Tag: moon of the crusted stone

Impressions of MOTCS

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My Impression of Moon of the Crusted Snow

 

Connections

The author’s descriptions of the cultural practices in this novel remind me of my dad’s side of the family and how they focus a lot on keeping the culture alive. I remember going blueberry picking nearby with my grandma Roselinda, and after we were done we would put down semaa kind of like Evan when was finished hunting. Even though we weren’t hunting, we still did that because we took something from the earth and we had to give thanks.

While the author was describing the Dan and Patricia’s home in Moon of The Crusted Stone, I was visualizing houses that I have seen in my community. Most of the homes that I have seen in Wikwemikong have vinyl siding and high basements. I believe that homes that are Wikwemikong and their house in this story look similar because it is simple to make homes with siding and big basements. However, it still helps me visualize the story better and imagine what it must look like when Evan visits his parents.

Image via Travois.com

Questions

  1. When I was reading this selection, I felt curious as to what the event that triggers all the other events in this novel is going to be.
  2. The images that stand out in my mind while reading this novel are what the homes look like. These images affected my emotions because they made this story feel more familiar to me.
  3. Experiences/feelings that were described in this story that were similar to one I’ve had were when the power goes out and everyone in the house is actually talking to each other.
  4. This selection isn’t too similar to other ones I have read before because people usually don’t write novels about present-day Aboriginal people.
  5. New insights that I have gained from reading this selection were how some reserves in Canada just recently got amenities like cell service and internet.
  6. I like that this selection gives lots of detail for the characters and makes them feel like real people. I dislike how the dialogue for the characters sometimes feels too casual or too unnatural.
  7. This work is relevant to my life and my community because I live on an Indian reservation too. A lot of the people in my community live lives similar to Evan and his family.

Narration in MOTCS

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Moon of The Crusted Stone is a novel about a Northern Ontario First Nations reserve and their struggle with a long power outage in their community. The book is told from the point of view of a fictional character named Evan Whitesky. Evan Whitesky is a First Nations man in his mid to late 20’s with a partner and two kids. He works in maintenance for public works and he likes to go hunting in his spare time. I believe that the author made a good choice choosing him to be the narrator for this story.

Image via CTV News

For a character to be a good narrator in a story they have to be close to a lot of the action. This makes for an interesting story with not much unknown information. Evan knows a lot of the other important characters in this story such as Justin Scott, Chief Terry, and Walter Meegis. Justin Scott is the antagonist in this story and he is the leader of a small “cult” that lives in the duplexes. Chief Terry is the leader in Evan’s community, although he is not a very good leader because he gets other people to make decisions for him. Walter Meegis works alongside Chief Terry and he assists him with making decisions and band council duties.  These characters are important in this story because they incite events and they hold lots of power. Evan knowing and interacting with these characters, makes him aware of the events in the story and he is able to directly be a part of them.

For a character to be a great narrator, it is also nice for them to have their own story line too unless they are mainly focusing on another character. Evan’s story is mainly about how he tries to keep his family safe and alive during the power outage. In the book, there is a part where he creates a tipi for his partner and kids that included food, blankets, and a fire. He also cares for his parents and other people he is close to such as Aileen. He cares by frequently checking up on them outside of his job (checking up on the elders in the community).

In conclusion, Evan Whitesky is the right choice for a narrator in Moon of The Crusted Stone because of he is close to the action of the story and he has his own story line.