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

a new ideology so, Indigenous Peoples can be treated as equal among everyone in their country.
This story demonstrates that assimilation is longer a safe option for the participates as attempts negatively impacted the Indigenous Peoples in the long term. The story’s government treats the Indigenous Peoples like lab rats as they experiment on them in facilities like residential school. One of these students, Sam is now suffering great mental pain as he is made incomprehensible to the world. John however, decodes what Sam says with Indigenous Peoples language and knowledge of Shakespearean books;
The teacher who so loved the Bard would get incensed that this young Indian boy would dare to corrupt what he considered the most beautiful words ever written, by speaking them in a filthy bastard language. He considered that a personal insult. So the man took it upon himself to dish out all Sammy’s corporal punishment. Somewhere in Sammy’s mind, he’s made the decision to speak just Anishnawbe...His mind is kind of stuck on it now. Sort of in a mental loop. Everybody just thinks he’s crazy old Sammy Aandeg, but there’s method to his madness.
(Taylor 172)
This identifies that the past government had no intention of helping the Indigenous Peoples their intent was to modernize them. This has lead to the Indigenous Peoples, like Sam, to have a deteriorating mental health through the mental scars created by the schools. Society needs to be remade in a way where everyone is included even those who might seem crazy at first.
Not all Indigenous Peoples agree with the “civil” way. Drew Hayden Taylor argues that the Indigenous Peoples way of life is just as suitable as the “civil” way as characters like Wayne are perfectly sane; “More to the point, why had he let himself be dragged across the water from the safety, security and sanity of his secluded island to this place, where he had no control over anything?”(Taylor 213-214) This identifies the difference in ideology as Wayne is secluded with the old practices and traditions proving assimilation is not for everyone. Society must be redirected to become more accepting to Indigenous People and their way of life. Indigenous Peoples were never brought to such different concerns over the land as the modern civilian. This is proven as Maggie, the community’s chief, is unable to decide what to do with the land as there are complex factors like;“twelve hundred people she represented, most of whom she was related to, all tugging at her pant legs with suggestions about what to do with the new land...Every member of the band had an opinion on the purpose and destiny of that land”(Taylor 36). This represents that the Indigenous Peoples today cannot keep the land as it is and they must use the land to serve their needs. The land is important, but their community and survival is far more important. Communities like theirs are suffering from this force of hand to change the land. Society has to change in order to alleviate the suffering of Indigenous Peoples communities to a degree where they can choose to do anything with their land. Society must aid the Indigenous Peoples to promote their freedom to choose and the diversity of Canada.
The times are changing and even the untruthful can be redeemed. It is shown that John changes in the end with his conservations with Virgil;“John shook his head.‘Haven’t you figured it out yet, Virgil? There are no such things as dead ends. Only people who find dead ends. I sometimes wonder if that’s the only thing I have to teach”(Taylor 337). This quote identifies that John has redeemed himself in Virgil's eyes as Virgil forgave John and now trust him. This is because John changed from an arrogant, entitled prick into a teacher to Virgil. This sudden shift changes the outcome of Virgil insight on life as he too changes with his views on John. John also experience a physical change in the end after the motorcycle ride; “Slowly, John removed the screaming-raven helmet from his head. For a moment, Virgil’s heart stopped. The blond White man he’d known for over a week was not the man before him. In his place sat a striking handsome Native man still lean, but with dusk skin colour, high cheekbones and long black hair that danced in the wind”(Taylor 335) This identifies that John change physically over time as he is similar to the Indigenous Peoples. This physical change was the product of a mental change of John wanting to show Virgil that he could change at will. This could be represented as society can also change by its mentality and society can hold the Indigenous Peoples in high regards as the first peoples on the land that made and shaped their country to what it is now.
Time waits for no one so it is best to preserve in the present.

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

survive.
In the story, the power that controls what people knows, John, begins his appearance avoided his nemeses, racoons.

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

building across the street were his fault”.
(Taylor 242)
This finding shows that even a museum was fooled so what other lies must have been taught to the community. The point of learning is to know the truth and with these many little lies the truth muddled. Now the Indigenous Peoples, mainly comprised of individual groups are being generalizing as their cultures are now mixed up because of John. This pseudo history needs to change so the truth of the cultures can be explored and their way of life can survive.
Media must reform to have all their stories to be true and not eye catching works of fiction so people can truly learn about Indigenous Peoples’ communities. The media creates its own conclusion and this affects their reader, even making the MP run from the press conference because the media created a fake story about ancient burial grounds in the new land; “‘Maggie, you sure know how to throw a press conference. Call me when you figure out what’s going on...Then click. Maggie was alone with the media”(Taylor 308). The government loss of control identifies that the media must change to no longer impacts Indigenous Peoples lives negatively with their lies. Unfortunately, the media influences society greatly so changes in the media must occur before the changes in society, so it would not revert back into the status quo.
Indigenous Peoples are changing in the story and their society must change too by accepting the wrongs and gaining the truth. The assimilation that is being pushed prevent their society to flourish into a diverse and accepting community. Time will always change the world and their society has to change alongside it so the people can be accepting of different individuals. The truth must be told unless if their community wants to suffer the consequences. Their community can change even now, all it has to do is address what really happens instead of being accused of these past aggressions.