Stereotyping In Canadian Literature

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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. Using imagery to convey the theme of cultural blending allows the reader to be more immersed into a piece of …show more content…

An example of this is creating a character to resist a culture. It appears contradictory unless the theme of blending is shown. “Listen to him...I can't learn English.”(Blaise 283) The character in this story can already speak multiple languages but is having trouble learning another language spoken in Canada. Another example is the use of crashing instead of blending. When Canada is considered a blending of cultures and their works appear to have crashing between cultures, it warrants some attention. “bus ride...sudden arrival.”(Ondaatje 299) This sudden arrival is the forcing together of cultures. The final example of irony is using comparisons between what a reader believes and the reality of the situation in a poem or story to convey the theme of blending. The reader believes the stereotype of kind Canada having a blend of culture with no violence, but that is not true. “Your voice...through a glass tube.”(Ondaatje 304) This voice is a culture's language and is not accepted by another culture in Canada, hence the scorpion being pushed through a glass tube. Of course, it is odd to use conflict and irony to explain a theme of blending(and throw some imagery in as well) but all three literary devices have a significant role to play in theme

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