Kiss Of The Fur Queen Tomson Highway Analysis

In the opening passage of Tomson Highway’s Kiss of the Fur Queen, Abraham Okimasis, a caribou hunter participating in an intense race, strives to reach the finish line with his exhausted self and huskies. Although the chance of success is slim, he perpetuates. Through the use of literary devices, Highway captures Okimasis’ breathless experience during the race; notably, he emphasizes the significance of past promises in empowering one to overcome obstacles to reach his or her ultimate goal. In the beginning of the passage, Highway paints a descriptive picture of the race’s setting through which he foreshadows Okimasis’ obscure result. The race occurs near the end of a February day in Manitoba; Okimasis and his companions, the huskies, drive

Okimasis recounts that he has promised his wife, Mariesis Okimasis that his anniversary gift for her will be “the silver cup, that holy chalice.” Highway’s use of symbolism— “holy chalice”— elevates the significance of the though-to-be ordinary cup to the one that carries marital meaning. In Christianity, the Holy Chalice, or the Holy Grail, is a treasured item, for it retains important historical and religious values. The item, though fictional, is so valuable that many conflicts and war had occurred in the world of literature. In this context, the holy chalice holds a meaning of an item being earnestly pursued. The fact that Okimasis urges to win the race, to win the “holy chalice” for his wife reveals his real motivation: Okimasis’ unconditional love for his wife. Because of his wife, Okimasis willingly races through the arduous weather condition, through the obstacles of the race, through the expenditure of his health— “to win the world championship just for her.” At this point, given the real motivation of Okimasis in the race, the reader hopefully sympathizes with him, with his desperation in the beginning of the passage. Victory or defeat, Okimasis has won the reader’s heart. With satisfaction, he “edged past musher number 54.” “[A] silvery white with bold black lettering,” Okimasis approaches the end of the race and

Beyond that, Highway brings back Okimasis’s past promises with his wife to enrich the overall significance of the passage. The race is no longer a selfish desire to prove Okimasis’ superiority, but it becomes a quest for a buried love, for a miracle in his other half’s life. The author accentuates that meaningful past promises motivate one to rise through difficulties and empower him or her to achieve the present