I think that King uses a mapping metaphor to shed light on different paths and views of life. By this I mean that throughout the novel Lionel, Charlie and Alberta are searching for meaning in their life and relationships. Mapping can be seen as a very western world thing to do which I believe is used in King’s novel to show the differences between Aboriginal people in a modern world where customs and traditions are harder to keep alive. One thing that is really apparent on maps are boarders. This can be related to the modern day view on Indigenous reserves. As someone who lives in a town that has bits and pieces of it being First Nations land (West Kelowna BC) you can usually tell which pieces are owned by the First Nations government and which are not. It is harder to tell when looking at land that is filled with businesses or home developments, however when you go right on to the Westbank First Nations (WFN) reserve it is really easy to tell. I say this because the homes are surrounded by a lot more natural vegetation. The trees are much bigger/fuller, the ground looks a lot more like a forest floor rather than manicured landscape and I say this will full admiration. I love seeing how the homes of Westbank First Nations people are full of West Kelowna’s natural beauty. (I love the forest and being out in nature so this is the type of “landscaping” I would love to have in my future backyard. I also think one of the biggest pieces of King’s map metaphor is the map of life and having to find your own path. I honestly believe that it is harder for younger generations of Indigenous people to find their path in life while sticking close to their heritage and customs. – I say this as someone who is in no way Aboriginal and have not experienced this first hand. From an outsider’s perspective and from hearing stories from my peers it seems as if it is hard to stick to traditions when there is so much pressure to conform to societal norms and what is “expected” of young people. I have seen this with my own heritage, as a very loose example from my life, German heritage is to pass down family recipes down generations and this is something I have tried to push for because my family does not really care about that anymore because any recipe can be found on the internet. To go back to King’s novel, I think that the centre of the mapping metaphor is self discovery and learning about where you want life to take you.
Works Cited:
“Discover WFN.” Westbank First Nation, www.wfn.ca/.]
“NativeLand.ca.” Native, native-land.ca/.
Hi Megan,
This is an interesting piece of writing. I believe that even though maps aren’t create by the indigenous. They should be the one who felt the most connected to maps because way the maps has shown are the prove and history that they’ve been growing up and fighting their whole life for. they have been born and grow up to the land so i believe they are the most suitable to represent the maps and the stories. However, i was wondering if there use to be conflict about who owns the land while they are creating the maps. For example the indigenous might think the land belongs to them but the german might want to mark it on the map as their territories. what would they do if that happens?
Hi Megan,
I love that you’ve tied in the mapping theme to the present day. It’s also something I’ve tried to do in my answer to this question. I’m curious: why do you think the grounds are more manicured outside the WFN lands?
Cheers,
Jack