Motorcycle And Sweetgrass Essay

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

The society in the story must be altered so their culture can survive with its people like Lillian, who symbolically talks about herself to John;“The furnace may have some wear and tear, but the fire still burns hot.’ Her breath was now growing wheezy. ‘I bet you say that to all the old dying women” (Taylor 53). This represents that John is leaving his Indigenous Peoples’ ways for a more modern approach as Lillian passes on. She was vital to their way of life in the story. The furnace is a metaphor for Indigenous Peoples that suffered under the government due to the fact that Indigenous Peoples died in places like residential schools which is a loss in culture. This destruction of the unpreserve history prevents the community to celebrate their way of life therefore it is best to retain the history as soon as possible. Time severely impacts preservation, so it is in the community’s best interest to preserve their culture, so that their culture may

Another big nemesis he unknowingly created with a lot of power is Virgil who changes his stance on John due to John’s honest conservation at the end, allowing Virgil to trust John; “Do you want a ride home? It’s a pretty long walk.’ The boy thought for a moment. ‘I shouldn’t.’ Ever since he could remember, he’d been taught not to accept rides from strangers...Virgil finally nodded. ‘Yeah, I could handle a ride home”(Taylor 332) This finding indicates that Virgil, first in general opposition is now trusting John the trickster. This is the power of honesty as the trust is strong enough to convince Virgil that John is no longer a threat and he will not be out for revenge. John’s semi-truth is harmful as it alters people’s understand of history effecting what the future generation know about Indigenous Peoples in museums. John now discovers his impact as a museum display his lies on his culture;

“Somewhere, a long time ago, he dimly recalled telling somebody, an English collector of some sort, that this genuine, authentic Naskapi canoe was in fact Abanaki, and he should buy it and take it back with him to Europe to impress all his friends. In fact, now that he took the time to concentrate on the issue, he realized that he may have done that quite frequently over time. With a lot of canoes, and a lot of academics, among other things. Maybe some of the mistakes in the