See if you can find echoes of the stories discussed above: a gift from god, a second Garden of Eden, an empty/wasted land, the noble but vanishing Indian, and the magical map. By echoes I mean reading between the lines or explicitly within Moodie’s introduction. Discussing what you discover, use your examples as evidence to write a blog that explores what you think might have been Moodie’s level of awareness of the stories she carried with her.
In her book, Susanna Moodie’s quest is presented as a typical European expatriate on a search for land akin to the Garden of Eden. With a Christian perspective of a God-given Earth that is meant to be consumed to enrich the common European person, Moodie et al. had all but the intentions to establish a relationship with folks already living on the “new land”. The wasted, soulless land that discovered by the Europeans seemed to be very much an extension of land bestowed upon the Christian Europeans bestowed upon by God. Moodie believed that any land that had not been yet explored by the early settlers was merely wasted land that could serve to better the lives of the settlers.
Providence works when it would reclaim the waste places of the earth, and make them subservient to the wants and happiness of its creatures.
To be frank, it may have been that in Moodie’s view — in the Christian hierarchical order of creation (God, human, animal, plant) — that the folks already living on the land may very well not have even been considered humans. Perhaps that may have explained the treatment given to the Indigenous peoples of the land. This claim can be supported by the golden rule as written in the Bible:
Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.
-Matthew 7:12And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
-Luke 6:31
Their sense of hearing is so acute that they can distinguish sounds at an incredible distance, which cannot be detected by a European at all…Indian coolness and courage……[the land which] belong[s] to the Chippewa or Mississauga Indians, perhaps the least attractive of all these wild people
The claim of Moodie et al.’s perspective on the supposed God-given land can be further supported by the text:
“He chooses such, to send forth into the forest to hew out the rough paths for the advance of civilization”
It is clear that upon the initiation of settlement onto Canada, the primary goal was to “hew out” the rough forest for the land of the settlers regardless of what or whomever else who may reside inside. After all, this was done in the image of God.
Works Cited
Digital image. Quora. N.p., n.d. Web. <https://www.quora.com/How-did-early-Quebec-settlers-build-homes-to-withstand-harsh-Canadian-winters-What-materials-and-with-what-tools>.
“The Golden Rule.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2020.
Joseph, Bob. “National Indigenous History Month – Why It’s Important.” National Indigenous History Month – Why It’s Important. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2020.
Moodie, Susanna. Introduction. Roughing It in the Bush, Or, Life in Canada. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2007. N. pag. Print.