Canada. What does the word invoke in a reader’s mind? The land of multiculturalism perhaps, where people of every different colour, creed, religion and ethnicity can exist in harmony. Or, is it the land of opportunities, where immigrants arrive in the country and find out they will face more obstacles in their quest for a better life. The Canada in Raheel Raza’s A Global Village in Canada is very different to Goran Simic’s Canada in Goodbye Muse, Hello Prada, Raza’s piece will leave readers feeling positive and optimistic about Canada, where everyone can exist peacefully, barring a few who are eager to highlight the differences. The tone of Simic’s piece is far more low-key than Raza’s, not quite as bright and high-strung. Out of the two, Simic’s Canada will resonate with readers more because he used his personal experiences, employed clever language and literary devices to make his writing more memorable, and he described the struggles every immigrant will face as they try to establish themselves in a new country.
Simic’s piece was peppered with his personal experiences in Canada. From the opening sentence, a quote by his father, had set the tone for the rest of the piece. By doing this,
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Simic not only captures readers’ attention, he also instantly brought the readers to Simic, because everyone has a father and can relate to treasuring the wisdom only a father can give. This is especially true in the case of immigrants, where many of them had to leave behind family members in conflict ridden countries to come to Canada, and the memories of their loved ones will be extra special to them. He related the experience of not being able to practice his chosen profession in Canada due to being an immigrant, which is something most immigrants can relate to. It is not uncommon to hear that those immigrants who are fully licensed professional in their home country will have trouble finding work in Canada because their credentials are not recognized, or that they have to start at the very bottom of their industries when their skills and knowledge would have been used better elsewhere. This is especially concerning because Canada is severely lacking qualified individuals such as doctors and nurses to cope with the increasingly aging population. This is where immigrant workers could have a great impact on society. But Canada is forcing many qualified individual to upgrade their credentials, or even not recognizing their foreign job experiences and degrees. While it is a good idea to keep up the standards of an industry at a certain level, there must be an exchange of information between Canadian professionals and their foreign counterparts to improve the overall situation in Canada. Simic’s use of language helped to make his piece stand out from Raza’s, it is all the more impressive considering English is not Simic’s first language.
He used literary devices such as metaphors, such as the one seen in paragraph 8, where he likened robbery to a religion, where people regardless of their culture and ethnicity, were capable of committing. In paragraph 10, he used a simile where he likened poetry to an unwanted pregnancy in the marriage between publishers and readers. He utilized personification as he and his coworkers conversed as if all the brand names were actual people in paragraphs 18-21. Simic used all of the above writing techniques to great effect, which helped his piece to make a deeper impression in readers’ minds, and made his piece very
impactful. Though Raza and Simic’s pieces share many similarities, Raza’s almost has a preaching tone to hers, about how one should behave in Canada. It has created a certain distance between her and the readers. However, Simic bridges that distance through clever use of language, his willingness to share his own experiences and his depiction of the everyday struggles many immigrants face made it easier for readers to empathize with him. For many people, coming to Canada is an opportunity. However, opportunities must be seized or one can watch success slip through their fingers. Do not begrudge people’s own impressions of Canada, it is formed by personal experiences and cannot be wrong, a little step into accepting others can only make Canada a better place.
Canada my Canada by Tomson Highway describes Canada in a very descriptive way. The majestic mountains are like a protective wall for the Great Plains. The blue water with the diverse marine life and the Forests that provide air for a big part of North America.
“ The horizon was the color of milk. Cold and fresh. Poured out among the bodies” (Zusak 175). The device is used in the evidence of the quote by using descriptives words that create a mental image. The text gives the reader that opportunity to use their senses when reading the story. “Somehow, between the sadness and loss, Max Vandenburg, who was now a teenager with hard hands, blackened eyes, and a sore tooth, was also a little disappointed” (Zusak 188). This quote demonstrates how the author uses descriptive words to create a mental image which gives the text more of an appeal to the reader's sense such as vision. “She could see his face now, in the tired light. His mouth was open and his skin was the color of eggshells. Whisker coated his jaw and chin, and his ears were hard and flat. He had a small but misshapen nose” (Zusak 201). The quotes allows the reader to visualize what the characters facial features looked like through the use of descriptive words. Imagery helps bring the story to life and to make the text more exciting. The reader's senses can be used to determine the observations that the author is making about its characters. The literary device changes the text by letting the reader interact with the text by using their observation skills. The author is using imagery by creating images that engages the reader to know exactly what's going on in the story which allows them to
This article study will define the important aspects of space and racial identity that are defined through Canadian Constitutional law in “When Place Becomes Race” by Sherene H. Razack. Razack (2002) the historical premise of a “white settler society” as the foundation for spatial hierarchies in the Canadian society, which reflect a racial divide in the community. The white settler society was based on the Anti-Terrorism Act, within Canadian law, which reflects the post-9/11 culture of the Canadian government that has become racialized in the early portion of the 21st century. Razack utilizes the important method of “unmapping” to reconstruct the racial histories that
The first literary device is a simile and it paints a picture in the readers head.
In “Canadian Multiculturalism: Global Anxieties and Local Debates” Keith Banting and Will Kymlicka challenge the understanding that failed multiculturalism in Europe will follow suit in Canada. Although Canada is not immune from the challenges that can come with multiculturalism, the way in which they tackle problems are country specific and do not necessarily reflect the practice or outcomes of other nations. As UK critic of multiculturalism Trevor Phillips, observes Canada to be ‘sleepwalking towards segregation’ (44) when the dynamics are far more complicated. TRANSITION SENTENCE REQUIRED
Lister Sinclair’s pamphlet Change Comes to Canada was distributed at the Canadian Government Pavilion during Expo 67. Sinclair looks at the meaning of the name Canada. She analyses common points in people’s daily lives such as the meaning of ‘our home and native land,’ Canadian history, Canadian resources, transportation, climate and culture that tie each Canadian together. She claims that “every Canadian who thinks about Canada has his own idea about the meaning of that dream.” She argues that there is no actual national identity but individual identities that made up our national identity. She challenges the questions related to a national identity. It is interesting that something that questions the national identity would be distributed at Expo 67; but, it provides in...
One of the literary techniques most prominently featured throughout the passage would be that of imagery. The author takes great care to interweave sentences comparing the traits
35 Fleras, Augie, and Jean Leonard Elliott. Engaging Diversity: Multiculturalism in Canada. Toronto: Nelson, 2002: 164.
In the written piece What Canada Means to Me an example of feeling detached from the rest of the world is: We seem to suffer from a lost identity, ungrounded in anything concrete, detached from both outer and back-home society; this shows that once Native American children were taken away from their home and stripped of their beliefs they felt unwanted by both sides of society. To return home was never the same and they were treated differently while out in Canadian society being of a different culture they were out casted, which left a constant feeling of un-belonging and detachment from
“Multiculturalism” entered public speech in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Canada that focused on unique cultural diversity, nationalities, and ethnicity across the nation. Multiculturalism and Immigration are important factors in the development of Canada to attain a strong multicultural example of economic stability, social and political growth which leads to the emergence of Canada’s identity and culture.
Smith likes to leave the reader with the possibility of more intrigue to an already verbose tale or anecdote. No explanation (or rather exploration) is left simply explained in full, the reader is given a nugget of something else to think about as well: “So there existed fathers who dealt in the present, who didn’t drag ancient history around like a ball and chain. So there were men who were not neck-deep and sinking in the quagmire of the past” (271). Smith is certainly keen on using metaphor and simile as there will often be two or sometimes three metaphors or similes all packed in a single elongated sentence. “He wanted it to be perfectly quiet and still, like the inside of an empty confessional or the moment in that brain between thought and speech” (4). Simile is Smith’s most used literary device, one used affectively
... carefully to get the right mood. "Simic has become one of those writers for whom there is no word but the individuality of their work. Just as we can always tell a Dickinson poem, a Cornell box, or a Keaton in profile, you can always tell a Simic (Poets&Writers)."
The differences and similarities within Canadian society fuels points of conversation in our day to day interactions. In these conversations, whether it be in distinct communities or ones that are ethnically uniform, agreements and tensions can exist both subliminally and visibly. The evolution of these perceptions exist in today’s society and have gradually progressed to become more inclusive. Such agreements are evident in Canada when groups of people with similar ideas form strong agreements and like opinions; this occurs both in communities with varying compositions. On the other hand, points of tension arise when there are disagreements about certain aspects of running a country, resulting
Multiculturalism is a significant fabric of Canadian society that defines its unique identity among the rest of the world. Enactment of the Canadian multicultural policy (1971) affirmed government position and recognition of multiculturalism as a vital element of Canada. It is imperative to understand that multiculturalism is a static concept that keeps changing overtime and has a multidimensional entity. Canadians have always and will continue to revise the concept of multiculturalism to suit the ever expanding needs of Canadian society. In this paper, I will evaluate the reasons behind Canada’s adoption of multicultural policy and assess whether the policy should be maintained or not. I will defend the thesis that Canada’s multiculturalism
Canada. The typical stereotype: kind, considerate, always saying sorry. Everyone of every size, shape, and color seem to inhabit one part or another in Canada. The question really is how they got there. Granted, the stereotype didn't always apply to Canada. At points, Canada wasn't all smiles and rainbows. Rather, violent periods of cultural crashing occurred in the country that were hidden in plain sight via specific literary devices such as imagery, conflict, and irony. These same devices were used to convey more mild blending of cultures as well. This blending of cultures eventually became a prominent theme in Canadian writing.