Craig Davidson's Cataract City

It has been said many times that Canada is a place where every culture is accepted.

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Canadians are defined by the culture originating from their place of birth. It has been shown that we become attached to our native country and that factors such as ... things that surround us during that period of time have the biggest impact on the person. Evidence of this can be found in the novel Cataract City by Craig Davidson, Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan, and through history itself.

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Firstly, evidence can be found in Cataract City by Craig Davidson, a modern novel that tells the story of two boys, Duncan and Owen, on their lasting friendship in Cataract City, also known as Toronto. The small town is comprised

mainly of felons and factory workers. It’s a community of people trying to achieve a better life than their hometowns can provide. Through Owen and Duncan’s experiences throughout the novel, it is shown that they try to outgrow the place that shaped them but fail due to attachments to their hometown. A quote from the novel describes the situation. “I’m a drunk and a clown … Be like your fathers,” he tells them. “Work a solid job. Build a family. Smelling like a cookie’s a small price to pay for ordinary happiness”. (Davidson 89) This advice, from a man formerly described as perfect is the first of many signs that these boys will not grow into the men either of them expect to be. This further proves that…

To continue, the novel shows that Davidson’s characters are constantly negotiating their place in Cataract City.

“a fringe town that requires its inhabitants to also exist at the fringes of humanity—making a living or stealing a living, saving a life or extinguishing it”. (Vatiliotou, 1) With these thoughts in mind, Owe asks, “who are any of us really? Sometimes what we are, or who, or—it’s just a question of circumstance you know? How far would you go? How much does it mean to you? How much do you need it?”. (Davidson 318) This further proves that the thoughts running through the boys minds are results of the current situation they are

facing.

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Secondly, Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan a novel that takes place in 1917 about a Canadian soldier named Neil who …
On the verge of dying during the war, Neil was mistaken as an English soldier and was brought to a hospital in London.
After the war with the return of his memory, he decides to head back to his hometown in Halifax.
Neil decided to come back home to clear his name and to obtain revenge against his uncle.

also shows how we can become attached to the place that we grew up in.

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Fictional novels like Cataract City and Barometer Rising, are stories that have been made up, but they still provide real information about a region’s time period and we can easily relate the events to today’s world. Firstly, it has been shown that your city of birth and the people that surround you, are what define a person. This statement has a very strong message and most people would agree that it is true. For someone to say that it isin’t true would need to…

Statistics Canada shows that one in three Canadians end up leaving the country within 20 years of arrival. There are many different reasons why some Canadians decide to move to another country.

An argument that can be brought that their are thousands of people every year, that decide to leave their country and immigrate into Canada. While this is true, moving to a different location does not mean that you are completely abandoning the attachments that you previously had to your country. Many people leave their homes and countries because they don’t have a choice. They make the difficult decision to leave for reasons such as war, persecution, natural disasters, poverty and many

more.
However, some people feel the need to move to a different country and never want to go back to their country. They don’t want anything to do with their hometown and would rather start new. This will then diminish the emotional attachment to the country.

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Thirdly, through Canadian history, it has been shown that Canada is a multicultural country. With immigration comes different

Conclusion :
Through Cataract City, Barometer Rising, and history itself, it has been shown that Canadians share different forms of culture due to their place of birth.