Historical Accuracy of Fictional Literary Work: Consumption - Book Report/Review Example

Historical Accuracy of Fictional Literary Work, Consumption Consumption by Kevin Patterson published in 2007is in most of its parts based on the life of an Inuit woman by the name Victoria. Because of her health condition, Victoria is sent to the sanatorium, so that she can be treated. She came back after the treatment and discovered that the experience she had while she was away had changed the way in which she viewed things. She was a stranger to the kind of life and culture of her people. She gets married to a non-Inuit whose name is Robertson and their children adopt the pop-culture. Victoria finds herself in a dilemma of choosing between her family and her culture. Although Consumption is a narrative from the eyes of a fictional character named, Victoria, the novel is nevertheless a historically accurate representation on the lives of Aboriginal living in the North as it is based on a wealth of solid multi-disciplinary research, analysis and historical speculation. The novel has a representation of the cultural practices of the aboriginal people, the climatic conditions of the arctic area, and the nature and result of the interaction of the aboriginal people with the southerners. In Consumption, it can be said that Kevin Patterson was successful in using fictional characters in depicting traditional Aboriginal way of life. This can be seen in the kind of life that Victoria’s families led before she was sent to the sanatorium to seek medical attention. Victoria spent most of her early life moving from one part of the country to another in a community that comprised her family of four and her uncle’s family of six. This is an exact replica of the kind of life that the Aborigine people led traditionally. The Aborigines moved from one place to another depending on the season and in search for food (Neegan 8). Aborigines were very good hunters and depended on hunting for their survival (Wiebe 101). This is seen in the kind of lifestyle that Emo and his family led before he went to work at the mines. His family depended on whatever Emo would get from his hunting activities for all the aspects of their lives. Another unique thing about the Aborigine people is their belief in communal existence. Most of the activities that took place were done as a community and the whole community enjoyed the benefits. In the book, it is portrayed when Emo catches a whale that is eaten not only by his family but also by the whole community (Belanger 73). In the Aboriginal culture, women were supposed to have some tattoos before they could get married. This is something that is brought out clearly in the novel. At the time when Victoria was leaving for sanatorium after being diagnosed with tuberculosis, readers get to know that her mother had a marriage tattoo, which she could see from a long distance because of the wire-frame glasses that she had been given on that day (McGrath 123). The novel also brings out some reality about the unique fragile environment of the North. As seen in the novel, the area had long and very cold winters that were characterized by walrus hunting. This is something that is undisputable about the north. The area experiences long and cold winters. Another thing about people from these areas is that they usually have hard time hunting during some period due to the weather. For instance, Victoria’s family always had to wait till the winter in order for them to hunt for Walrus. Some of their prey also shifted as the weather changed forcing them to move to the areas where there were plenty of them. This can be sued to explain the reason as to why Emo had to eventually seek for employment at the mines after a number of unsuccessful hunting missions. Just like in normal life situations, the novel brings out the idea of the Aboriginal as Noble Savages or Earth Stewards when it talks of Winnie’s opinion about her husband going to seek a job opportunity at the mine. Winnie is convinced that by taking a job at the mines, Emo will be abandoning the prestigious stewardship that the community had believed to have for many years. The Aborigines also had less regard for people from the south and even nicknamed them as Kablunauks. This is proved by the fact that John Robertson is considered to be a Kablunauk even after marrying Victoria. As time went by, imperialism, which was an aspect of the culture of the southern people, was slowly being enforced on the northern people. Many of the people from the south went and settled in the north and introduced things like education and Christianity. In Consumption, this is seen when Emo decides to seek a job at the mine (Patterson 28). He is forced to abandon his traditional way of life and start dwelling in a wooden house that was provided to him by the mining company. He starts depending on paychecks that enable him to buy Kablunauk products to feed his family. As from that point very few are done communally especially at the settlement. Looking at the Inuit family setting one would realize that they mostly existed as extended families. In the novel, it is seen that Emo and his brother’s family have always existed as one with other relatives being expected to be actively involved in the family. However, after getting married, Victoria lives with only her nuclear family without having to cope with the presence of “toothless and snuff-spitting aunts who were always traditionally assigned to families (Patterson 5). However, there were no differences between the roles of gender in the two cultures with the women still being expected to take care of the household chores while the men were expected to provide. The influence of southerners is even seen in the type of lifestyle that Victoria leads with her family after marrying Robertson. Unlike the other women from her community, she can live in a house well conditioned and does not have to share it with other members of the community as her people had traditionally done. Because of the introduction of southerners to the northern part, there were many economic developments with Nickel mining near Ranklin Inlet and diamond mining being the most notable. However, this also meant that the foreigners held the senior-most positions in the government, which explains why people like Robertson came to have posts in the government. However, the introduction of new economic activities such as mining came with a shift from traditional way of living with people like Emo opting for mining jobs (Belanger 99). They had slowly moved form fully depending on mining to a level where mining was a thing that was only done over the weekends. Given the kind of houses that they were given they could no longer live the nomadic kind of lifestyle which meant that they would be in constant motion seeking for better hunting grounds. In fact, even after the mines were closed, some of the people decided to remain behind and live in the houses that they had been given while they were working at the mines. There are many aspects of the southerners’ lifestyle, which were adopted by the local people. For instance, in the novel it is seen that the people started changing the kind of clothing that they had. For instance, when Emo says that, “You should tell the girls to put some clothes on. It’s ten in the morning” she expected the girls to be wearing clothes that were less revealing though this was never an issue with the traditional Aboriginal people (Patterson 6). After Emo had the mining job he changed the way he dressed because that is what was expected of them by the mining company. Another notable thing is that the people started feeding on processed food, especially after they became reliant on the money that they earned from working at the mines (Beckford, et al. 241). The people even adopted the education that was introduced to them by the southerners as a number of families sent their children to the schools that had been established in the north. Traditionally, knowledge was passed by the senior members to the junior once through practical examples during hunting and other activities. The southern people also introduced education to the northerners. In Consumption, this is seen in the kind of life that Victoria lives at sanatorium after she gets well. She is taught mathematics, English, and French. Given the kind of environment in the north it would be observed that the kind of education that Victoria was given would be termed as irrelevant in survival in the area. A person that had gone through the traditional system can easily survive in the area as compared to someone who had acquired the Kablunauk education (Bone 121). This is because the traditional education involved the older generation teaching the younger generation simple survival techniques which associated to the kind of climate of the area and the hardships that were involved in dwelling in that particular area. The education that the Aboriginal people were given by the southerners mostly involved enabling them to communicate better with the Kablunauk and be in a better position to serve in some minor posts in the government or business organizations that were put up by the southerners. Looking at this novel one can easily conclude that it is more of a "piece of history" than some work of fiction. This is because it presents some historical information about the Aborigines despite having fictional characters. The experience that Victoria has can easily be related to what Aborigines went through and the manner in which their interaction with the southerners changed their way of life. Through this novel, it can be said that Patterson aimed at informing its readers of all the aspects of the Aboriginal tradition that was passed on from one generation to the next one through oral literature. This novel enables Canadians especially the southerners to have a clear understanding on the people who were the original inhabitants of Canada. This novel uses historical facts instead of purely fictional events to bring out the fact that Aboriginals deserve to be respected and given their rightful contribution in the country’s government given because they were the initial inhabitants of the country. Works Cited Beckford, Clinton L., et al. "Aboriginal Environmental Wisdom, Stewardship, and Sustainability: Lessons from the Walpole Island First Nations, Ontario, Canada." The journal of Environmental Education 41.4 (2010): 239-248. Print. Belanger, Yale D. Ways of Knowing: An Introduction to Native Studies in Canada. Toronto: Nelson Education, 2009. Print. Bone, Robert M. The Canadian North: Issues and Challenges. Don Mills, Ont: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print. McGrath, Melanie. The Long Exile: A True Story of Deception and Survival Among the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic. London: Fourth Estate, 2006. Print. Neegan, Erica. "Excuse Me: Who Are The First Peoples Of Canada? A Historical Analysis Of Aboriginal Education In Canada Then And Now." International Journal of Inclusive Education 9.1 (2005): 3-15. Print. Patterson, Kevin. Consumption: A Novel. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2007. Print . Wiebe, Rudy. Playing Dead: A Contemplation Concerning the Arctic. Edmonton: NeWest, 1989. Print. Read More