Multi-messaged.

Three Day Road uses ulterior messaging through the main characters’ life stories to exploit the cultural genocide caused by residential schooling, capitalism, and colonialism that affected indigenous people in Canada for decades. Even today, we can see how the physical and psychological events are still affecting Canada tremendously through poor education, drug abuse, and high suicide rates. Joseph Boyden’s story gives us an interesting perspective through a colonialist lens of what it was like to be the struggling minority during the war in Canada.

When Joseph Boyden writes, he takes an unusual approach to identifying the English speaking, working class, European as the “other”. This is a use of ulterior messaging that is used to assist in discovering information about the text that normally we would never have been able to make connections to. In this text example, “Today I wait for the others to get there before me […] The men are dressed in black and brown and gray suits, and the shoes upon their feet are shiny, so shiny that I wonder what kind of animal the leather has come from. All of the men wear hats, too. All these people wearing hats in summer. I do not understand” (Boyden, 3). We can see here how Niska, the prominent female character, feels misplaced in her own community due to the influx of Europeans arriving in Canada to fight in the war. The introduction of the Europeans who immigrated to Canada brought along with them traditions that ended up squandering those of the indigenous. These changes, although subtle, are examples of how Boyden’s ulterior messaging is highly effective. This is one of the more evident ways that Boyden exploits the cultural genocide that was taking place. When we focus on this more and begin to analyze the main characters through the lens of the outcast, we can see how this exclusion isn’t just a one-off event. Xavier, the protagonist in the story, says,

“They speak so fast, and never mess up, even after 6 months of learning I still can’t
seem to even have conversations with them.” (Boyden, 154).

Xavier goes out of his way to learn English in order to be able to communicate ith the people he is fighting alongside in the war. The war is taking place in his own country and the people he’s fighting with don’t even speak the native language! This shows the extent of what the indigenous people went through in order to conform to the ideals and customs of the Europeans. The ulterior message behind the language barrier with Xavier, Nishka and Elijah’s lack of foreign tongue directly relates to the value of their lives in the minds of the Europeans. When placed into a war, that they had no say in, since they can’t communicate with the Europeans, they’re placed on the front lines of a battle and given the dangerous duties because of the lack of communication and ability to make friendships with the Europeans.

These problems have affected Canada for years to come, and the events that took place in Canada 80 years ago still linger today in the forms of lack of education, high percentages of people with addiction, and extremely high suicide rates. The Canadian Institute of Health states that “the suicide rate among Aboriginal youth (ages 18-24) is five to six times higher than that of any other youth groups.” This number has various contributing factors that stem from location, quality of life and the use of drugs. The use of drugs in Aboriginal communities is a problem that has gone unaddressed for many years, and a report by Naho (a first nations news source partnered with Regional Health Survey) shows that “Inuit communities have been even more impacted by illicit drugs, […] cocaine and solvents. Illicit drug users in the 12 months preceding a survey by the Nunavik Inuit Health Society in Nunavik was 60%, more than four times higher than that observed in Canada. It shows that the rates of drug use have clearly increased over the past decade.” Although these statistics are astonishing very little is being done to combat them. These problems also seem to come from the lack of education – the highest dropout rate in Canadian high schools is from aboriginal students. This lack of education leads to poor job selection and unemployment. “According to lead author Dr. Carlos Nordt, of Zurich University’s Psychiatric Hospital, it is not just losing a job but the stressful and uncertain months before it happens, when companies might be looking to make redundancies, that cause suicides.” The unemployment rate coupled with the use of drugs is one of the largest factors contributing to Canada’s suicide epidemic sweeping through the aboriginal people. Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road does a perfect job accounting the events such as residential schooling, and colonial oppression, etc. that caused this current epidemic.

Some have acclaimed that Joseph Boyden’s novel Three Day Road as an honest account of Canadian history. When I personally think about this book and ask myself questions about the book, I am left confused. The main question I am left asking myself is what he had to gain from writing it. I’ve been taught that taking the stories of a culture and its tradition and appropriating them as your own is known to be “textbook colonialism.” So, if that’s true, did Joseph Boyden not just steal a story about the Cree people and appropriate it into a book to profit from? If so, doesn’t that discredit his entire message?

Work Cited

Unemployment

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/11/unemployment-causes-45000-suicides-a-year-worldwide-finds-studyhttp://

Drug use

http://www.naho.ca/blog/2011/06/27/drug-abuse-major-concern-among-first-nations-and-inuit/http://

Suicide Rate

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/suicide-among-canada-s-first-nations-key-numbers-1.2854899

Joseph Boyden’s background

https://thewalrus.ca/why-is-joseph-boydens-indigenous-identity-being-questioned/

Where to buy Three Day Road

Portfolio Planning.

Time as flown by almost instantly and as most of you know, it is finally that time of the year – finals. After slugging my way through Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road and doing archetypal theory, feminist theory, reader response theory and colonial analysis, we have finally made it to the last blog post. This blog will focus on my portfolio. The thesis I will be using is this: Three Day Road uses ulterior messaging through the main characters’ life stories to exploit the cultural genocide caused by residential schooling, capitalism, and colonialism which affected indigenous people in Canada for decades, and even today, we can still see how these events are affecting Canada tremendously. I plan on using colonial and feminist theories to help explain, persuade, and argue my points to those whom it may concern.

For the portfolio project, we have been given an assignment in which we have to create four pieces of work spanning a variety of mediums. One of the parts of my book I am choosing to focus on was the underlying colonialism that was taking place at the time. I will look at characters like Xavier and analyze his time spent in residential schools and how that affects him. I will look at Niska and the assumptions that were made of her just because she was a woman, and Elijah’s growing will to kill, pushed onto him by the government. All of these things combined will make up parts of the thesis for the work I am creating.

Here are the four pieces I am thinking of creating – a blog post,  a narrative essay, a vlog, and a remix photo. Although, I may swap the narrative essay for a persuasive one – I will have to ask Miss Pluss when she returns to classes.

Narrative Essay

The reason I am choosing a narrative essay is because I feel like a lot of people don’t know about Canada’s rather dark past, so I thought maybe giving a hypothetical view into Elijah’s life would be a great way to start my portfolio and set the pace for the rest of my work. I think writing the same style of writing that my book is in would add a great personal touch to the writing! Don’t you agree? I think this is better than doing a persuasive and argumentative piece because it fits better with the works I will be creating. For instance, if I were to do an argumentative piece and a blog I feel as they would be extremely similar.

Blog Post

I am choosing a blog post because I feel like I can use it as an informal way to connect to a general audience, while also being able to be persuasive at the same time. Another benefit of doing a blog post is the fact that I can include video clips and pictures of the aspects that I feel will be SUPER EFFECTIVE to the reader. Furthermore, I have always felt like I am a fairly strong blog writer. Blog posts have always been tricky for me, I’m not good with the software, I’m not interested in graphics and I always think essays are more formal. For this blog post, I am going to focus on linking to other articles for proof and pictures that illustrate my points.

Concept Map

A concept map is easily the aspect of this project that I am looking forward to the least. For the concept map, I’m still trying to figure out the best way to approach it. Since my book only has 3 main characters, I think I might use them as the three main points on the map, and then show how my thesis ties in specifically to each character. I think this will serve as a great visual aid to someone who has not read the book but is still interested in my portfolio. The challenge of this piece is making it detailed and very well put together without it looking messy. If I could choose the order in which the reader receives my portfolio, I would put this piece first. 

Remix

The remix comes with an array of expectations for me. Although I love art, I have never been majorly interested in drawing. Although at the current time I just so happen to be working on a sculpture that addresses classroom learning (something that ties into my text rather frequently), so I may just use that seeing as they go so well together. Hopefully, this sculpture works as a self-interpretation of the disasters that were going on in residential schools.
Throughout this class, I feel as if I have definitely come to a long ways in terms of blog writing! I say this because it’s very hard for me to write informally since I am so used to writing essays. Without a doubt, I would say the biggest strength I’ve gained that will help me for years to come is the ability to critically analyze anything (blogs, texts, books, art, etc). These skills will forever be useful to me in my career path. Furthermore, one of the other things that I have learned includes how to properly use all the theories we have been taught throughout this course. I’ve taken this class before, and the first time I took it, I got 60%, and now, I’m 1% off of achieving a 90%! It has been a long ride, but I am almost there. I think that this marked improvement is mainly because my confidence has grown so much as a writer. I am getting to a point now in which I no longer question everything I’m writing, and am able to trust myself in my ability to write properly. I have learned to be poignant in my speech, as well as to be clear and concise, and I am no longer relying on adjectives to achieve word counts.

PS. Happy holidays!

-Alex

Book about colonialism? Book thats the product of colonialism?

 

Now that I have finally finished my trip down Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden and analyzed the text using the reader response archetypal theory and postcolonial theory, I have decided that although reader response and archetypal both helped me, postcolonial was what Joseph Boyden must have had in mind while writing this book. I believe that postcolonial theory is the best choice for analyzing this book because this theory assisted me in uncovering the true meaning of the book and helped me understand and relate to the characters.

All throughout Three Day Road, I noticed an extremely enlightening perspective, allowing me to discover things about the main characters with the use of postcolonial theory. By doing this, Boyden’s writing really made me think deeply about my own personal experiences and what’s happening around me in the world, which enabled me to connect this reading to other texts. In the book, Joseph Boyden takes an unusual approach to identifying the English speaking working class as the “other”. This creates an interesting experience for me as a reader, because I myself am an English speaking working class
man, and for the first time in my life, I am suddenly referred to as the “other,” when in reality, I am so used to being referred to as the majority. This perspective assisted me in discovering information about the text as a reader because it made me step out of my own body and role in society, and into the life of the characters, which enabled me to easily understand their struggles, frustrations, and life paths. When Joseph Boyden described the “others,” he said “[…] today I wait for the others to get there before me before I step on them […] The men are dressed in black and brown and gray suits, and the shoes upon their feet are shiny, so shiny that I wonder what kind of animal the leather has come from. All of the men wear hats, too. All these people wearing hats in summer. I do not understand (Boyden, 3).” Niska, one of the main characters, felt out of place simply because she wasn’t dressed like everyone else around her. I personally related to this because the first time I went to the city of Toronto, I felt like I was an outsider because I wasn’t dressed like a businessman on their way to work. I didn’t feel like I belonged in the city. This is extremely similar to how the three main characters feel about the city they are in. Since they were all born in colonies, none of them grew up in a white collar society, so much like myself, they feel uncomfortable in cities. With the use of postcolonial perspective, I can fully understand how these characters were feeling by putting their situations into what I would typically consider “normal everyday experiences” that I can relate to.

I really appreciate Joseph Boyden’s writing style, and Three Day Road isn’t the first book I’ve read by him. For this reason, it is also not my favourite book of his. The book has left me wondering why he chose to write this story. This is a question I have found myself contemplating a lot while doing a postcolonial analysis. In my head, the book makes perfect sense when viewed from a postcolonial aspect, but this one question has me thinking about what he had to gain from writing it. I’ve been taught that taking the stories of a culture and its tradition and appropriating them as your own is known to be “textbook colonialism.” So if that’s true, did Joseph Boyden not just steal a story about the Cree people and appropriate it into a book to sell in profit from? If so, doesn’t that discredit his entire message?

Joseph Boyden

They never taught you this?

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden is a novel that requires the use of postcolonial theory to properly analyze and understand the events that take place throughout. The story takes place in a time where culture in Canada is the largest shift it has ever seen. I feel that Joseph Boyden creates an interesting and diverse way of looking at the problem by addressing what we know to be normal, as bizarre. Furthermore, he exploits the colonial oppression through various aspects of the text.

In the novel, Joseph Boyden identifies the English speaking working class as the “other”. This creates an interesting role for me as a reader because I am referred to as the “other” when I’m so used to being the majority.  He writes, “Again today I hear the call. Again today I wait for the others to get there before me before I step on them […] The men are dressed in black and brown and gray suits, and the shoes upon their feet are shiny, so shiny that I wonder what kind of animal the leather has come from. All of the men wear hats, too. All these people wearing hats in summer. I do not understand (Boyden, 3).” In this passage, Boyden describes what it’s like from the Cree  eyes to view the “others.” There are interesting similarities between his description of this group and the way business men dress nowadays. Through this quote we can tell that the Cree are intimidated by the men; they wait until all the men are together before they feel they can approach them.  Boyden writes,“We do not stay in the town long. It makes me too nervous. Automobiles, they are everywhere. We must cross the dusty road that they travel upon before we can get to the river where I keep my canoe.” (Boyden, 6) I feel that Boyden has written the novel so that the reader subconsciously analyses the Cree as the “other” and not the businessmen. In our current society, frequently so far removed from the culture and practices of indigenous people, the way he highlights differences translates to the reader and asks them to question their own environment. Given these changes and my own unfamiliarity with Cree lifestyle, Boyden’s word’s are even more poignant. They represent the assimilation and loss of an entire culture, and my experience is a testament to that.That’s why Boyden’s writing Is so successful when he can convince us to view ourselves as the others.

For those of you who don’t know, Colonial oppression is the process of a larger authority (in most cases a political group) taking control of a smaller group of inhabitants (in this instance the indigenous peoples of Canada). In simpler terms, imagine that people move into your house permanently without your permission. All of a sudden they start rearranging furniture, they force you to work for them and speak a completely different language, that they expect you to learn it. (Shepard) What makes colonial oppression much more severe is the methods that are used to make these smaller groups of people conform to the more powerful groups. Forms of colonial oppression involved residential schooling, slavery and forcing your own ideals onto those groups (religion, language, and government). When Europeans first came to Canada they told the Indigenous people (Cree,Metis,Etc) that they were here to help them and that the Europeans were here to make life easier for them. Once they gained the trust of the indigenous they began to assimilate them. This is evident in the book through the main character Xavier, he falls victim to the most heinous forms of colonial oppression. At a very young age, Xavier was forced into residential schools where he spent the majority of his adolescent years away from his family and deprived of his heritage. These schools were government sponsored religious schools established to assimilate indigenous children into Canadian Culture. Xavier and many others were taken from their parents and kept in harsh conditions, were frequently abused, neglected,  and stripped of their basic needs such as washrooms and beds. What occurred in these schools has since been recognized as cultural genocide. (Kennedy) This kind of colonial oppression was extremely common for the time and it is reported that at least 4,000 children died while in Residential schools. (Kennedy) These are the products of colonial oppression that Xavier and the majority of other indigenous children fell victim to. Once Xavier was brainwashed by residential schools he felt that he was best suited to enroll into the army for WWI, where his problems only proceeded to get worse. He was put onto the front lines of the attack, this just shows how little his life was valued. Indigenous people did not want to be involved in the war, but it was initiated by a prime minister that the Cree people didn’t even have the human rights to vote for. When Xavier and other Cree people were actively in the war they faced a huge language barrier which forced them to the bottom of the social ladder. They were forced to learn the English language or be viewed as outcasts by the Europeans who were supposed to be fighting alongside them. Through this Joseph Boyden contrasts the treatment of the indigenous people in the Residential Schools, with that of the army. In both instances, Xavier was viewed as the lowest form of a person. Boyden’s exploration of Xavier’s life is just one of the ways he highlights the colonial oppression that was taking place in Canada.

Joseph Boyden is more than just a writer when he addresses colonial aspects in the text, he becomes a teacher, spreading a light on what others would rather choose to forget. Using the postcolonial theory to analyze the text is the best way to relate to the struggle that the characters underwent and add values to the struggles that they go through. Overall without the use of postcolonial theory, the text loses much of its meaning and core messages.

Works Cited

http://www.shmoop.com/postcolonial-theory/ (Shepard)

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/at-least-4000-aboriginal-children-died-in-residential-schools-commission-finds (Kennedy)

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/residential-school-system-was-cultural-genocide-most-canadians-believe-according-to-poll (Kennedy)

Who are these people and what will they do?!

The book Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden is a classic example of a work that needs to be analyzed with the archetypal format in mind. All throughout the second section of the book, there are constant times where Joseph Boyden gives his characters very specific traits and tasks that define them as a whole. Symbolism is heavily used throughout the book from start to finish. The final important benefit from using the archetypal literary theory is having a set of expectations for the main character’s journey throughout the rest of the book.

Throughout the book, we are always unintentionally associating the characters we are unfamiliar with to characters from other books, movies, and games that we are familiar with. In this book, we focus on three main characters – Elijah, Xavier, and Niska. First of all, we focus on the many possible archetypal characters that Elijah could be. Elijah fits many of the archetypes presented in the book, but the two best fitting character types are the outcast and the masquerader. I think this because, in the book, Elijah puts on many different kinds of personalities to entertain others, but it also says a lot about his dislike for his Cree heritage, which makes me label him as an outcast. Here is a quote from when Elijah pretends to have a British accent, “Dear Henry,” Elijah says using their code, “would you be a kind chap and make me a cup of tea?” (144). This is crucial not only because this paints him as a masquerader, but also because it simultaneously gives us the indication that he believes he is an outcast. This was Elijah’s first major step to losing his Cree identity. The reason he did this was to better blend in with the British soldiers surrounding him. He thought that because he was not like them, they would treat him differently, so he conformed and tried to become one of them. Similarly, Xavier would also be considered an outcast because of his own perception of people around him. He says, “Again today I hear the call. Again today I wait for the others to get there before me before I step among them […] The men are dressed in black and brown and grey suits, and the shoes upon their feet are shiny, so shiny that I wonder what kind of animal the leather has come from. All of the men wear hats, too. All these people wearing hats in summer. I do not understand” (3). This is a quote from the first scene of the book when Xavier feels out of place in his own area of the dwelling. This is not Xavier’s only time feeling like an outcast in the book. Later in the book when Xavier and Elijah are together during the war, Xavier constantly compares himself to Elijah and the choices Elijah makes (often Xavier plays it safe as Elijah is more of a risk taker). This makes Xavier feel like an outcast not only when compared to Elijah but also when compared the other soldiers as well. Finally, the character of Niska is most definitely viewed as the elder and caregiver. We know this because in the book, she is much older than Xavier and Elijah, and she behaves as if she is the voice of reason and the more logical one in many scenarios. Furthermore, we have evidence of her being the caregiver because when Xavier returns from the war, “tired and bruised” (124), Niska steps in to help him recover.

One of the key aspects of Three Day Road is the symbolism. All throughout the book, symbolism is used. One of my personal favourite uses of symbolism so far in the book is the symbolism behind the lynx. “It was the lynx that came to me most strongly, his growl puffing out the walls of my tent like a great wind trying to escape. And I asked
the lynx a favour that would change me forever” (176). The lynx is often symbolized as the master seer, and it is said that the lynx can see through solid objects and into the soul of someone. This is important because, in this quote, the lynx would be able to see right through any lies and ill spirit that Xavier could have been hiding. The fact that lynx came to him would mean that the lynx thought it was a good idea! I think Joseph Boyden choose a lynx instead of any other animal because of this specific symbolism. Imagine if this scene happened with a duck – here’s what it would look like: “It was the duck that came to me most strongly, his growl puffing out the walls of my tent like a great wind trying to escape. And I asked the duck a favour that would change me forever.” The duck doesn’t really convey the same message as the lynx. The lynx is also used as a symbol of strength. It comes to Xavier and he is bold for asking it a favour since he knows that he is lesser and not in a position to be asking favours. It is clear that the symbols in this book are mainly used in the context of nature. One of my personal favourites is this quote, “Elijah learned to talk his way out of anything, gave great long speeches so that his words snakes themselves like vines”(59).
The symbolism here is so valiant and blunt which is why I believe that Joseph Boyden chose to use the snake instead of another reptile. Biblically, the snake is a symbol of deception and evil. The deception and evil that is associated with the snake are crucial in this quote because it tells us that Elijah’s words were dishonest and deceitful, which says a lot about Elijah’s character. If we keep analyzing this quote, we can also look at the analogy and symbolism of the vines. When Joseph wrote this, he used vines to emphasize the elaborate construction of the lies and how they are tied together. If we look more at the specific symbolism of vines, we see that they are constantly referred to as a strong aspect of nature that can support much weight and weather. With this in mind, we can also interpret the vines as a strong foundation for his lies or that the lies he told were of a strong impact.

One of the things the reader can do when applying archetypal literary theory is to set expectations for the main characters later in the book. What I’m going to do now, is talk about my own personal set of expectations that I believe will happen to the main characters. I personally think that Elijah will become overcome with the urge to kill, to the point where he takes pleasure from it and considers it a sport! One of the key factors that pushes me to believe this is when he starts to skin the heads of the dead people around him so that he has proof that he’s been killing – essentially collecting trophies! “What will collecting these trophies do for me?” Elijah Asked.  “They will buy you honor among us” Francis replies. “And we are honorable men” (206). This is where I left off in my reading thus far. I predict that when Elijah returns back to the base with all of the scalps he has collected, he’ll be deemed a hero and this will only feed into his ego and drive to murder. One of my more bold estimates would be that as Xavier gets involved, he will eventually have to defend himself from Elijah because of Elijah’s urge to kill. One of the key parts that led me to believe this is how much internal thinking Xavier does about his actions when compared to Elijah’s. In one part of the book, Xavier thinks about leaving his post and risking his life to go get more sniper bullets because he has run out. He decides not to, and then questions why he can’t be more bold and courageous like Elijah. I think eventually, we’ll see the conflict between Elijah and Xavier which will lead to the death of one of them!

To conclude, in order to completely interpret the writings of Joseph Boyden, you must properly apply archetypal literary theory! Unraveling Boyden’s specific use of symbolism and character identity is key to making these archetypal connections. By making these connections, we can make predictions about the text that will influence our expectations and interpretations of the characters and events in the book! Overall, by using this literary theory, the text becomes more clear, relatable, and exciting to read

Personal Trip Down Three Day Road

The book Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden is the type of book that needs to be read while applying the Reader Response Literary Theory.  Throughout the first section of the book, there are constant times where Joseph Boyden makes literary choices that could foreshadow the upcoming events in the book. From the very start of the book, we are obligated to form mental images and assumptions of people’s character due to the quick start and nature of the events in the story. The book itself makes the reader think about the decision he or she would make when faced with the same dilemmas, which in return makes the reader think about themselves instead of the characters.

On the first page of the text, there is a scene with Xavier and Elijah that has the possibility of setting up for a great literary use of foreshadowing. The two are on the trail going to check the traps they had set days before when the reader experiences the first dialog in the text, “Elijah and me, we are the same age. We have lived twelve winters. The trees moan and crack. The sound is like dying.” (Boyden, page 1). This specific piece of text carries so much weight and the possibility for interpretation for the reader. I immediately expect it to foreshadow either short term or long term events in the novel. Sure enough, as soon as the reader has a chance to digest this text, there arises a scenario of life or death, “Do you think we have snared anything?” Elijah asks. I stop, look back at him. “Stay quiet.” (Boyden, page 1). Immediately, I have already made a short term connection of foreshadowing the events that are about to take place, “Have we caught something, Xavier?” A marten has sprung our willow trap. It dangles above the snow as if floating. Up close I see the rawhide noose around its neck. (Boyden, page 1). The expectations from Joseph Boyden’s comment about the sound of dying trees quickly foreshadowed the events of the hunt. Comments like these don’t just affect the short-term expectations, but the long-term expectations as well. It has set the entire tone of the book. The reader might take away the lesson of how valuable a life is just from the first page alone.

Mental Images are a key part of any novel. Joseph Boyden does an outstanding job painting the images of people and landscapes in the reader’s mind while simultaneously giving very little detail. “Again today I hear the call. Again today I wait for the others to get there before me before I step among them […] The men are dressed in black and brown and grey suits, and the shoes upon their feet are shiny, so shiny that I wonder what kind of animal the leather has come from. All of the men wear hats, too. All these people wearing hats in summer. I do not understand” (Boyden, page 3). I instantly have the mental image of walking the streets of Toronto. I feel like an outsider since I’m not wearing the unofficial uniform of the city. These mental images come from times where I could have felt the same way as the characters in the book do. For the times where I can relate to the characters on a more personal level, the descriptions evoke feelings, not just memories.

Throughout the book, I am constantly putting myself into the shoes of the character Xavier, a character who often feels like they’re being watched and is uncomfortable with unknown surroundings. In a part of the book where Xavier travels out of the wild and into the city to pick up Elijah, from the return of the war he says, “We do not stay in the town long. It makes me too nervous. Automobiles, they are everywhere. We must cross the dusty road that they travel upon before we can get to the river where I keep my canoe.”  (Boyden, page 6). In my own experience, this is exactly how I felt during my first time in Hong Kong – uncomfortable with my surroundings, uncomfortable with the people and uncomfortable with the language. The only safe place I knew was the attic of a church. There, I knew I was safe with friends and food. This description is given by Joseph Boyden vaguely reminds me of J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, when Harry Potter first makes the transition from the Muggle world through platform 9 ¾. He is overwhelmed and nervous, he doesn’t fit in, everyone around him is practicing magic and he knows nothing. I imagine Harry and Xavier felt the exact same way!

To conclude, in order to completely understand the writing, you must use Reader Response Literary Theory to fully extract the intended message from the text. Some may think a book set in Northern Canada that tells the story of the Great War may not be relatable, but they would be wrong. Using this literary theory, the text because more clear, relatable and exciting to read.

Aren’t we all just remixes?

Earlier this week, I was learning about the theory Kirby Ferguson created that was documented and explained in a three part series called “Everything is a Remix.” In the series, he outlines that he believes music, video, and text is all remixed from previous sources, and anyone that can create something truly original should be deemed a genius. In my thesis today, I will be focusing on the musical aspect of this theory and analyze the difference between remixing, copyrighting and ripoffs.

From a young age, I was always intrigued by genres of music and how different they can be, from rock to jazz and classical to EDM. Unfortunately, even the classic songs I grew up with were ripoffs! As a kid, I remember sitting in the backseat of my dad’s silver Grand Caravan rocking out to Led Zeppelin’s hit song “Stairway To Heaven” only to learn that the iconic rock song that paved a lifetime of appreciation for the genre was, in fact, a RIPOFF of the Spirit song “Taurus”, as you can see in this incredibly funny Stephen Colbert clip that analyzes the 2 songs side by side.

The chord progression at the start of the iconic song that made Led Zeppelin almost $500 million is identical to the one in “Taurus”! Although Led Zeppelin ever so slightly altered the speed at which it was played, it still uses the exact same chords in the exact same order at the start of the song. The unfortunate part about this story is that Led Zeppelin did this their entire career, ripping off numerous artist and never giving credit where it was due! For example, the opening and closing instrumental sections of “Bring it on Home” are lifted from an old Willie Dixon song of the same title. And it doesn’t end there. “The Lemon Song” lifts many lyrics from Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor”, “Black Mountain side” by Zeppelin lifts its entire melody from Bert Jansch’s “Blackwaterside”. The most notable accusation against Led Zeppelin is the 2010 court case where a song they covered by James Holmes titled “Dazed and confused” appeared on their album as an original of the same title. Confusing right? In the grand scheme of things, this really hurt Zeppelin’s image and could have been easily avoided if they

1) Gave credit to the original artists even if it was just for inspiration

2) Paid royalties to the artists they took from  ($$$)

3) Modified the original instrumental and lyrics enough that so it would be considered something new

In my personal opinion, I believe that Led Zeppelin constantly ripped off and stole from other artists all throughout their career and should be punished for it. People work extremely hard for the art they make and having a major band ripoff the little guy is not right just to make a quick buck.

One way to get around what happened to Led Zeppelin would be transforming and combining existing songs to create something new. In modern day music, this is a common occurrence in many songs. In Kanye West’s “Bound 2”, he remixes the Ponderosa Twins Plus One’s original song “Bound” with an underlying beat and vocals from other various artists to create the beat for his song. In his works, he credits the original artists.

Here is the original song “Bound”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6mGHwHMB5s

And here is Kanye West’s song “Bound 2”, featuring guest appearances from Seth Rogen and James Franco:

https://vimeo.com/80308252

This is the perfect example of an artist copying, transforming and recombining a song to create something completely new.

Whenever an artist is tasked with creating something new and original, they should have to use the same system that is used to check essays and exams for plagiarism. Furthermore, when borrowing from another artist, whether it be the beat or the lyrics, you must include it in the footnotes of artists featured in the song!

Serial Addiction

I often refer to myself as the unofficial podcast king, seeing as I’ve listened to easily 2000 hours of podcasts in my life. After listening to Serial, I found myself itching to listen to more and see how the story progresses! I found the style of narration to be extremely captivating. I’ve never felt so involved in an audio podcast before. Throughout listening to the podcast, I kept thinking about the Syed’s and what they thought about the amount of attention they’ve got from the podcast. Are they happy their son’s case is getting so much public attention? What if they’re bombarded by hate mail from listeners who think their son is guilty? I personally believe that the family loves the fact that this case has become public once again after more than a decade, although Hae’s family is probably traumatized by the constant image of their deceased daughter resurfacing.

The one thing I like about the podcast is that it’s sensitive, and there are no cameras or pictures, which I’m sure Hae’s family is thankful for. Personally, I think this is the perfect medium for Adnan Syed’s story to be aptly told. A television show like “Jynx” would have been far too invasive for the families involved, and a book wouldn’t pertinently describe the testimonies of the people involved. I think one of the major appeals to the podcast format is that you can take them anywhere on your phone. They’re also 100% free, as opposed to a book, which you have to go to a store and spend money on.

At the start of a podcast, Koenig does a bit about the recollection of memories. This personally got me thinking about how well I could recall my own memories. I tried to remember what I did every Monday for the last month and it proved to be surprisingly easy. Here are my results:

Monday, October 3rd: I woke up at 7am, had a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, then drove to school. Once at school, I worked on lithography. I remember a girl named Sarah was absent, and also I whacked my knee on a press bed, and then I printed half of my linoleum. I had pizza for lunch, and I went home early for a doctor’s appointment. Later, I worked on my online English, I fell asleep on the couch and my mother yelled at me to go to bed. 

Monday, September 26th: I woke up at 7 am, had breakfast- a croissant and jam, then I took the city bus to school. I continued working on my linoleum, and I had fresh bread and butter for lunch. I stayed at school until 4:30 working on projects, then went to Bernie’s Bar and Grill to celebrate my best friend’s 20th birthday.

 

Monday September 19th: I woke up at 7am, had breakfast, and stayed at school until 4:30 working on projects.

Monday September 12th: All I know is I woke up at 7am.

It’s crazy to analyze your memories on a weekly basis. I cannot even begin to fathom how hard it would be for Adnan to recall the events of the day Hae was abducted! While working through all of this, I kept thinking of Jay’s testimony against Adnan and how meticulous the detailing of the whole day was. I started to wonder if perhaps he made parts of it up, or even fabricated the whole story to pin Adnan as the murderer, BUT WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?

Do we really NEED English?

I strongly believe that grade 12 university level English is an essential requirement for university programs. The English education system is critical because it teaches students the importance of thoroughly reading and analyzing texts, it provides students with the necessary skills to effectively communicate at a post-secondary level and introduces the techniques to properly communicate using academic language and writing skills.

The ability to thoroughly read and analyze text is essential because all classes require students to exercise these skills at the postsecondary level. For example, in many universities of the arts, colour theory classes require students to thoroughly read and research an essay that analyzes the Pantone Colours of the Year. After reading it the students are expected to construct a written response to the essay. Despite the fact that this is not an English based class. Without the skills acquired in university level grade 12 English, this mandatory assignment could prove to be more difficult than expected. Analyzing and interpreting academic text such as Hamlet and Macbeth in high school is what will pave your way to deconstructing harder literary pieces in the university classroom.

University level English provides students with the necessary skills to think creatively about varying topics while remaining open-minded to multiple interpretations. You are taught to approach topics from a variety of perspectives and use critical thinking to elaborate on texts. For example, in university gender studies classes you are required to look at behavioral studies and respond from a feminist criticism, moral criticism, Marxist criticism, etc. Viewing problems creatively from different perspectives will allow you to uncover deeper more insightful meaning in the works you will analyze.

Grade 12 English lays the foundation of knowledge that is used to effectively communicate at a university level. This includes learning to properly use academic language and writing skills used in both school and everyday life. When speaking with representatives in your field of study, it is crucial to articulate yourself professionally.

The academic language taught in grade 12 English will provide a great foundation for being able to communicate effectively in a university setting. English is essential to being well-versed in the university environment. It not only affects your writing and reading skills but also contributes to your way of thinking, analyzing and problem-solving. Overall, it is clear that having a good foundation for English education goes a long way in the university classroom and in life. Most importantly the skills that you learn from English are transferable into every class in university.

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