I Grew Up Poem

I Grew Up

by Lenore Keeshig- Tobias

An Examination using the Formalist lens

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Lenore Keeshig- Tobias

“ The white Canadians have to realize that native culture is not their culture and is not like their culture. They have to learn how to respect native culture. Sometimes when you respect something enough, you respect it enough to leave it alone- especially when somebody tells you to leave it alone. “

Biography

-Native Canadian

-Eldest of 10 children

-Born in 1950 Wiarton, Ontario

-Ojibway journalist/ story teller/ poet/ author

-Member of the Chippewa of Nawach First Nation on Bruce Peninsula

-Fought for indigenous writers to be heard in the publishing industry from the 1980’s to the 1990’s

-She fought Canadian writers to end the misinterpretation of Native stories by non-native writers

-In 1983 she received a bachelor of fine arts degree from York University

-She is currently living in Toronto

First Nations History

The Indian Act

• The Department of Indian Affairs would manage Indian lands, resources and moneys; control access to intoxicants; and promote "civilization"
• The Act was amended almost every year. The changes made were largely concerned with the "assimilation" and "civilization" of First Nations
• The Act continued to push for the whole-scale abandonment of traditional ways of life, introducing outright bans on spiritual and religious ceremonies such as the potlatch and sun dance

First Nations History

Residential Schools

• Aboriginal children were removed from their families and homes
• Educated under the authority of the Government of Canada
• Two primary objectives of the residential schools system were to remove and isolate children from their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture
• 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were removed and separated from their families and communities to attend residential schools
• Aboriginals were physically, verbally and sexually abused in these schools

I

Hyerbole

I grew up on the reserve

thinking it was the most

beautiful place in the world

i grew up thinking

i'm never going

leave this place

i was a child

a child who would

lie under trees

watching wind's rhythms

sway leafy boughs

back and forth

Repition

Imagery

I (Continued)

Personification

back and forth

sweeping it seemed

the clouds into great piles

and rocking me as

i snuggled in the grass

like a bug basking in the sun

Simile and Alliteration

II

Hyperbole

Reptition

i grew up on the reserve

thinking it was the most

beautiful place in the world

i grew up thinking

i'm never going

to leave this place

i was a child

a child who ran

wild rhythms

Personification

II (Continued)

Imagery

Alliteration

through the fields

the streams

the bush

eating berries

cupping cool water

to my wild stained mouth

and hiding in the

treetops with

my friends

III

satire

symbol

hyperbole

metaphor

we used to laugh at teachers and

tourists who referred to

our bush as forests or woods

forests and woods

were places of

fairy-tale text

were places where people,

especially children, got lost

where wild beasts roamed

• symbolism
• scary imagery
• tone: frightening
• mood: afraid

symbol

III (Continued)

• calm, peaceful imagery
• mood: melancholy

our bush was where we played

and where the rabbits squirrels

foxes deer and the bear lived

i grew up thinking

i'm never going

to leave this place

i grew up on the reserve

thinking it was the most

beautiful place in the world

• ends with repitition
• stanzas are inverted
• ends how it starts

Protagonist

-Native woman

-Had an abusive childhood at a reserve in Canada

-Looking back on childhood memories when the reserve was still hers

- The memory that sustains her, does not leave her

- Hopes and dreams are taken away by white men

Setting

What is the setting of the story?

-Reserve in Canada

-Draws attention to the loss of reserve

-The “bush” symbolizes what they used to have

Theme

• Loss of Inocence
• Appearance vs Reality

• Happy childhood

•Playing with friends

•Connection to wildlife and animals

•Innocence still intact

Deeper meaning:

•Abusive childhood

•White Canadian men taking over reserve

•Forced into residential schools

•Forcefully separated from family

•Away from wildlife

-The 1st stanze of the poem defaces the real value of aboriginal life and what they went through and is still going through today

Structure

• Organized into three main sections
• The number 3 is a religious number
• beginning, middle, and end
• Highlights the strong spirituality of the First Nations

Literary Elements

• The text as a whole is ironic. This poem is an ode to a time when this was true. It explains how reserves are beautiful. But, we know that the Europeans came and took everything from the Natives.
• The protagonist creates a fantasy of how life was supposed to be on the reserves. She repeats that she is never going to leave this place because her fantasy is like her safe haven – she comes here to escape the harsh reality of life on the reserves. She comes here to remember how things used to be before the Europeans came and destroyed their lives.
• This poem is a flashback of how reserves used to be and how they were meant to be. This highlights that the protagonist has grown up and has likely assimilated into the European culture.

Recurring Patterns

• Stanza 1: “back and forth” - This highlights the beginning stage of her life. Back and forth just like a baby's cradle.
• Stanza 2: “wild” - As she grows up, she is becoming more adventurous; she is running through the fields, streams, and bush - just as an average child would do. The word “wild” is used in stanzas 2 and 3 but not in stanza 1. This indicated that she is losing innocence. She is gaining more knowledge about the Europeans and how they exploited the Natives.
• Stanza 3: “forests” and “woods” - The protagonist refers to her home as “bush” while the teachers and tourists refers to it as “forests” or “woods.” Forests are much larger than a bush, which means the soil is more fertile. This is one of the many reasons the Europeans came and took the land from the Natives.

Repitition and Its Effect On Theme

• The main theme of the text is appearance vs. reality
• “I grew up on the reserve thinking it was the most beautiful place in the world. I grew up thinking I’m never going to leave this place.”
• She begins both stanzas 1 and 2 with this statement because she is still young; she has not completely exposed herself to the reality of the Europeans. In the statement, it reads that she thinks that reserves a beautiful. We know that this is incorrect.
• In stanza 3, she ends off with an inverted version of the statement. As explained above the poem, life is like a carousel. She comes back to visit this fantasy because she is traumatized by the exploitation done by the Europeans on her people.
• The fact that the statement is inverted indicates that the protagonist is grown up and has finally come to the realization of the horrible things that the Europeans had done to the Natives; she has completely lost her innocence.

Diction

• The poem uses informal diction
• No proper grammar structure or punctuation
• This highlights lack of education. Natives were forced to learn in English in residential schools
• Informal diction emphasizes that the poem is written by a child

Style

• Stanza 1: Lack of grammar structure and punctuation which symbolizes the beginning stage of life
• Stanza 2: She describes activities that would be performed in an average young teenager such as running around and playing with their friends. The protagonist is growing up.
• Stanza 3: The writer uses punctuation for the first time and the grammar is improved. The protagonist is more aware of reality. The protagonist is fully grown at this point. She has lost her innocence.
• The style forces us to believe that she is growing up after each section

Tone and Mood

• The author creates tone and mood through the actions performed by the protagonist.
• In stanza 1, the writer uses is peaceful and innocent imagery to set the tone (e.g. laying under the trees). Baby's can be described as peaceful and innocent. This reflects the mood in the reader.
• In stanza 2, the tone that the author uses is playful and exciting (e.g. running around), just as life of a pre-teen would be. Therefore, the audience’s mood will be the same.
• In stanza 3, the tone that the author uses is frightening and melancholic. We feel afraid because of the imagery used by the writer when he explains the wild beasts and the loss of children. Lastly, our mood towards life in the bush would be melancholic because we know that the Europeans took the Native’s sacred life away from them.

Thanks for listening!

Works Cited

Northern Affairs Canada. “First Nations in Canada.” Government of Canada; Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, 2

May 2017, www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1307460755710/1307460872523\.

Mi'kmaw Culture - Spirituality - The Medicine Wheel, www.muiniskw.org/pgCulture2b.htm.

“Child Writing At Desk Clipart – Clipartxtras with Student Writing At Desk Clipart.” Templates Corner, 10 Feb. 2018,

flytrapforum.com/admin/07/18/student-writing-at-desk-clipart/child-writing-at-desk-clipart-clipartxtras-with-student-writing-at-desk-clipart/.