Adrian Catahan's Blog

Archetypes in literature are great because they give writers a fundamental basis for how to write their characters and what symbols to incorporate within their stories. Think of them like blueprints or templates that can help guide and/or inspire writers to write better characters and symbols. Every great story has to have equally great characters to move the story forward and help get the themes, lessons, and messages of the story across to the readers. Waubgeshig Rice uses Archetypal theory beautifully in his 2018 novel Moon of the Crusted Snow to allegorize the relationship that white people and Native people have had throughout history by using the archetypal hero and the archetypal villain as symbols for said groups of people. The protagonist, Evan Whitesky, is a member of a First Nations reserve that resides up north and he is a husband and a father of two children. Evan works incredibly hard and goes to extraordinary lengths to help his family and his community prepare for th...

I will be doing a persuasive essay because there are a lot of viewpoints that can be taken from this novel and I want to prove that my viewpoint is the most reasonable and accurate one.   I’ll be doing it on my blog as to keep up with the consistency of posts relating to the novel. Also, blog posts are known for being places where many people can have discussions and comment their viewpoints in the comment sections. This falls in line with my decision of doing a persuasive essay; to try and persuade each other and open a discussion up.

The theory that provided the most insight for me was the archetype theory.   As I was reading the book, almost form the onset, I realized that the hero is Evan Whitesky.   In my opinion, Evan was a grounded person that knew what his role was for his family and for the community he lived in. Evan lived in a small Anishinaabe community with his family and lifelong friends.   At the beginning of the book, Evan is spending the day hunting for food for his family so they will have food for the long winter.   The time when we really see Evan as a hero, is when the community was struck with a crisis.   The community lost power and all communication to the outside world.   Evan prepared his family for the crisis with enough food and wood to keep them going through the winter.   He then joined the community council to assist is keeping the people safe and up to date with information they needed to survive the crisis.   Evan, provided comfort to his wife ...

In the book “Moon of the Crusted Snow", the roles of the female and the males are clearly defined.   Evan, the hunter and protagonist is responsible for taking care of his family.   He hunts for the food to ensure that he is able to feed his family throughout the year.   He works for the community to ensure that service are provided and that during the winter months the roads are clean.   Once the community was faced with the crisis of losing power and any outside communication Evan became more strongly involved in helping the community adjust and do their part to conserve energy.   He worked with council to make important decisions about turning on the generators and tapping into the stored food supply once it became necessary.   Evan always took time to go door to door to ensure that people were safe, but he always returned home to his family and be with his wife and two children.   Evan’s wife Nicole role was to take care of the household.   Sh...

The main character in the book “Moon of the Crusted Snow is Evan Whitesky.   Evan is a hunter and a hard worker.   He takes care of his young family and he works to take care of the community.   He is a young man that values his culture and upbringing and is committed to providing for his wife Nicole and their two children, Maiigan and Nanghons.   Nicole takes care of the children, teaching them about their heritage while making sure that they also have modern education to help them in their future.   Evan is the hero in the book because when the power goes out in the community he steps up and takes the lead to first make sure his family has enough food to make it through the winter and also heat to keep them warm as winter approaches.   He works with Chief Terry and the rest of the community councel to communicate with the community about measures to take while the power is out.   He speaks with his parents for advise and he is constantly looking to h...

The main character in the book is Evan. Evan lives in an Anishinaabe community with his young family.   The book begins with Evan spending a day hunting for food for his family. During the hunt the writer gives us the sense that Evan has a strong tie to his ancestry and takes his role as a hunter very seriously.   He respects the teaching of his father and expresses gratitude for the ability to kill a moose to feed his family and have enough food to endure the long winter.   Evan returned home from his hunt and the writer introduces us to his family.   Evan loves his wife and two children very much and he is proud to be able to provide for them.   His wife takes care of the children and she is very loyal to her husband.   She is very involved in making sure her children know their roots, however they both understand the modern way of living.   They enjoy watching TV together and often use this TV to occupy the children.   They also surfing the web...

In the episode entitled "Kanesatake: Let's talk about what happened long before the 'Oka Crisis'" on "The Secret Life of Canada" podcast, a conversation was held that detailed the history of events that led to the Oka Crisis.  The history that led to this is so important because it dates back as early as the 1600.  We learned that distinct societies one of which was the Mohawks came together under the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Great Law that governed them.  When the Mohawks were given a piece of land in Montreal and promised that if they moved there the land would be there's and that they would never have to move again.  The priests that went with them to this land tried to convert them to Catholics and then the  priest began the horrible process of selling pieces of this land which did not belong to them  Many letters were sent to the Governor General of Canada from Joseph Onasakenrat a Mohawk who became a Chief who faught  to try to remove ...

It is easy to hear that Jimmy Page stole the song “Dazed and Confused” from Jake Holmes.   Jimmy Page heard the song at a gig he was at with his previous band “The Yardbirds” and Jake Holmes was there performing “Dazed and Confused”.   I guess after he heard this song and the lyrics he decided that he would take that same song and use it in his debut album with his new band “Led Zeppelin”. According to “2 Loud 2 Old Music” the writer explains, “I say stole, because Page didn’t credit Holmes as the songwriter with the Led Zeppelin release” of their version of “Dazed and Confused”.   Jimmy Page copied the song by using the same lyrics and the same music arrangements in the song and then changed the order of the lyrics in their version of “Dazed and Confused”.   Jimmy Page also added some verses to the song to convert it from a three minute and forty-five second song to a song that was now over six minutes long.   Although the song sounded the same, Jimmy Page tr...

I was surprised to realize that I really liked this podcast.  I thought it was easy to listen to and it kept my attention for the full 54 minutes.  It was easy to understand most of the time and the flow of information was very interesting.  Listening to the voices of all the guests in this medium was very effective since each had their stories to tell, their challenges to overcome and the actions they are taking to address the issues.  I believe that listening to these stories in a podcast format allowed me to feel their struggles and understand the so much more about their bravery and strength to keep their heritage alive than I would have reading about this.  Before listening to this podcast, I did not know the details of the act, but my father, who is in the election industry, ran an election about changes to the "The Indian Act" with respect to education.  He told me that they are extremely passionate about this cause and really want to make changes th...

After reading about the incident where a dean of medicine addressed his class with a speech that belonged to another professor from Stanford University, I was taken a back.   Academic honesty is a reflection your morals and who you are as a person.  My dad always says that most business deals are done on the golf course because an honest golfer is an honest business man.  I understand this fully now because in my own sport of tennis, we the players have to call our own lines.  My coach taught me that if you did not see the ball out then you have to call it in.  That is the way I play.  However, I have played against players that make bad calls and soon the word is out and they are labelled as dishonest.  The way you conduct yourself in school when it comes to academic honesty will carry over to the way you conduct yourself in real circumstances.  

Although English is not my favourite subject, and most of my friends would agree, I still believe that 4 years of English should definitely be a requirement to get into University.  As a student pursuing a scholarship in tennis, I was told up front that I would need to ensure that I have a grade 12 university level English to even have a chance to be successful in the SAT exams.  English is so important and the way we express ourselves is a reflection of our character and personality.   No matter what program you decide to take in university, you will eventually have to be able to write an essay or  a formal paper.  I truly believe that basic reading and writing skills are necessary and an important part of everyday life.   English is not just a course needed to learn how to write, it is also used to be able to effectively make conversation and express opinions.  In the age of social media, many have lost the ability to speak with each other....