oh canada

What are the major differences or similarities between the ethos of the creation story you are familiar with and the story King tells in The Truth About Stories?

The creation story I am most familiar with is that of Genesis, found in the Christian Bible. I am more of a free spirit when it comes to the topic of religion, but I do know the basic story of the creation of the Earth by the hands of God. I actually just finished watching the new Exodus movie, which contains the story of Moses, which I found also helped me in understanding the differences between the story of Genesis and King’s creation story. To begin, God created the Earth in seven days; (please take some time to go to this site it has a more in depth insight into the creation of the Earth!) . Within the seven days, land, water, animals, days and humans and created, in the light of God’s image. In just a week, the Earth had been created and mankind would now begin its existence. From this comes the story of Adam and Eve, and the creation of the human being. Eve is tempted by evil and succumbs to the apple, which reminds me of how King also touches on this in the first novel we read in this course. This is the story I know about how we were created, but this differs greatly from that of King’s edition.

The story of Charm begins with her falling into a new world, quite literally. Her curiosity gets the better of her and she falls through a hole onto what is called now the Earth. She then uses the help of her water animal friends to find mud and create land. The Twins from that point create humans and life. From here, this is where society begins. You can see the differences in the stories by simply reading these condensed versions of each creation story that I have provided. Now, even though these two stories are different, they each have their own validity and truth. The Twins in a sense become the God that is found in the Christian creation story. They are the creators of mankind, although the do not create the entire Earth. Charm helps to create the Earth by sending down each of the water animals, awaiting for one to come back with what would be the creation of land. Both stories involve a form of faith; one must have faith in the validity of the story to believe in it. This is a similarity between each of these stories, they have a higher power that creates the world as we know it, and people as they are now. In an article I read regarding belief, the author relates faith which “is merely the innate drive to search for meaning, purpose and significance.” (Popcak). There is both meaning and significance in each of these stories, it just depends on which you have belief. King’s story broadened my view on creation stories, demonstrating another view regarding the creation of the world. Even though there are differences between the characters in each of these stories they have the same premise; the world was created by a higher power unto which all of life was created. For King, that is placed upon Charm and the Twins, and for the Christian religion upon God’s creation. Do not each of these stories have their own validity and do they maintain their story due to faith?

Popcak, Gregory. “Faith, Spirituality, Belief, Religion…What’s the Difference?” Faith on the Couch. Patheos Hosting the Conversation on Faith., 5 May. 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.

Blank, Wayne. “The Seven Days of Creation.” Daily Bible Study., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.

During the period of Canada’s foundation, there was much controversy as to what nations should be recognized as the founding partners. The British still had a hold on Canada; they held Canada as part of their own nation and expected its citizens to follow their lead. As noted in CanLit “Other cultural and linguistic groups, including Indigenous peoples, were expected to assimilate to the notion of Canada as British.”(Nationalism 1500-1700s: Exploration and Settlement) The Indigenous peoples were not given the option to maintain their right to express their culture and be part of the foundation of Canada, rather they were expected to become a Canadian by following the British expectations of the ideal citizen. CanLit explains the issues that the Indigenous peoples had in expressing their culture as follows “the Indigenous peoples being reduced from allies and trading partners, to wards of the new Canadian state. They were seen primarily as obstacles to settlement who needed to be civilized before they could be assimilated into the population and become citizens.” (Nationalism 1800s: Loyalism and Nation-building). These people were only treated as a restriction from an idealized society and they had a choice; become a Canadian through the eyes of the British or be segregated from society due to belief and traditions. Where is the equality in these decisions? Canada is normally depicted as a peaceful place; we say “Please” and hold the door open for each other, but Canada’s foundation is created upon making people feel different due to their culture, rather than bracing this new form of traditions, stories and people, and allowing for the creation of a country where all are equal.

I really enjoyed reading about Louis Riel (I had read about him in high school but was excited to see all of the articles which gave light to his political career!). His goal was to maintain the Northwest part of Canada as land of the Métis, where the Manitoba Act was created. In an article I found that explains the motives of this Act it shows that “Central to this agreement, the federal government agreed to reserve 1.4 million acres (566,560 hectares) for the children of Métis residents of Manitoba and ensured that the province would be officially bilingual.” (Stanley). Riel had accomplished part of what he wanted; to allow the Métis people to keep their land, not just for now, but also for the future. His provisional government had succeeded in getting the attention of the Canadian government and demanding their rights to their land. Even though it seems simple that these people do have a right to their land, Riel was faced with so many obstacles in obtaining what was rightfully theirs. The provisional government enabled the “Métis (who) organized the Métis National Committee in order to protect the social, cultural and political status of the Métis in Red River and the Northwest” (Stanley) which was necessary due to the fact that the Canadian government decided that it had the right to their land. Louis Riel created a movement for the Métis people and showed them that their land was their heritage and their right, and the creation of the Manitoba Act put this on paper.

I would just like to add a quote I really liked from Frye “Identity is local and regional, rooted in the imagination and in works of culture; unity is national in reference, international in perspective, and rooted in a political feeling” (The Bush Gardens) which encapsulates the essence of what nationalism should be. Unlike the segregation of the Indigenous peoples in the founding of Canada, Frye determines that unity is key in creating a national home. In a united nation, all people are determined as equals and all have a right to their culture and traditions. But as Canadians, who really are we? Are we really those nice people, or do we have a shadowed history? Canada foundation was created upon the recognition of British rule in Canadian culture, which either left a person assimilating into their approved culture or wondering where the ideologies of the unity of differences had gone in the definition of nationalism.

“Reading and Writing in Canada, A Classroom’s Guide to Nationalism.” CanLit Guides. Canadian Literature. Aug. 15 2013. Web. Feb 23 2015.

Frye, Northrop. “The Bush Garden.” Blogspot. Web. Feb. 21 2015.

Stanley, George. “Louis Riel.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. Apr. 22 2013. Web. Feb. 26 2015.

Gwyn, Richard. “Canada in the age of national-identity crisis: Gwyn.”  The Star Commentary. Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd, Apr. 1 2014. Web. Feb. 27 2015.

I found a really good website which demonstrates the importance of oral reading, and although it is geared towards children, it explains the importance of orality being linked to meaning through personalizing the story being read. Reading aloud makes the reader form connections with the story, and the character in it. When I was reading Robinson’s story out loud to myself, I found that I was making a different voice for each of the characters. For Coyote, I was reading him in a voice that was like an adult; one who was upset for being secluded by God, but when meeting the King he has a voice that included power and meaning. His voice changed with the changing of his personal life, when he was sad I spoke slower and had an inclination of sadness in my voice, which changed when he was given the role to talk to the King. From reading orally I found that I was connecting to each of the characters and understanding their issues (Coyote being secluded and then being asked to speak to the King; one must feel that they are being used for somebody else’s purpose). I then found a quote that helps to summarize this connection between reader and story by Kathrine Peterson “A book is a cooperative venture. The writer can write a story down, but the book will never be complete until a reader, of whatever age, takes that book and brings to it his own story.” Robinson is sharing his story with the reader, who in turn makes a connection with it, which becomes a story of their own.

Reading the story silently I found that I did not connect with the characters as much; they were just characters in somebody else’s story. But when I read it out loud and with my sister the story took on a personality of its own. The only issue with reading stories out loud is that one can memorize the basic plot of the story and when reading orally can choose to change certain aspects of the story. I got my sister to read the story back to me as well and was interested to hear that she changed the sound of Coyote’ voice; even though he was described as being a male, she though that he was more of a female character who wants to help her family, even if that means meeting the King of England. By meeting the King, Coyote makes a deal that the Native peoples get to keep their land after making a document with the King. This is much alike how a mother would act to keep her children safe, and even though Coyote is tricked he goes to his best efforts to allow the Native peoples to keep their land. I found this Government of Canada website which explains and gives dates to land treaties with the Native peoples which I found really helpful in connecting these historical events to the story. Robinson’s story, when read aloud, allows for the syntactic structure to become personalized to the reader; one can choose as to how each character should sound and what values they have in the story as well.

“Reading Aloud to Build Comprehension.” Reading Rockets. n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015. http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-aloud-build-comprehension

“Treaties with Aboriginal People in Canada.” Government of Canada. 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2015. http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100032291/1100100032292

I read the following blogs by Shamina, Charlotte and Florence. Each of their stories shared a piece of their history; who they are, who they came to be. Each reflect on a memory or event that occurred to them which shaped their future and their idea of what home is to them. I came up with this list which describes home:

Home can be many different places, either where one lives of where they have visited

Home doesn’t always feel like home

Home can become a lonely place without somebody around you

Family is always connected to home and comfort

Home is full of traditions that vary from each family

 All of these ideas of the home are unique to each of these blogs. A theme that occurred in all of them was that of family and how important it is in the recognition of the home. Family becomes centralized in the home, holding it together. I really like the poem byAlbert Guest and how he describes the home in his own view. He explains home from his own personal memories and experiences, much like the authors did in the blogs I read. The home can move around to different places, it is not static. I recently had a friend go back to Taiwan to deal with her dual citizenship; she has lived in Canada for most of her life but was born in Taiwan. To maintain her dual citizenship, she had to go back for 3 months to be able to be considered. Even though she was born there and moved to Canada, the government wants her to return and renew her paperwork, even though it is her place of birth. From these stories it reminds me of how the home can move, but returning can also have its issues. The home is not always there for when you want it to be, but when it is it becomes your memories and experiences.

Works Cited

“Home.” Albert Guest. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. Feb 2 2015.  <<http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173578>>

Ng, Florence. “2.1 Home is a pie chart and a couple of memories”. Maple Trees and Beaver Tails. UBC Blogs. 31 Jan 2015. Web. 2 Feb 2015.

Kallu, Shamina “How is Wherever I’m With You.” Canada: Muffled Voice and Native Narrative. UBC Blogs. 30 Jan 2015. Web. 2 Feb 2015.

Hodgson, Charlotte. “This is my home, piece by piece.” From Far and Wide. UBC Blogs. 29 Jan 2015. Web. 2 Feb 2015.

This story begins with a man, who meets a woman, falls in love, and creates a family. This is how I connect to my family, and even though love seems to occur in these few steps, it is what holds my parents, my sister and I together. The land we live on has contained many pieces of history that my sister and I have found through our time playing outside in our yard, and it is true that we found an old wristwatch in our backyard, as noted in the story. I hope you enjoy the story I have made about how my family came to be, and as I note in my story, the land we all live own belongs to the past, the present and the future.

The Building of a Home

Once upon a time there was a piece of land. Uninhabited, overgrown and really not a place one would like to call home. But this piece of land becomes the story of a man who decided to look past its thickets and woods and see it as a place of happiness. We will call this man Neil. Now Neil worked in the local car shop, just down the road from the land. His days were long, but the pay was good and at this time that’s all that really mattered to him. Every morning he stopped off at the coffee shop, just before work, and ordered the same black coffee and blueberry muffin. Then to work it was.

Neil bought the land when he had saved up for a down payment. The endless aching muscles and tiredness had allowed him to buy this place, where he would now build his future. He began by clearing what would be the front yard and the house area of all the brush. The sun was hot, but he enjoyed being in the fresh air among what was now his. Next came the foundation, which began with concrete blocks which were used to hold up and level the main floor. The walls were then followed by the roof, all done by Neil’s hands. The structure of the house complete, he contemplated how he wanted to decorate and make his new home. He stepped back from looking upon the front of the house and heard a crack. Neil looked down and saw an old wristwatch, the leather falling apart and the inside of the watch fading yellow. He put it in his pocket and went to the coffee shop, as it was hid daily routine to visit.

You see readers, it was not just the coffee that Neil liked the most about this shop, it was the girl who worked there and always smiled at him when he came in. We shall call her Charlotte. “You have really changed that old plot of land up the hill there. It’s really starting to look good” was all she said to him. He smiled and said as manly as can be “Oh it looks okay so far. I just need a genie to finish it for me” which made her laugh. And funny enough this was how their relationship began. Just a simple exchange of words, a few laughs and the beginning of a loving family.

So the couple began the task of building their home, putting in a kitchen and a living room. The land had now become a home for them and as the years went by the front yard contained a porch, which led to a swing in the front tree, a dog in the doghouse and a bicycle, with training wheels of course. This unloved plot of land had now become a home for Neil, Charlotte and their daughter’s Amelia and Allie. By building it together they had created a bond so strong with the land that they now felt that they had become a piece of it. Looking through an old drawer, mainly now consisting of crayons and coloring books, Charlotte found the old watch in the back corner. She questioned Neil who said “I found it when I was first building the house. I guess somebody must have dropped it.” Charlotte saw an engraving on the back marked M.L. They took it to the local post office and asked them if they knew of anyone living in the area with those initials. After some researching, they realize it had belonged to a Matthew Leroy who had owned the property 70 years beforehand. Neil felt disjointed, as he thought he was the sole owner of the land, which he had thought had never been touched. Charlotte remarked “This land belongs to those in the past, present and future. Someday our daughter’s will live in it and call it their home. The world belongs to all of us, and will be passed down to future generations. We call this our home, as many others have as well.” Neil smiled and thought of the truth of what she said. He leaned down to kiss her and smiled. He was happy living in the present with the love of his life and his daughter’s coloring at his feet.

An Explanation of the Story

I really like writing stories, and this caught me when I was driving home from work. I wanted to create a place where love happens and where the family is the center of the home. This is much like how I have grown up with my family, which have always been there for me and have been my stable building blocks as I have grown up. My parents built the home we live in now, and have shaped the land so that my sister and I could spend our childhood playing in our tree house and exploring our forest. Much like the couple in my story, my home has been my place of relaxation and memory. It has been built on love and a strong family bond, which to me is the essence of home. The book that I have hyperlinked in this blog is actually one I have read for a previous course and thought that it would be really interesting to share. I found it amazing how the family and its values can alter from each family and found it a really good source in understanding the value of the family in our society. (I have included the link to the book which can be found on Google Books if anybody is interested in reading it 🙂 ).

“Who Owns the World?” Kay Cahill and Jennifer Copley. WordPress, 2 July. 2007. Web. 21 Feb. 2015. <http://www.whoownstheworld.com/canada/>

“Family Values: Subjects Between Nature and Culture.” Kelly Oliver. New York: Routledge, 1997. Print.

“Family Values: Subjects Between Nature and Culture.” Kelly Oliver. Google Books, 2007. Web. 21 Feb. 2015. <https://books.google.ca/books?id=7z_fqGpgSkUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=family+values&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XtjqVKCzB4W7ogSBpILoDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=family%20values&f=false>

I really enjoyed this assignment. I have never been able to do a creative writing assignment for any of my previous classes and thought this was a really good way to express how one sees a story. A story is a thing which can be questioned or changed, which allows for many beliefs and opinions all of which have validity. Enjoy!

The world was created through the eyes of imagination and belief by a man searching for a new home and a new adventure. The man lived in a world that was paradise; water, land and food, but there was a cost to this perfect world. He was the only inhabitant. The days went by and he learned to swim, cook and build a shelter. Yet, the man yearned for something else and wondered if there was another place where there were other people. So with his building skills he built a boat. This boat was not very large, just enough space for him and his few belongings. A barrel of water, a few herbs and plants and some extra bark in case the boat was to leak. Upon the following morning, the man pushed off from the only place he knew, and with a last glance behind him, set off for the unknown.

The sun rose and the sun set for many days and there was no sign of any new land or people. The man began to doubt his adventure and wished for a moment that he was back in his own personal paradise. Why has he left such an amazing place, he was in need of nothing to survive. On the third day of his sailing, the man heard a rush of water, but it was not raining. The sky was clear and the only sound that water made to the man was that when it fell from the sky. “What could this noise possibly be?” the man thought. The water around the boat began to move faster and before the man knew he was falling down the most beautiful waterfall. His boat plunged into an abyss and his world went black.

He woke up to see a vast ocean in front of him. He heart sank, for he had come all this way and there was no land. The water stretched as far as he could see, but amidst the continuous blue he noticed a sail, which he presumed, must be attached to a boat. Arriving at this small vessel he was met by a young child who looked hungry. Upon seeing this new face the man exclaimed “I am new to this place and you are the first person I have ever met. From where I came there was only me.” The child looked to him and said “I am but a hungry explorer. Could you spare some food?” The man then passed the child his remaining food, upon which the child smiled, and continued on their way. The man grew desperate for land, for now he had no food.

Voyaging onward the man was met by a woman in a canoe. “I am but an explorer looking for a new home, but my canoe has a leak and it is filling with water. Can you spare some wood?” she asked. The man passed her his remaining wood upon which she placed at the bottom of the canoe. “Thank you” was all she said and was on her way. Now the man had no food and no wood to fix his aching boat.

At last, as this sun began to set, the man came upon an older man and woman in a sailboat. Before they spoke, the man passed them the last of his freshwater. They smiled, and before the couple sailed by the older man said “You have showed us compassion at a time when you look like you needed it. You will be well rewarded for your actions. You see young man, beyond this sea there is a place where you will find what you are looking for. Just believe in it and you shall see.” The man looked in front of him and all he could see was the water. Water, water, water.

He closed his eyes. He imagined a place where he would live among other people, build a home, have a family. By giving the passing people he met along his journey, he committed to the fact that he would have nothing. And something cannot come from nothing. And yet, with a little belief, and a little imagination it can. Among the campfire the man tells his story to his growing children. They smile and laugh, as this story seems an impossibility. Land cannot come from believing it shall be. The man looks towards the stars, and knows that through his kindness and his belief that by venturing from his comfortable abode he will find happiness, showing that anything can be achieved.

Reactions To The Story:

When I told the story to my sister she asked “Why did the man not just stay in his paradise?” And at first that would seem like the best option for him; he had everything he needed to survive and be content. She also said that most people, along a journey such as his, would not have given these strangers his last remaining food and water. This made me think about our own culture and how people do not always share or help others. My story almost fantasizes the fact that a person will always help those in need (even if it affects their own life) as this is not always seen in our society. I made the man in my story help others so that he would be able to achieve his goal in reaching a new home. By giving the little that he had he was able to reach his goals (my sister said this seemed little farfetched). I explained how the story related to the retelling of the original story and how our assignment was to recreate it, but still keep some elements in it. She saw the evil in my story as moving from paradise to a place unknown, and how my story could be changed so that the people he meets are unkind and not what he expected. Words can be altered and changed, but for those who are listening or telling must be careful as to what words they choose to use.

After I told the story my sister said that if a story is changed from the original, was the original changed from a pre-exisitng story? Stories in a sense can be passed down from generation to generation and the creation of a new story can always be linked to different stories too. In a sense then, from my sister’s standpoint, all stories are related to each other which form a coherent bond which helps the reader to connect to the story itself.

“What did Jesus Mean by Paradise?” The Dawn Christadelphians. Bible-UK. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. <http://www.bible-uk.com/index.html>

Coldplay Official. “Paradise.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube 18 Oct. 2011. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G4isv_Fylg>

Home is a place where an individual feels comfortable and happy; a place of belonging. One can have their most treasured items in a home, such as the growth chart of their child on the door frame, the place where they get their first kiss, or as a place of pure relaxation. A home can come in many different forms, for example a house, a country or we even call the Earth itself our home. Deciding on where one’s home is can be difficult, depending on where you are born or what events occur during your lifetime. What we consider to be our home can have fancy furniture, an expensive car and a pool in the backyard, but money cannot buy the feelings of a home. For the Native Americans living in Canada, they feel it difficult to call Canada their home due to the fact that they have been pushed out of their native land, land that once belonged to their tribes and their culture. Chamberlin describes this feeling of isolation in his home country “I don’t come from anywhere, except the Americas. And somebody else calls this place home, somebody who isn’t always happy having me around.” (Chamberlin 87). The sense of home becomes an imagined place where one does feel like they belong, but in the reality of the situation, home is a place which has already been resided in by people in our past history. For Chamberlin, home becomes a generic term for where a person lives for the moment, which may not feel like home to them if they have not chosen this home or is their home has been taken from them by a different culture.

The home is a place of language, culture and belief. Pico Iyer, the speaker in the TED talk, says “If somebody suddenly asks me, “Where’s your home?” I think about my sweetheart or my closest friends or the songs that travel with me wherever I happen to be.” This is a part of Iyer’s description of home, which also notes that “movement was only as good as the sense of stillness that you could bring to it to put it into perspective” (TED) which indicates that home is part of movement and stillness. I really enjoyed Iyer’s talk about the home as it opened up my ideas of home and that it is fluid; wherever one is they can call that place home. When the fundamentals of language, culture and belief are taken from a person, they lose their sense of the place in the home. Chamberlin has a distinct view regarding the loss of home in the settlement of Canada. The different way of looking at this is “the history of many of the world’s conflicts is a history of dismissing a different belief” (Chamberlin 78) which becomes an “unbelief” (Chamberlin 78). The unbelief becomes a form of savagery or difference in the society, which makes the person feel that they are not part of the culture, or more importantly the home. These two views are different in the fact that the first is the displacing of the person, from where their home is, and the second is the degeneration of their beliefs, which make them feel like they are not at home. Both are valid arguments as to the understanding of the settlement in Canada by the native individuals, but there are still consequences for each of these ideas. For this first, can anybody be said to have a home if that home was originally owned by a previous person? There can be no such sensation as having or belonging to a home, as one is displaced through history not able to actually find a location for a home. With the second theory the implication lies with the fact that the home is tied to beliefs, and if said beliefs are dismissed, there can be no home. Home is more than just beliefs; it is also an emotion of happiness.

“What Makes a Home?” Winnifred Gallagher. Oprah. Web. 5 Feb. 2015. <http://www.oprah.com/home/What-Makes-a-Home>

“Where Is Home?” Pico Iyer. TED, Jun. 2003. Web. 15 Jan. 2015. <http://www.ted.com/talks/pico_iyer_where_is_home?language=en#>

Chamberlin, E. If This is Your Land, Where are your Stories? Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada. 2003. Print.

Hi everybody!

My name is Alexandra and I attend UBC at the Vancouver campus. I am in my fourth year and I am majoring in English Literature. I enjoy learning about different forms of literature from all around different places in the world at different time periods. I love working with children and I work for the Walt Disney Company which pretty much describes my personality! I am a huge Disney fan and hope to work for a publishing company which is connected to the Walt Disney Company. I love the energy of UBC and have enjoyed all of my classes in Literature.

This is a photo of my sister and I under our family cherry tree.

I am really excited to be taking this course, as I have previously taken ENGL 222 which is also on Canadian Literature. I enjoyed learning about the Native culture and their forms of stories, which are oral as well as written. I have no blogging experience (and am not very tech savvy) so this will be a new form of learning for me! I am excited to be taking an online class that uses a different form of student to student interaction, as in previous online courses I have never experienced something like being connected via blogs. This course will not only help me learn about Canadian Literature, but also how to use the UBC Blogs! I am excited to learn about many different aspects of media and writing in Canada as well as literature sources.

Yes, I got to meet Rapunzel and Flynn at Disneyland!

This course enables the student to study the literature found in Canada, such as the Native culture and its form of orality in literature, and determine its importance in Canada’s history. The course will look into the storytelling aspect of literature and its foundations noted in Native culture. It will provide students with many different authors of Canadian literature, as well as media and web pages which all help to explain literature found in Canada. The course will use technology, such as the blogs, to communicate with other class members and the instructor, adding a technical element which also provides a form of learning for the students. The course will demonstrate what it is to be Canadian and how our present ideologies are reflected in past Canadian literature and media.

Buzzfeed. “Americans Try Canadian Food for the First Time. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 2 Aug 2014. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.

The University of British Columbia. Canadian Literature, 2014. Web, 6 Jan. 2015.

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