Joseph Boyden’s novel, Through Black Spruce, creates a modernized depiction of the Windigo figure. He uses the figure to describe key antagonists who act as corrupting forces to the world around them. The Windigo figures torment Will and Annie Bird as well as corrupt the youth through their drug business. According to Antoine, the Windigos must die in order to stop their unending corruption. Antoine is the only character able to handle the burden of killing the Windigo figures as he has no personal connection to them and can handle the guilt from murder, because of this, he is perceived as a ‘chosen one’.
Boyden modernizes the Windigo figure by not using the figure for its literal definition of a cannibal but by using it in a figurative way. …show more content…
When Gordon holds Danny on the railing of the apartment building, Annie is unable to let Danny die, “ʻLeave him like that. Let him decide his own fate’… my protector is no murderer. And neither am I” (Boyden 340). Annie knows that she could not live with the fact that she was involved in Danny’s murder. She is not strong enough to kill her Windigo, her tormentor. Will has a similar issue as he shot Marius but the shot did not kill him. Will had trouble with killing any figure that opposes him at first as he was unsuccessful in killing the dump bear, Marius and the polar bear. Marius could not die at the hands of Will’s shot. Both Will and Annie could not kill their Windigos because Antoine is meant to. Like the story of King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone, Antoine can use his father’s weapon because he is the ‘chosen one’. Antoine is able to handle the burden that comes with the Windigo, the burden of murder. When Antoine is talking to Will from prison, he says, “[the officers] even told me I did good to kill Marius and his friend. They asked me if I felt bad. I told them I killed lots of people in the war” (402). Antoine can handle the guilt because he does not have a personal connection to either of the characters and that he has killed people previously because of the
Boyden modernizes the Windigo figure by not using the figure for its literal definition of a cannibal but by using it in a figurative way. …show more content…
When Gordon holds Danny on the railing of the apartment building, Annie is unable to let Danny die, “ʻLeave him like that. Let him decide his own fate’… my protector is no murderer. And neither am I” (Boyden 340). Annie knows that she could not live with the fact that she was involved in Danny’s murder. She is not strong enough to kill her Windigo, her tormentor. Will has a similar issue as he shot Marius but the shot did not kill him. Will had trouble with killing any figure that opposes him at first as he was unsuccessful in killing the dump bear, Marius and the polar bear. Marius could not die at the hands of Will’s shot. Both Will and Annie could not kill their Windigos because Antoine is meant to. Like the story of King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone, Antoine can use his father’s weapon because he is the ‘chosen one’. Antoine is able to handle the burden that comes with the Windigo, the burden of murder. When Antoine is talking to Will from prison, he says, “[the officers] even told me I did good to kill Marius and his friend. They asked me if I felt bad. I told them I killed lots of people in the war” (402). Antoine can handle the guilt because he does not have a personal connection to either of the characters and that he has killed people previously because of the