Analogy
I read two stories called Identities by W.D. Valgardson and Totem by Thomas King. They were both about racism; Identities towards African American people and Totem about First Nations people. I found that Identity was about a white man in a black town trying to figure out his life. In Totem I discovered the way people view First Nations people and how they act in response to them. These stories most definitely relate to what goes on in our world today and in this analysis I will relate the two stories to reality and to eachother.
In Identities we see the way a wealthier white man views the town of a black man. He sees the run down buildings and in a way that is how not only black people but any people live when they don't have the means for a more tasteful home. This man though, sees only this town this way and doesn't, through his accostomed racist eyes see any good. The police in that town see it the same way because they are trained to see unshaven black men in jeans as crooks. In this story i was suprised to see that the white man had no fear of the police. Most people who I know would be a little scared if a police man came up behind them with a gun but this man was relieved because he knew that he was white and the police officer would see him as innocent. It is hard to believe that anyone could be so arrogant about their race as to see it as "superior".
In the short story called Totem the setting was in a museum. The people there viewed the totem pole in the exhibit wrong, ugly, and wierd. They said it didn't fit in and when they tried to remove it because they thought it was annoying, it came back. Nothing they did removed the Totem pole. They tried to find a temporary place for it but it came back to sit in the open in the exhibit. This Totem pole is a metaphor for First Nations people and the people in the museum are an example of the people in our world who are racist towards First Nations. The art in the exhibit represents our Canadian culture. I really understood where this story was going. Trying to find a temporary place for it is like giving First Nations reserves and making them settle for second best. The people in the museum learned to igore the totem pole but sometimes it wo9uld get on their nerves. An example of what this may represent is that in 1990 with the armed confrontation between Mohawk warriors and the police in the town of Oka, Quebec. This storty really made an impact on how I understand racism towards First Nations people.
These stories both were thinkers; they gave me something important, realistic and critical to ponder about. My aspiration for this world is that one day there will be no prejudice at all but sadly I can't see that happening. People are born sinful but one of their greatist sins, in my opinion, is selfishness. Selfishness is why we have racism; it comes from people wanting to be the best and to be the best other people have to be worse. Apparently, these people think that because colored and different looking people are those "worse" humans and to win the role of "superiority" they put them down. My aspiration that comes from this analogy is probably never going to happen but this is how I relate to the reality of this world. The reality sucks but maybe if more stories like Identities and Totem get published, the world will be a less selfish place.
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