Moon of the Crusted Snow: A Reader Response Analysis

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 to keep up with the modern ways.

One day, the TV went out in the community and at the same time the internet and cell phones went out.  Soon later, the landlines went out.  Communication was gone, but this was not a big concern at first.  They still could function and visit each other to ensure all were well.  The community was very tight knit and although they were frustrated, they could do without TV and internet for the time being. 

The power then went out and with winter coming, the community began to wonder what was happening.  For the most part, the people would be able to survive for a while from the hunt that would prepare them for the long winter.  When the heat went out they would use wood to heat the home.

Evan reassured his family that everything would be fine.  He reached out to his parents and they reminded him that this happened before and because they were able to live off the land, they would survive.  The writer details and storytelling dialogue, gave us a strong connection to what was happening.  The sense of community and pulling together was evident and the frequent use of Aboriginal words gave the feeling that they had to go back to their roots and do what their ancestors did to survive.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Moon of the Crusted Snow: An Archetypal Analysis

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...
Read more

Moon of the Crusted Snow: Archetypes

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...
Read more

Moon of the Crusted Snow: A Feminist Analysis

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...
Read more