Anmol Dosanjh
Professor Weir Lorraine
English 110
27 October 2017
Haisla Land: Where the Spirits Reside
In Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach, the narrator, Lisa has a dangerous yet precious gift that gives her the power to foresee events of death and danger. She can sense any harm that comes to her family with the visions given from B'gwus. The use of the present tense frame narrative, identifies the events that occurred after her brother, Jimmy's absence. In Monkey Beach, Jimmy's frequent trips made to the monkey beach denotes his strong ancestral relationships with the Haisla traditional figures, and his kinship with the water and land to which his entire life is dedicated to.
In the time of the story when Jimmy is missing, Lisa recalls the instance when her family visited Monkey Beach in their childhood. Jimmy was keen on looking for sasquatches, at the Monkey Beach. In the present, Lisa is at home when her parents are leaving to go to Namu. The sasquatches are only seen by …show more content…
When Jimmy leaves Monkey beach to go home with Lisa, he takes a dive in the water to explore the magical ambience with the orcas. He takes a morning dive, "You should have come in . . . you don't know what you missed"(Robinson 353). Jimmy is interconnected with the orcas and the water from a spiritual perspective. Similarly, Lisa connects with the crows when they say, "La'es-go down to the bottom of the ocean"(Robinson 1). The crows foreshadow Jimmy's fate, where he is at the bottom and Lisa goes down to look for him. The underwater is dominated by the spirits where, "the water looked so much more magical"(Robinson 354). Likewise, the negative impact of colonization wiped out large populations of aquatic species. In the Douglas channel, most whales were killed by the whalers. Ultimately, the fate of Jimmy at the bottom of the ocean, is determined beforehand by the Haisla
Professor Weir Lorraine
English 110
27 October 2017
Haisla Land: Where the Spirits Reside
In Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach, the narrator, Lisa has a dangerous yet precious gift that gives her the power to foresee events of death and danger. She can sense any harm that comes to her family with the visions given from B'gwus. The use of the present tense frame narrative, identifies the events that occurred after her brother, Jimmy's absence. In Monkey Beach, Jimmy's frequent trips made to the monkey beach denotes his strong ancestral relationships with the Haisla traditional figures, and his kinship with the water and land to which his entire life is dedicated to.
In the time of the story when Jimmy is missing, Lisa recalls the instance when her family visited Monkey Beach in their childhood. Jimmy was keen on looking for sasquatches, at the Monkey Beach. In the present, Lisa is at home when her parents are leaving to go to Namu. The sasquatches are only seen by …show more content…
When Jimmy leaves Monkey beach to go home with Lisa, he takes a dive in the water to explore the magical ambience with the orcas. He takes a morning dive, "You should have come in . . . you don't know what you missed"(Robinson 353). Jimmy is interconnected with the orcas and the water from a spiritual perspective. Similarly, Lisa connects with the crows when they say, "La'es-go down to the bottom of the ocean"(Robinson 1). The crows foreshadow Jimmy's fate, where he is at the bottom and Lisa goes down to look for him. The underwater is dominated by the spirits where, "the water looked so much more magical"(Robinson 354). Likewise, the negative impact of colonization wiped out large populations of aquatic species. In the Douglas channel, most whales were killed by the whalers. Ultimately, the fate of Jimmy at the bottom of the ocean, is determined beforehand by the Haisla