Motorcycle And Sweetgrass Analysis

Motorcycles and Sweetgrass

The book Motorcycles and Sweetgrass by Drew Hayden Taylor is considered by many that it is one of the best Native American book ever made. This novel shows how people have to adapt to modern day living while still being like their ancestors. These characters are trying to stay true to the indigenous way. John uses dancing to maintain Ojibway tradition. Maggie eats things like Italian food and she needs someone like John to help her believe in Ojibway beliefs and tradition. Wayne uses a twist on martial arts and isolating himself on an island to live like his ancestors. In the Novel Motorcycles and Sweetgrass, John, Maggie, and Wayne all try to maintain their Aboriginal roots while adapting to modern day life.

John

struggles to maintain his aboriginal roots while adapting to the modern world. John uses traditional dancing and as one method of maintaining his aboriginal roots. Virgil mentioned, "This wasn't any type of dancing he’d seen on television, or at powwows. It had an ancient, tribal quality.” (130) This is a good indication that John is connected to his aboriginal roots. In addition, there are many stories of Nanabush, who is also known as John, that help us get a better understanding of his background. Such as the story of him dancing with the grass. Another amazing example of John’s connection to aboriginal tradition is his knowledge of many native languages. He demonstrates this knowledge when he is on the beach with Maggie: “That’s Cree,” he explained. “Then there’s ahh klup-ee-huh!” (177). He is trying to impress Maggie by showing his vast knowledge of her culture. John is a massive part of creation stories, myths, and many of different aboriginal stories. This novel really revolves around the information of john being Nanabush. While many of the characters are struggling to keep living like the old ways, John is one of the only ones to have found success by doing this.

Maggie does not see life like her grandmother, but John has helped her view the world in a different light. Maggie was not a firm believer in myths and stories: “Maggie didn’t believe those stories when she was a kid, and there was less chance she’d believe them today” (237). Maggie clearly wasn’t one to believe in traditional stories, and that is a significant part of native life. It is kind of ironic, because she was the chief of a Native reserve and she is not like a “normal” Native person, for example, she eats burgers, fries and Italian food. “That night, for the first time in a week, Maggie had the opportunity to fix Virgil a decent meal. With all the trouble over her flat tire, she had decided the rest of the day was a loss as far as work went, so she headed home to see what she could rustle up for dinner. Sitting on the table in front of her and her son were some Shake’n Bake chicken, corn nibblets, mashed potatoes and a salad. For the first time in a long time, Maggie felt happy. She was actually humming to herself.” (93) She does not eat traditional aboriginal food. Another example of this is when she was cooking Italian food. “The house smelled like an Italian bistro, Virgil was in the living room trying to watch television, and occasionally he’d hear a plea from his mother to come out and dice an onion, or cut up a green pepper. Virgil couldn’t even pronounce what she was making. All the effort his mom was putting into this so-called thank-you dinner was upsetting. She’d never worked this hard for him.” (100) She was using egg noodles, which no traditional aboriginal dish included. She was surprised that in Virgil’s school they did not learn Italian. Virgil asks if this was his dad used to make, but his dad made Hungarian food instead. Maggie is not a traditional aboriginal, and gives us evidence because of her diet.

Wayne is trying to connect to the old aboriginal way through martial arts and isolating himself on an island.

Using martial arts is a unique way of trying to connect back to his ancestors and be prideful about his culture. Many aboriginals are taught in residential schools that being First Nations is something to be ashamed of, but Wayne does not want to be ashamed: “Lillian spent long hours teaching the boy the intricacies of the Anishnawbe, so know he spoke it better than most seventy–year-olds” (150). Wayne is trying to live a more traditional life than his sister, but the world has become less and less traditional in its own way. By living on an island by himself, Wayne is trying to live off the land. He couldn’t do it on the reserve, but he can easily do it on the island. He is also spiritual like an aboriginal, and demonstrates this spirituality a couple times. One example of him doing this is “I know that she was contributing to what we call the circle of life. She passed on so that somewhere out there, a baby could be born in her place.” (187) She was clearly in tune with nature and spiritually, and I think that some of that passed on to Wayne. Wayne seems to understand that his mother was okay with dying, just so that a child could be born. In his eyes, it could not be stopped and a family with a young child would be made. His martial arts use a variety of animal tactics to be more tactful. “It took me a while, but I have based a style of fighting on each of the

clans: the crane, loon, fish, bear, hoof or deer, and of course, the marten. A unique style of combat completely influenced by the animals themselves, their strengths, abilities, their particular defenses and so on.” (246). Wayne’s mother, Lillian, helped him embrace aboriginal culture and tradition.

In the Novel Motorcycles and Sweetgrass, John, Maggie, and Wayne all try to connect back to the ancient Aboriginal roots while living in a much different world. John uses dancing and totem pole making, Maggie uses john’s help in viewing the world differently, and Wayne lives off the land with his unique fighting techniques. These three characters are trying to maintain their aboriginal culture in a changing world. This novel shows the bright side of indigenous life in Canada. The importance of reading this is that we get too see the aboriginal life in a nice way, unlike most depressing stories of aboriginal stories.