Analysis Of Totem By Thomas King

Thomas King is the author of “Totem”. He is of Cherokee and Greek descent, and because of his citizenship devoted himself to the preservation of indigenous culture, land and status in his entire life. “Totem” is a great short story because its arguments are cleverly hidden in the article.

It states the importance of remembering one’s heritage and it also expresses the dissatisfaction with the government's attitude of handling the problems of people from First Nation which left over by history.

The story happened in an art gallery which is featured with contemporary Canadian art, yet Beebe Hill, a museum staff felt annoyed about the noise that the totem pole made, as well as the director Walter. Thus they tried numerous ways in order to get rid of it, Walter even called in two men to cut it, but all failed. In the ensuing days, they just ignore it,

and eventually they get use to it.

In Canada, settlement question are always controversial, since European explorers came to Canada, Aboriginal people have been taken over by newcomers. “Totem” is a story that talks about how these newcomers in the art gallery treat totem poles to satirize how the outcome damaged the peaceful life of aboriginal people and how the government chose only to accept the problem but not wanted to actually solve the problem.

One of the biggest conflict in “Totem” is the unstoppable noise which the totem pole makes. The noise symbolize the harmonious life of first nations have, but foreigners seize their land and ruin their life, so it reflects that aboriginal people should get more help and respect. “Totem” begins with a show that happened in the art gallery which featured with contemporary Canadian art, but there is a noise that annoyed people a lot in the art gallery. According to the sentence, “She was annoyed, she told

Walter, and she thought other people were annoyed, too, but were too polite to complain about the noises the totem pole in the far corner of the room was making.” (King, page 13) Totem pole is an object in the short story but it’s more like a protagonist. Whenever the totem pole is being hidden or damaged, it will still create loud horrible noise. This is the way how the totem pole showing its displeasure and this leads the other characters to affect its presence. If we think further of where totem, it’s not hard to define that the noise may represent culture and heritage. Totem pole is a representative culture of the aboriginal people, as well as a part of Canadian culture. However, they have been put in the corner of the art gallery. It shows obviously that totem pole is not be taken seriously, and this caused the protest of the totem by making the “noises”. According to director Walter, “it certainly looks like a totem pole. But it doesn’t sound at all like gargling. It sounds more like chucking.” (King, page 14) Also, the story hints the racial discrimination still exist by saying “those grunts are pretty disgusting” (King, page 16). Furthermore, totem pole’s voices has been also described as “chanting”, “grunting”, “shouting” and “singing”, all those adjectives show Walter's disdain and disrespect.
The second conflict is that Canadian government chooses to accept the serious problem but not want to solve it. In “Totem”, Walter’s words is a reflection for that , “This is getting to be a real problem, he told Larue and Jimmy. If we can’t solve it, we may have to get some government assistance.” (King, page 17) and “It could be more serious than that (provincial).” (King, page 17) They are ironic at the end of story when they decide to ignore it, and they think “Maybe if we ignore it, it will stop singing.” (King, page 17). This reveals the attitude of government to first nation people. As hunters and gatherers, people from first nation need land in order to survive, but newcomers occupy too much land, but government doesn’t face these questions fairly.While “Walter remained mildly annoyed that the totem pole continued to take up space and inexplicably irritated by the low, measured pulse that rose out of the basement and settled like fine dust on the floor.” (King, page 18) It metaphors that totem pole will no longer be part of the show, and also drops a hint that government treat and think aboriginal people like outsider.
To sum up, it is important to remember one’s heritage.The gallery wanted to remove the totem poem to cater to the main content of the show, but forget totem poles also belongs to the tradition art. Thomas uses technique understates to give expression to say that Canadian government is not taking care of its people.The noises of the totem poles represent the warning from god that aboriginal people should get more help and respect. The purpose for King to write “Totem” is that he wants to remind people of the importance of remembering the Native People in the country who was once abundant in number. They are a large part of the heritage, and are very rich in culture and their tradition cannot be forgotten.