Author: alexbrigit

In using deconstructionism as a critical lense I chose to analyze “Bad Men Who Love Jesus” in Thomas King’s A Short History of Indians in Canada. In the story, there are three different groups of people. There are the Indigenous band members (represented by Jesus’ disciples), there are the people trying to do away with Jesus (which in the Bible are the Roman Jews), and there is Jesus himself. It is very clear in the text that Jesus is in opposition to the people trying to capture/kill him. The unclear oppositions are Jesus and the band members; though they offer him shelter at the beginning of the text, the disciples are uncertain whether or not they should help Jesus hide or hand him over to the people searching for him. King is using these oppositions of groups to deconstruct the relationship between Indigenous people and Christianity. The contradiction between these oppositions comes at the end of the text. It appears as though the disciples are trying to help Jesus escape and are on his side, but the last line of the text is one of the “disciples” Thomas stating “They found him once. Maybe they’ll get lucky and find him again” (pg. 93). This makes it seem as though he does not really mind whether or not Jesus escapes. This breaks down the oppositions and alliances that were assumed later on in the text and shows that all three groups are still in opposition to each other, however the relationship is being altered.

              The text itself is a deconstruction of the story of Jesus’ death, and the effect Christianity has had on Indigenous groups in Canada. The text is connected to the Bible as it retells the story of Jesus being sought after and executed by the Roman Jewish people. It takes that story and places it in a modern era Canadian reserve. The text takes biblical references and intertwines them with modern talk. For example, at one-point Jesus asks, “Any of you guys interested in following me? … I could make you fishers of men” at which a disciple responds, “Thanks anyways, says Matthew, but it screws up our tax status if we work off-reserve” (pg. 92-93). King is deconstructing the historical context in order to show how Jesus would actually fit in in a modern-day narrative. King is also allowing for Jesus to have a voice and explain how the Catholic church abused Indigenous people. He is able to explain that he never wanted any of the horrors to happen, and that the church simply used his name to justify their actions. This is really where King deconstructs the relationship between the church and the religion itself. Even as the title states, it was not the religion that created opposition between Christianity and Indigenous people, but rather “bad men who love Jesus”.

For the study of new historicism, I chose to study the short story “Bad Men Who Love Jesus” in Thomas King’s A Short History of Indians in Canada. The story is taking the figures from the Bible (Jesus and his disciples) and placing them in modern Canada. In the story the disciples are meant to be Indigenous members of a band council on a reserve and Jesus is looking for refuge from those who are trying to kill him (the Roman Jews, though it is not specified who they are in this text). This short story works to re-evaluate the relationship between Indigenous people and Christianity.

              It is very clear to us now that the Catholic church played a strong role in oppressing and assimilating the Indigenous people of Canada. This story is trying to make readers reconsider that historical relationship. The story shows Jesus running from his own oppressors and ending up on a reserve, where he is allowed refuge as long as he lends a hand for their council meeting. From our understandings as readers of the relationship between Indigenous people and the Catholic church, the readers would assume that the Indigenous people (in the case of this story, the disciples) would turn Jesus away and offer no help. However, it seems as though the Indigenous people are able to relate to Jesus because of the oppression they faced. The text is causing readers to re-think the relationship between Christianity, the church, and Indigenous people. What the author is suggesting is it was not the religion itself that oppressed the Indigenous people, but rather corrupt people within the church. As the story is titled, it was the work of “bad men who love Jesus”.

In the short story, Jesus asks if they are going to help him as he has “always been a friend to the Indians” (pg. 91). The disciples refer back to the “civilizing the savage” ideology that came from the Catholic church, and Jesus states “That wasn’t my fault…I didn’t tell them to do that…Everybody uses my name” (pg. 92). What King is doing is influencing the reconsideration of the harm of Christianity. He is suggesting that bad people took the Bible and Christianity and twisted it and used it as an excuse to keep their power. I believe King was trying to make readers think differently about the history between Indigenous people and Christianity. His story is trying to show readers that religion is not the problem, it is the people who abuse religion to get their way that are the problem.

Persepolis shows a different type of postcolonial mindset than is regularly seen in North America. In Canada, the focus of postcolonialism is breaking away from European colonization and moving back into celebrating all cultures and recognizing the original cultures of this land. In Persepolis there is a different type of power struggle. Readers can see that Marji lives in a colonized country as the influence of Westernized society is evident. When Mari’s parents go on a trip, all she wants them to bring back are Western musician’s posters and a denim jacket; this shows how Western culture had a huge influence on Iran at that time (pg. 126). However, the difference with Persepolis is that the Western culture is almost seen as a form of liberation at the time. During Marjane’s childhood growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, there were very oppressive forms of government in place. The government tried to suppress its people and keep them compliant. This government was backed by Britain, which is where the colonialism of Iran at the time stems from. However, the “radicals” who fought back against the oppressive authorities were often marked as being very Westernized. This can be seen with Marji’s encounter with the Guardians of the Revolution where they threaten to bring her in for dressing “punk” (pg. 132-133). This is not to say that people completely accepted the forcing of Western ideals; however, they were being oppressed by a harsh government, and Western societies symbolized freedom, particularly for women at the time.

People wanted to be able to celebrate their own culture while also enjoying in other cultures (Western culture). The key is that they wanted to freedom to embrace other cultures while also practicing their own culture, but the government was forcing old-fashioned, oppressive laws on the people of Iran. As the story is in the form of a graphic novel, it is easier for the author to show a separation of the “other”. One particular image from the novel that shows a clear distinction between cultural mindsets is when Satrapi is discussing the demonstrations between those who believed women should always wear the veil, and those who wanted freedom to choose. The image shows two groups of women in opposition to each other, one cheering for the veil, and one cheering for freedom (pg. 5). The novel displays how Iran at the time was split into two separate cultural mindsets. Though in most postcolonial texts the “other” can be seen as a distinct minority group, in the case of this novel, the “other” is a distinct group within the main cultural group of Iran. The different cultural groups within Iran at the time are not clarified in the text, rather the country is divided by political ideologies. I believe this text is important because it changes the ways we look at postcolonial texts; we are no longer only focused on visible cultural differences but also on different ideologies within a cultural group that creates an “other”.

The book I chose for our book talk was The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. In 2012 a film adaptation of the book was released, I was in grade nine at the time and I remember seeing the film in theaters with my friends. I absolutely fell in love with the movie and it left a lasting imprint on me. Recently I decided to re-watch the movie on Netflix and I remembered how much I loved the movie back in high school, and how I still loved it now seven years later. I had never read the book and so that is how I came to choose this book for my book talk. I figured, if a book could have such an impact on my own life then it could likely affect other young adults just as much. The book deals with relatively mature themes such as rape, suicide, physical and sexual abuse, depression, and homophobia.

Due to these being an important part of the novel, I would suggest that the book not be studied by younger than grade eleven or twelve. Though I watched the movie in grade nine, the book is slightly more graphic, and delves deeper into the serious issues than the movie does. I think the target audience for this novel would be young adults going through high school because they can find a way to relate to the struggles the characters are going through. The book is also very real in the way it addresses these issues; it does not romanticize these issues or try and make them less severe than they are just so there is no controversy surrounding the book. I think these are the exact reasons why this book would be useful for older high school students. They do not want to be babied and reading something that is this direct could affect the students more than a book that tried to avoid serious topics would.

The book does not overly focus on the issues of race, class, and gender. There are certain conflicts that arise in the book that are gender biased, but it is not necessarily the central focus of the book. This book was written before the media blew up about the #MeToo movement, but the book definitely addresses the issues of sexual assault. The book also looks at sexual assault against both men and women. It also deals with the pressures of determining one’s own identity. Particularly in high school, young adults are often trying to find who they are, and when the topic of sexual and gender orientation comes up, this can cause even more confusing, especially if someone does not have a good support system.

These are just a few examples of serious topics explored in the novel. I would definitely recommend this book to future students or just other young adults in general. In particular, I would recommend this book to older high school students who are interested in reading higher level books. A good way a teacher could use this book in their classroom is to get students thinking about all the issues it addresses. One project the students could do is choose one of the major issues high school students face nowadays that is addressed in the book and do some type of research-based inquiry project. The students could write an essay about how the book addresses their selected topic and why it is important for students to talk about that topic, or they could create a presentation based on how their issue affects students in the present day (as this book was written in the late 90’s). This book could also get students debating on controversial topics such as abortion, the legalization of marijuana, or the stigmas behind LGBTQ rights.

Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis is about a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution in the 80’s. The accounts of her childhood are unique as she writes them from her childhood perspective. Due to this, readers are able to see the events of the Islamic Revolution from an innocent perspective. This innocent perspective is what makes looking at Satrapi’s memoir through a feminist lens so interesting.

Satrapi’s childhood is very different from the childhoods most people would have experienced growing up in Canada. From a very young age she was subjected to radical religious views, corrupt politicians and monarchs, and constant power struggles. Many of the ideologies held by the leaders of Iran at the time led to the taking away of women’s rights. As Satrapi explains the situations she lived under, many readers would be able to see that she lived in a government that oppressed women. However, Marji’s child innocence prevents her from understanding this. She explains in the beginning of the memoir how the children did not understand why they were being made to wear the veils, especially when they had spent their whole lives not having to do so. “We didn’t really like to wear the veil, especially since we didn’t understand why we had to. And also because the year before, in 1979, we were in a French non-religious school. Where boys and girls were together” (pg. 3-4). The young girls didn’t want to wear the veils because they no one ever exampled to them why it was necessary. They just knew that one year they were treated as equals besides their other classmates, and the next year they were forced to cover themselves. What Satrapi’s memoir does not look at are the women who willingly wore the veil for their religious beliefs. This is likely because, from Satrapi’s childhood perspective, it was something that was forced upon her and the women of her family, and so the memoir focuses on the oppressive aspects of the veil.

I think that Marji’s innocence shows how these gendered ideologies are forced onto children, and never really explained why things are the way they are. Even though her parents were very open with her on the events occurring in Iran at the time, she never fully understood why things were the way they were. Children tend to have many of their beliefs enforced on them by their parents and other influential people around them, and through her innocence and childhood naivety (though Satrapi was incredibly intelligent for her age), Satrapi’s memoir shows just how these gendered narratives are reinforced through generations.

In How Dare the Sun Rise by Sandra Uwiringiyimana readers are able to see the protagonist, Sandra, transition between social classes through her moving to America. While living in the Congo, through Sandra’s young eyes there is not much economic or social diversity. She grew up in a small village where, by North American standards, they were quite poor and did not have many resources. However, that was the only life Sandra had ever known, and everyone around her lived the same lifestyle. Sandra’s family and their neighbours did not seem bothered by not having a luxurious lifestyle. They all supported each other and were not focused on social hierarchies or economic differences. The first sign readers get of social classes is when Sandra’s family are forced to flee to the refugee camp. As Sandra’s family attempted to go to the refugee camp, they were stopped and attacked by the Congolese people (2017, pg. 63). This memory gives readers an insight into how Sandra’s cultural group were somehow of a lower social class than other groups in that region.

The greatest way the text looks at social and economic class is through the comparisons of Sandra’s life in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Other than through movies and books, Sandra’s family did not really know anything other than their life in the Congo, and their assumptions of life in America were highly glamourized. When they finally did arrive in America, they were automatically in a lower class, and economic diversity was very evident. Sandra states “I didn’t have to be a genius to notice that the white-people neighborhood was much nicer than our neighborhood” (2017, pp.138-139). Relatively quickly Sandra starts to notice the inequalities based on race. She had just moved from a country where her cultural group were under genocidal attack. She was not unaware of being discriminated against because of a part of her identity, but the racial issues in America were unknown to Sandra and her family.

The book works as a piece of activism to raise awareness of the violence occurring in many African countries, and also to raise awareness of the facts of being a refugee coming into America. The current belief of many people in Canada and America is that refugees are an inconvenience to our current society. This belief is a highly conservative/right wing belief and is what is being perpetuated by current world leaders. This text acts against that and challenges these belief systems. Sandra’s book has a more democratic stance. Sandra uses her personal experiences to shed light on the horrors she faced, and fight for the rights of others in similar positions to her. She is fighting against the belief that refugees are just trying to steal away jobs. Moving to America caused Sandra to be subjected to even more discrimination (due to her race), be placed into a lower economic and social class, and be separated from the life the she knew and loved. How Dare the Sun Rise fights against the discriminatory stances being spread across North America currently.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton