“if Europeans were not from the land of the dead, or the sky, alternative explanations which were consistent with indigenous cosmologies quickly developed” (“first contact” 43). robinson gives us one of those alternative explanations in his stories about how coyote’s twin brother stole the “written document” and when he denied stealing the paper, he was “banished to a distant land across a large body of water” (9). we are going to return to this story, but for now – what is your first response to this story? in context with our course theme of investigating intersections where story and literature meet, what do you make of this stolen piece of paper?
– assignment given by erika paterson.
my first consideration is to wonder what the written piece of paper means or symbolizes. is it symbolic of the white people stealing the skill of being able to write and keeping it to themselves? does this mean the document was valuable, or evil, or both, like how the forbidden fruit adam and eve eat in the garden gives them the “skill” to judge between evil and good but the action is considered evil overall because god hates them for it and it creates a rift between them.
did the white people choose the path of the written story (literature) leaving the first people the path of the oral story? the paper document represents permanence and law for the white people. but what does it represent for the first people of canada? it more than likely represents greed and trickery and inaccessibility after their first experiences with important community written documents written on paper.
if this was in fact the way written works were viewed, perhaps they were not perceived as something that could contain the power and vibrancy of stories, the way in which the oral traditions were perceived. perhaps they were perceived as something more akin to insanity or greed. something very anti-social and damaging. i don’t think that the first people would have found many, if any, positive examples of white people using paper documents in the first contact years.
works cited
“Indian Land“ First Nations – Land Rights and Environmentalism in British Columbia. www.firstnations.de/indian_land.ht. Accessed 7 Oct. 2016.
Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 2:2”. ENGL 4710 Canadian Literary Genres: Canadian Studies. University of British Columbia. Nov. 2013. blogs.ubc.ca/courseblogsis_ubc_engl_470a_99c_2014wc_44216-sis_ubc_engl_470a_99c_2014wc_44216_2517104_1/unit-2/lesson-2-2/ Accessed 7 Oct. 2016.
Robinson, Harry. Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Compiled and edited by Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talon Books 2005. Print. (1-30)
Waite, Arthur Edward. “The High Priestess“. Trusted Tarot. 2010. www.trustedtarot.com/cards/the-high-priestess/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2016.
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hi stephanie.
i read a few different posts that tried to understand what it symbolized, but when you wrote that the piece of paper symbolized “the skill of being able to write,” it reminded me that the fruit that Eve and Adam ate symbolized knowledge. although knowledge can be considered a skill, knowledge itself should not be punishable. just as the piece of paper itself is not. being able to judge good and evil does not come from knowledge. i believe that comes from wisdom and i define wisdom as something gained through experience. what one does with knowledge, or the piece of paper is the important part that can later translate to wisdom. perhaps the document refers to knowledge and how the younger brother put it to use.
i assume you are talking about the white people in the story. if the piece of paper indicates law and permanence, then that can also translate as the white people being rational and mechanical creatures. in return, could we not perceive the elder twin’s people as vibrant, musical and the soul of this creation story rather than “something more akin to insanity or greed. something very anti-social and damaging.”
i wonder if it will be possible to read the story in a more positive light whilst keeping the historical truths on the surface.
thank you for sharing your interpretation of the piece of paper.
-Jamie
hey jamie, thanks for your comment. i don’t believe that law and permanence necessarily translate into mechanical and rational thought, but rational thought is a very good way to describe european white people values in the height of the enlightenment and the age of science. valueing reason was a very important attribute that many euro-canadians brought with them to canada. the interesting thing, however, is that though they claimed rational thought, their “rational” thought was very one-sided and irrational in ways – believing that building on the open land of canada was their god-given destiny etc.
it is a good observation of contrast – vibrancy and life of the story vs. cold hard reason that loses reason in it’s own one sidedness.
i think the way most white european settlers addressed sharing land with the natives was selfish, greedy and anti-social. on one hand i don’t blame them anymore then i blame myself – humans look out for our own needs. however it doesn’t change the fact that entire peoples were displaced in these acts of selfishness that could have been avoided.
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