peoples and their way of life in the story. Their society needs to change to preserve the history of Indigenous Peoples. Everyone who lives in the community must know the truth of the land they stand on. The truth is vague because the trickster hid the truth to prevent the citizens from knowing who he truly is. In order to achieve peace and order, the social norm should be replaced with
Throughout both ‘Rainbow’s End’ and ‘The Rabbits’, the audience discovers the plights that the Aboriginal Australians faced, due to discrimination and assimilation, in intensely confronting, yet intensely meaningful ways. We see how the discrimination and forced assimilation of cultures was common in the lead up to modern times because of composers like Harrison, Marsden and Tan reminding us of these events, allowing us to discover and rediscover our past wrongs through their works, in order to pave the way for a brighter, harmonious future. Without these documentations and retellings of events such as these, history would repeat itself, conflicts would be more apparent and we as a species would not be able to thrive and prosper due to our prejudices and superiority complexes.