The introduction to Roughing it in the Bush paints a vivid picture of Susanna Moodie’s experience of emigrating from England to Canada. As she begins to tell us the many stories of her time in Canada in the 1830’s, her writing also reveals the many stories she brings with her that shape her expectations and understandings of this new land.
A Second Eden
Moodie begins her introduction by describing why someone would leave their life and home for an unknown land. She explains quite clearly that emigration is a “necessity, not a choice” and that it is not until hardships have become dire that one becomes brave enough to consider the daunting challenge of emigration. The poet Warsan Shire writes, “no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.” However, unlike Shire’s devastating and eloquent words on refugees, Moodie believes that upon her banishment from the Eden of her homeland, she will be given a second Eden and a more prosperous life. She describes the new land with “its salubrious climate, its fertile soil, commercial advantages, great water privileges, [and] its proximity to the mother country.” When she arrives it seems her vision of a second Eden is in some ways bruised by the great challenges of living in the backwoods. It is clear that she expected Canada to be a new Promised Land.
A Gift From God
Moodie appears to be led by her faith and by a duty to God. She explains that the “higher motive” of emigrants to leave their home countries is a “love of independence which springs up spontaneously in the breasts of the high-souled children of a glorious land.” After all her discussion of how emigrants leave their countries only when the hardships grow so burdensome or dangerous, she adds that in addition to desperation and necessity, the impetus to leave can also be spontaneous, but only for those who are chosen as worthy of this desire of independence. With other mentions of Providence, it seems that Moodie carries with her a belief that Canada was a gift from God made especially for her and the other “high-souled children.”
An Empty Wasteland
Moodie brings with her an expectation of a terra nullius, just waiting for Europeans to cultivate it. She is shocked still by how empty she perceives this new land to be and she describes it as if she has landed on another planet and wonders whether life is truly sustainable.” The necessaries of life were described as inestimably cheap; but they forgot to add that in remote bush settlements, often twenty miles from a market town, and some of them even that distance from the nearest dwelling, the necessaries of life which would be deemed indispensable to the European, could not be procured at all, or, if obtained, could only be so by sending a man and team through a blazed forest road,—a process far too expensive for frequent repetition.” If the necessities of life could not be procured at all, then surely no substantial life has survived in this place prior to their arrival. Which brings us to the final story that Moodie seems to carry with her.
The Vanishing Vanished Indian
There is no mention of Indigenous people in Moodie’s introduction. There is only God and the European Immigrants. Although Moodie speaks of encounters with Indigenous people throughout the rest of her book, they do not make it into her initial description of this new land. Perhaps she thought that although her encounters with Indigenous people were interesting historical accounts to be included in her book, these people would ultimately become extinct and would not have a lasting impact on this land.
Moodie’s Awareness of Her Stories
I think Moodie’s introduction demonstrates some limited awareness of the stories she carries with her in terms of her expectations of Canada and the opposing reality. She shows some understanding of how her story of a new Promised Land led her to believe this experience would be idyllic and how shocked she was to find her new life so challenging. I do not think, however, that this experience dispelled her story of a promised land and a gift from God, but merely adjusted it from gift to duty. Instead of this gift from God being given easily and perfectly (as perhaps expected based on the advertisements about Canada), through the toils of settler life she seems to learn that God has granted her and the other worthy ones a chance to fulfill a challenging duty – a sort of sacrifice – in the effort to build the new Eden for themselves.
In other ways I do not think Moodie was aware of her stories, as I think many people are not aware of the stories they carry with them that influence their actions. Her description of how empty this land is and how inaccessible common necessities are, reads as surprise. She does not not appear to be aware of her own stories or expectations of this land as a terra nullius and how these may shape how she perceives this new experience. In addition, I don’t see Moodie as a master-manipulator trying to write Indigenous people out of her history book on purpose. So much of her writing seems observational and biased, based on her own story baggage, but not overly calculated or self-aware.
Maybe I’m not given her enough credit! Maybe I’m interpreting her work too innocently. Maybe she wrote this introduction and this book as a well-planned out way to allow her stories and beliefs to be projected into the world to influence history and future generations perceptions of European immigrants and colonization.
I’m inclined to think that she merely wrote about her experience, and her stories seeped into every word unbeknownst to her. As Thomas King says, “the truth about stories is, that’s all we are.”
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Works Cited
Moodie, Susanna. Roughing it in the Bush. Project Gutenburg, January 18 2004. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4389/4389-h/4389-h.htm#link2H_INTR. Accessed March 5, 2021.
Shire, Warsan. Home. Medium, September 11, 2017. https://medium.com/poem-of-the-day/warsan-shire-home-46630fcc90ab. Accessed March 5, 2021
Canada declared the Sinixt extinct. But the Sinixt say they are alive and well. CBC Radio, January 20, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/radio/docproject/canada-declared-the-sinixt-extinct-but-the-sinixt-say-they-are-alive-and-well-1.5428244. Accessed March 5, 2021.
Hello Laura,
I had a wonderful time reading your blog. I was particularly interested in your take on Moodie’s level of awareness. I also chose this question, and took the opposite view – that her level of awareness was high.
Your mention of her shifting understanding from ‘gift’ to ‘duty’ was a point that stood out to me, and I appreciated this perspective; I had not taken this away during my own reading, but upon reflection I can see this connection. It is as if she is re-creating her own understanding of her journey, and giving it greater purpose.
I also enjoyed reading the CBC article you linked. This was my first time hearing about the Sinixt, and I was frustrated about this. Though Canada is making progress towards decolonization, it is eye-opening how novel this endeavour truly is.
One thing I have been wondering, as a fellow teacher, is how you see texts such as Moodie’s shaping your understanding of the Canadian literature used within K-12? Have you started reassessing the narrative within the texts you use? I myself find I am more aware of the artist I showcase, such as Emily Carr, and have begun to wonder what message their artworks say about the Canadian landscape.
Hi Laura!
Like Samantha, I also had a wonderful time reading your blog post. 🙂 For me, the element that most stood out was your discussion on Moodie’s passage regarding the “necessities of life.” The very fact that there is no mention of Indigenous people in her introduction might suggest that Moodie considered their need for the “necessities of life” to be so different from her own as to not merit consideration alongside her own. If so, this would serve to underscore the incredibly wide cultural gap that is at the root of so much strife. Do you think Moodie’s own stories (regardless of whether she recognized them) may have had an impact on how she viewed the differences between what is deemed a “necessity” between her own people and those she barely seems to acknowledge?
Hi Laura, Thank you for your blog post, I truly enjoyed reading it and reflecting on Moodie’s ideas of the new Eden, and Promise Land. I really appreciated your reflection on Moodie’s intentions while she spoke of the white European immigrant, and I like to agree with your analysis, that she is perhaps too influenced by her own stories to be willing to acknowledge the trauma forced upon Indigenous communities in the settlers pursuit of a ‘better life’. Which makes me wonder if perhaps she lacks the acknowledgment of the experiences of Indigenous people simply out of the fear that she maybe perceived as ignorant or the white knight, shining light on the experiences of those she lacks a personal connection with, a form of performative ally-ship if you may?
Or is it simply that by acknowledging the experiences of Indigenous people, she is drifting away from the narrative she is depicting and perhaps contradicting some of her own points?
I also must point out that there is something so humours about viewing Canada as an Eden of sorts. It’s strange to think that the new comers would be so ignorant as to how long it would take for them to feel settled, it appears almost child like. Thank you again for your post, I had a wonderful experience reading it, and it allowed for a great deal of reflection.