In his play Where the Blood Mixes, Kevin Loring illuminates the origins and implications of the legacy of residential schools which remains prevalent in Indigenous communities in the twenty-first century. Loring strives not to diminish the experiences of residential school survivors, but to reconstruct how individuals in the twenty-first century view and represent survivors of residential schools. This goal is achieved through Loring’s depiction of characters that are sad, but loving and funny people with hobbies, people who are not consumed and defined by their residential school experiences but continue to feel its painful influence nonetheless. Loring presents the characters with charming yet heart wrenching humanity to illustrate
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Where the Blood Mixes focuses on four residential school survivors and the flawed but endearing relationships between them. I will analyze how the intergenerational effects of traumatic residential school experiences affect Mooch’s relationships with Floyd and George. But before delving into the play, it will be helpful to gain some insight about Loring’s own history with residential school. Where the Blood Mixes speaks to Loring’s community in Lytton, British Columbia. It was home to the Lytton Industrial School for Boys, an all-male residential school which opened in 1902 (“St. George’s School- Lytton, BC”). However, in 1917, the closure of the All Hallows School For Girls at Yale, British Columbia forced the relocation of female students to the Lytton school (“St. George’s School-Lytton, B.C.). The sanitary and safety conditions of the Lytton school, which already suffered from “poor construction, overcrowding, insufficient plumbing, and concerns over fire …show more content…
I was trying to make it to my papa's [...] That priest was waiting. He wasn't even angry, seemed like. He put his hand on my shoulder, took me down to the basement. Beat me, starved me. Fucked me. That was the first time I seen the shadows move like that... then it's like I seen them everywhere" (Loring 58-59).
This quote exposes the origin of the darkness or depression that consumes Mooch: the physical, sexual, and mental abuse he suffered as a child, at the hand of someone who was supposed to be a role model. Unfortunately, the fact that survivors of residential schools continue to endure the effects of abuse, such as depression, is a heartbreaking reality. While statistics are not defining of all Indigenous survivors of residential schools, it is important to assess the current rates of depression, alcoholism, and suicide in Indigenous communities to have a greater sense of the size of the affected
Where the Blood Mixes focuses on four residential school survivors and the flawed but endearing relationships between them. I will analyze how the intergenerational effects of traumatic residential school experiences affect Mooch’s relationships with Floyd and George. But before delving into the play, it will be helpful to gain some insight about Loring’s own history with residential school. Where the Blood Mixes speaks to Loring’s community in Lytton, British Columbia. It was home to the Lytton Industrial School for Boys, an all-male residential school which opened in 1902 (“St. George’s School- Lytton, BC”). However, in 1917, the closure of the All Hallows School For Girls at Yale, British Columbia forced the relocation of female students to the Lytton school (“St. George’s School-Lytton, B.C.). The sanitary and safety conditions of the Lytton school, which already suffered from “poor construction, overcrowding, insufficient plumbing, and concerns over fire …show more content…
I was trying to make it to my papa's [...] That priest was waiting. He wasn't even angry, seemed like. He put his hand on my shoulder, took me down to the basement. Beat me, starved me. Fucked me. That was the first time I seen the shadows move like that... then it's like I seen them everywhere" (Loring 58-59).
This quote exposes the origin of the darkness or depression that consumes Mooch: the physical, sexual, and mental abuse he suffered as a child, at the hand of someone who was supposed to be a role model. Unfortunately, the fact that survivors of residential schools continue to endure the effects of abuse, such as depression, is a heartbreaking reality. While statistics are not defining of all Indigenous survivors of residential schools, it is important to assess the current rates of depression, alcoholism, and suicide in Indigenous communities to have a greater sense of the size of the affected