Missionary Work in Canada - Research Paper Example

no. Missionary work in Canada The religious history of Canada can be traced back to the French colonization of Canada and later the British occupation of Canada. When the French colonized Canada, Roman Catholics introduced the Christian religion to the Canadians. Wallace states that since the catholic priests were highly respected by the French authorities, they were given a high degree of control over local government operations (1). As a result, there were a lot of missionaries flowing into Canada, in search of Indians to “save”. The history of missionary work in Canada is best captured by Emily Carr and Bertha Carr Harris in their respective works. This essay aims to analyze the differences between the works of these two authors. In addition, the essay will examine what could have led to the divergent views of these writers concerning missionary work in Canada. It is, however, important to first look at the social settings of these respective writers. In what kind of social settings did Emily Carr and Bertha Carr-Harris live? In Growing Pains, Carr writes about growing up with a brother and four sisters, in a very conservative merchant family that valued English manners (11). The kind of society that Carr lived in did not expect a woman to take up art as a profession. Although girls were taught painting and drawing, the classes were just for fun. Nonetheless, Carr was very passionate about art, and she began attending professional art classes to sharpen her skills while still a teenager. Carr took an interest in the native peoples of the west coast of Canada and spent her time drawing, painting and writing about them. According to Wallace, the natives were abandoned by the rest of Canada and were seen as a diminishing population (3). Accordingly, Emily’s artistic work about the natives was not well received, and it was not enough to afford her a living. Therefore, Carr had to struggle to become a successful painter in a gendered society that did not care about the natives. On the other hand, Carr-Harris’ social life was characterized by the enslavement of the native Indians by the English people. A man by the name of Philemon Wright, who was her ancestor, came from the United States and founded a settlement in modern-day Aylmer Quebec. According to Carr-Harris in The White Chief of the Ottawa, Wright used his influence to strike a deal with the Indians, allowing him to become their chief (13). Additionally, it is apparent that Carr-Harris came from a lineage of Christian believers, judging by the fact while addressing the Indians, Wright says that he trusts “Our Father” to protect him (ibid). This is probably why; Carr-Harris began her devotion to Christian work at a very young age. Differences in opinion about missionaries and missionary work, between Emily Carr and Bertha Carr-Harris In Carr’s opinion, missionaries were very unfriendly people with no room for socialization and laughter. This viewpoint is clearly explicated in Klee Wyck, where Carr talks about the time when she went to Ucluelet to meet the missionaries, who had “mean eyes and thin lips” (1). Carr was not a very religious person and obviously had no particular interest in religion and mission work. For example, in Growing Pains, Carr explains how her baptism was imposed on her as a four year old girl and how her siblings were more orthodox and religious than she was (19-30). In Klee Wyck, Carr writes about the long prayers at the mission house, during which she got lost in viewing the landscape through a window and was only alerted by a chorus “amen” from the missionaries (2). A contrary view is expressed in Carr-Harris’ Lights and Shades of Mission Work when she writes about the young women from the town who worked in the factory for most of the day (12). In Carr-Harris’ opinion, missionaries were just normal people who had taken it upon themselves to spread the God to other people. According to Carr-Harris in Lights and Shades of Mission Work, these are the same women who went about encouraging people in prisons, the sick in hospitals, and orphans living in foster homes (26-29). As a person, Carr-Harris is seen as a very religious person, whom God appoints as an evangelist and instructs her to go and save more people. In Lights and Shades of Mission Work we read about Carr-Harris trying to convince herself why she is unsuitable to be an evangelist, yet a voice tells her not to fear (11). Mission work according to Carr was a life of poverty, and servitude. Particularly in Ucluelet, the missionaries did not have many material possessions. In Klee Wyck, Carr writes about how the mission house was made of wood, had no curtains, and had no paint. In addition, the house had just enough utensils for the two missionaries (2). As a result, Carr was forced to drink form a bowl and sit on a box. The mission house was also old as evidenced by the creaking of the door when Mrs. Wynook enters the mission house in search of Carr (5). Carr also writes about the uncomfortable “blindless and carpetless” cot in which she slept in (ibid). In addition, the mission school was underequipped, with just a blackboard, crude desks, and drinking water. The school itself was poorly ventilated, with just two widows and a door. This same school turned into a church on Sunday since there was no other structure in the village that could be converted into a church house. To Carr, therefore, the challenges faced by the missionaries kept them from attaining the full purpose of their mission work. As for Carr-Harris, missionary work called for selflessness since such work was being undermined by illiteracy and poverty among the young missionaries (15). However, rather that seeing this as an obstacle to missionary work, Carr-Harris viewed this as a test for the missionaries, to see how much they loved and were devoted to Christianity and mission work. To Carr-Harris, therefore, the success of mission work did not depend on the availability of material possessions, rather the willingness to serve others. For instance, Carr-Harris writes that the young missionaries with no education and resources managed to form a choir that changed lives through their songs (21). From the writings of Carr-Harris, it is evident that she viewed missionary work as a calling to which one had to answer. Rather than considering the work as servitude like Carr, Carr-Harris considers missionary work as an opportunity to serve and save people, thus making the gospel known to them. According to Carr-Harris in Lights and Shades of Mission Work, she was afraid of standing before hundreds of women and sharing the gospel with the women (12). Mission work for Carr-Harris involved speaking to a group of women in a room with carefully arranged chairs in a hall, signifying a sort of orderliness. Carr viewed missionaries as very uptight people who expected people to follow a set of laws, established under Christianity. This aspect led to some people opting not to go to church since they could not conform to some of the rules. Missionary work according to Carr demanded utmost piousness, a virtue that was also expected of the people attending mission churches. For instance, Carr writes that the two missionaries dressed in dark, straight dresses that were buttoned up to the chin. The missionaries expected the people attending church to be properly dressed. As for women, Carr writes that they wore long skirts, had shawls over their shoulders, and wore head clothes (10). The men were expected to wear trousers and tuck in their shirts while coming to church (ibid). This precondition made a lot of Indian men shy away from church thus the church house had more women than men. For example, Carr writes about the man who on one Sunday entered the church with his shirt not tucked in and barefooted. As Carr states in Klee Wyck, the man’s wife was forced to lend her shawl to her husband for covering his legs, in order to avoid reproach from the missionaries (9). Through Carr-Harris’ eyes, missionaries are seen as very friendly people, willing to intermingle with others and listen to other people’s problems. Actually, in Carr-Harris’ Lights and Shades of Mission Work, there is no way of distinguishing a missionary from and ordinary person. As a result of this easy-going nature, it was much easier for the missionaries to convert all kinds of people to Christianity. The missionary work advanced by Carr-Harris was laid-back, and everyone was welcome to hear the word of God. For example, Carr-Harris writes about the choir comprising of young women, who went to preach in jail. The women in jail smelt of alcohol, cigarettes, and other drugs, while also having indecent clothing (22). This did not prevent the evangelists from conducting their services in jail and giving hope to the detained. The freedom associated with the missionary work embraced by Carr-Harris led to the conversion to Christianity of many people, including children. Factors influencing the differences in opinion between Emily Carr and Bertha Carr-Harris on missionaries and mission work Evidently, Emily Carr and Bertha Carr-Harris had very divergent opinions concerning missionaries and mission work. These glaring differences are a product of various factors affecting the lives of the individual writers. Personal religious beliefs Readings from Growing Pains suggest that although Emily Carr grew up in a Christian family, Carr was not necessarily a strong Christian. This is explicated when Carr writes about her baptism, including how her father had a family bible containing every child’s name in the family. Despite this upbringing, Carr never attached much value to Christianity as she was more interested in art. This aspect is evident in Klee Wyck, when Carr writes that in the mission church, there were extra long prayers while the hymns were sung out of tune (5). On the contrary, Carr-Harris was a very religious person dedicated to spreading the Christian gospel. In The White Chief of the Ottawa, Carr-Harris writes about how her heritage was characterized by strong Christian values, stemming from her ancestor, Philemon Wright (17). As an individual, Carr-Harris was devoted to Christian and missionary work, taking it upon herself to spread the gospel, especially among women factory workers. The regional setting For Emily Carr, her missionary experience took place among the Indian natives, away from the civilized life in the rest of Canada. The missionary life in Ucluelet was not as attractive as Carr may have wanted it to be. The wooden mission house and the poorly ventilated and equipped school suited the native setting. One would not expect to find good buildings in the Canadian forests; therefore, the missionaries had to make do with whatever they found there. This ultimately added up to Carr’s negative view of missionary work. Conversely, Carr-Harris’ missionary work was basically stationed in a town, where the followers were women who worked in the factory (12). This allowed for the meeting halls to be better equipped, with properly arranged chairs. As a result, the missionary life in Carr-Harris’ setting was better, and the activities were better coordinated. According to Carr-Harris, there were people who were willing to support the activities of the missionaries. For example, in Lights and Shades of Mission Work, Carr-Harris writes about the business man who offered to give 400 hundred dollars to build a shelter in collaboration with the missionaries, for the women leaving jail, who had nowhere to go (38). Societal structures Emily Carr grew up in a patriarchal society, particularly in her own home. In Growing Pains, Carr writes her father was a rigid man who expected to be obeyed without question (21). Accordingly, Carr’s mother taught her children to always do what was right according to their father as she did (ibid). This sternness from her father made Carr to become rebellious and to criticize everything that she saw wrong. Carr carried this attitude into the native lands, where she criticized the way of living among the missionaries while also criticizing the personal characteristics of the missionaries. This was the number one reason as to why Carr considered the missionaries to very weird characters. Conversely, although nothing much can be derived about the personal life of Bertha Carr-Harris from the two texts discussed in this essay, the little information suggests that she had a flexible upbringing, with the freedom to follow her desires. This kind of upbringing allowed her to follow Christian desires and to become a missionary herself. Therefore, Carr-Harris respected Christianity and mission work, considering it as a calling from the “master” that she had to obey. Works cited Carr-Harris, Bertha. Lights and Shades of Mission Work: Leaves from a Worker’s Note Book. Ottawa: Free Press Printing and Publishing House. 1892. Print. Carr-Harris, Bertha. The White Chief of the Ottawa. Toronto: William Briggs. 1903. Print. Emily Carr. Growing Pains: The Autobiography of Emily Carr. Canada: Douglas & McIntyre. 2005. Print. Emily Carr. Klee Wyck. Canada: Clarke Irwin. 1971. Print. Wallace, Stewart. The Encyclopedia of Canada. Toronto: University Associates of Canada, 1948. Print. Read More