Abstract This paper explores the theme of alienation in CanadianLiterature. It claims that alienation is a process and comes to qualify this with the use of examples. It profiles Philip in "As for me and my house" and James in "Fall on Your Knees".
From the Paper "Alienation in various forms is a common theme in many works of Canadian literature. It ranges form general feelings of isolation to mild discontentment with the community to total alienation from everyone including the individual themselves. Each type of alienation can be seen as a loss or perceived loss. For example, general feelings of isolation associated with living in isolated communities seem to alienate characters from the rest of the world. Mild discontentment with isolated communities ultimately results in individuals becoming isolated from the rest of the community, their friends and even their families. Alienation from family and friends ultimately leads to a ..."
Abstract This paper explains that much French-Canadianliterature, especially the more early forms, had geographic themes; even when many of the writers began moving into the cities, they used their new environment as a foundation for their works. The author points out, that Albert Laberge wrote about rural life, but in a negative fashion, contrary to most literary artists of his time; where previous rural novels included idyllic characters and surroundings in an environment of socio-moral ascension, Laberge saw humans as snared in a world of misery and mediocrity, leading to moral and social decay. This paper relates that, in the last few decades, French-Canadianliterature has become globalized with the inclusion of ethnic writers immigrating from Italy, Haiti, and China.
From the Paper "Patrice Lacombe wrote Paternal Ground in 1846, the very first "novel of the ground,? as it later was called. This theme of the strong relationship with the land dominated French Canadian literature for nearly a century. Lacombe's work relates the despondency of a rural family following their youngest son's decision to leave home to travel abroad. The older son tries to keep the farm going, but loses it through bad business decisions. The father tries to work in the city, but is desolate. Fortunately, the young son returns with enough money to buy new land, and the family is safe once again."
An analysis of the interactions between literature and community within the context of Sophocles' "Oedipus the King," as well as within the context of modern Canadianliterature and culture.
Abstract This paper discusses how a community generates literature that reflects its own attitudes and values and how literature simultaneously moulds community, and reflects it. It consider these interacting influences within the context of Sophocles' "Oedipus the King," as well as within the context of modern Canadianliterature and culture. The paper also discusses this in the context of the writer's own experience of cultural community.
From the Paper "One of these distinctly Canadian discourses may be said to be the discourse of sport, and particularly of hockey. As one theorist put it, "The rituals of sport engage more people in a shared experience than any other institution or cultural activity today." (Varda Burstyn, The Rites of Men, quoted in Coakley and Donnelly, 1) Watching hockey together has become a symbolic action that unites Canadians. Interestingly, sport as a component of ideology and community building is highlighted in John B. Lee's poetry collection, The Hockey Player Sonnets: Overtime Edition. Lee succeeds in making clear a significant aspect of Canadian hockey-related mythology, albeit one that is primarily white and male."
Abstract The paper briefly outlines what entities such as the BPIDP (Book Publishing Industry Development Program) and the Canada Council for the Arts do for the book publishing industry and its writers in this country. Among other things, the following several pages outline how an organization such as BPIDP has allowed the sector to grow, perhaps despite itself. The paper also examines how the Canada Council of the Arts through subsidizing talented artists, allows Canadianliterature to remain flourishing in the face of many challenges.
From the Paper "How would the absence of (public) funding change publishing in Canada? The absence of funding would have a deleterious effect upon Canadian publishing because the publishing sector in this country is only viable if it receives outside help."
Abstract This paper looks at how Canadian author Jonathan F. Vance's 1997 award-winning novel, "Death So Noble", is an example of an essential work in Canadianliterature, one that is paramount in explaining Canada's involvement in the Great War of 1914-1918. In titling his work "Death So Noble", Vance suggests to his readers that dying in defense of one's nation is of the greatest nobility. It explains that, through examination of historical reviews regarding Canadian participation in the Great War, Jonathan Vance is able to derive a convincing argument pertaining to Canada's role through the eyes of its contemporaries.
From the Paper "Throughout the novel, Vance is successful in presenting various techniques employed by the Canadian government, soldiers who fought in the war, and war-time contemporaries who remained in Canada during the war to create this "mythical" viewpoint of the Great War. Vance organizes the individual chapters in his book so that each chapter is used to discuss how different methods(ie. propaganda) that are used in painting the picture of progress, glory, and nationalism that hangs over the Canadian war effort. Vance cites examples of propaganda(21, 40, 118, 145, 177, and many others ) distributed by the government and the military to provide all Canadian citizens with the positive reinforcement the nation needs to come together in this time of crisis. All of this war-time propaganda does its part in conveying glory and enjoyment to the Canadian public."
Abstract This paper examines Terry Woo's "The Banana Boys", a fiction book about Chinese born Canadian youths. The derogatory term, 'banana boy', refers to the fact that they are 'yellow' (that is, Chinese) on the outside, but 'white' (that is, Canadian) inside. The paper discusses how each of the boys has a distinct way of dealing with his identity of a 'banana boy', implying that there is no single Asian-Canadian experience. Finally, the paper adds that the book is relevant not only to the Chinese community in Canada but to the larger Canadian community as well, made up, to a large extent, of immigrants and their children.
From the Paper "This book is of great relevance both to the Chinese-Canadian and to all other Canadians too. It is a unique work of literature that tells a story of the Chinese Canadians in present time, and their attempts to carve a unique identity for themselves, each of the boys in his own way. They may have tried hard to fit in with the "Chinese" identity or the "Canadian" identity, but there will never be a distinct group for them to fit in completely and fully belong. The "Chinese" and the "Canadians" do not quite claim them as their own, so they search for their own unique identity in pop culture. Many Asian Canadians who have been born in this country or who group up here may find that the 'banana boys' resemble them in many ways, and that the experiences of the 'banana boys' with racism, culture, work, etc. are also their own experiences. Furthermore, other Canadians who are also coming from different cultures may find that the book appeals to them too. The children of immigrants are often faced with identity questions much like the characters of "Banana Boys", and the silent cultural clash is something many experience."
Tags: Chinese-Canadianliterature minority immigrant immigration, second generation
Abstract This paper reviews three novels by Canadian women authors as a way to compare and contrast their writing styles, and how these styles work to convey the complex relations of mothers and daughters. All three stories, (Hetty Dorval, The Swamp Angel, The Fire-Dwellers) deal with issues of language, silence, and the value of symbols and metaphors to express what is often inexpressible for women. This essay explores these themes through the writing of the authors, Ethel Wilson and Margaret Laurence, who portray a relation of writer with subject, where the ambiguities of understanding women in society become a shared project of story and writing.
Abstract In recent months, the furor over the release of Karla Homolka has sparked heated debate and calls for a review of the Canadian justice system. The following paper examines three contentious areas of the Canadian legal system that seem in desperate need of a reassessment. The first of these revolves around the growing perception that the Canadian judiciary is arrogant, perhaps even irresponsible, and simply unresponsive to the concerns of ordinary Canadians. The second area revolves around the treatment of aboriginal peoples within the Canadian justice system and the third and last area revolves around the difficulty that Canadian law-makers and justices are having in reconciling the somewhat amorphous multiculturalism they embrace in theory with the fundamental liberal democratic tenets that under-gird the Canadian justice system.
Abstract This paper reviews the Canadian film industry, one that is said to be a composite of three different unique bodies that have combined to create a dynamic film environment; albeit not a uniquely Canadian one. The paper goes on to discuss how while the indigenous Canadian film industry is still extant it might be described as moribund at best. If not for governmental support for the indigenous film industry, independent Canadian film making might already be extinct. The Canadian film industry is relatively healthy overall but the figures indicate strictly indigenous Canadian films, outside of one or two major production houses, may suffer revenue and market difficulties in the years ahead.
Abstract The paper contends that the treatment of Japanese Canadians by the Canadian government during and after World War II was deplorable. The paper then discusses how the Canadian government acknowledged the racist character of these policies in 1988 and offered redress to the Japanese Canadian population.
From the Paper "Japanese Canadians during the Second World War were forced to contend with a decades-old torrent of racial discrimination that culminated in their internment and forced labor by the Canadian government. The treatment of Japanese Canadians during this period appears particularly cruel-even sinister-when one considers that of the Canadians evacuated from the Pacific Coast of Canada, most were Canadian-born and naturalized Canadian citizens."
Tags: japanese canadians, world war II, internment, deportation, War Measures Act
Abstract Summary: This paper introduces a variety of published work pertaining to subjects of the Canadian mass media. A tendency that is noted, in different places, is that of Canadians assuming that their media are free in comparison with the mass media influences of the United States, or the United Kingdom, for example. However, as is mentioned, the Canadian media seem to be shaped by their environment, and the environment beyond Canada to a significant degree.
Abstract The paper studies and compares the education systems and their goals in Canadian and the United States. It shows that these school systems share many aspects, including a striving for better education, a constant drive for better technology and a consistent effort to better educate their students. The paper explains that while the methods of instruction and the funding for the system may differ, each share the common goal of a quality education for all students. It argues that, by learning from some successes of Canadian schools, the United States could further its ability to better educate all students in the system. In today's global economy, and in the age of information, there can be no substitute for education. It shows that if, by learning from other nations, the United States is able to provide a better education to the people, then the sanctioning bodies must come together in unity.
From the Paper "The first of these values is equality of access. This value used to be defined as making public education available to a thin population across an entire continent (Fleming, 1997). Currently, equality of access is seen mainly as the eradication of the barriers to education caused by language, gender, race, or physical or mental disability. In fact, the Canadian Council of Ministries of Education, in their Pan-Canadian Protocol for Collaboration on School Curriculum in 1997 stated, ?The ministers wish all citizens to have a fair and equitable opportunity in education and wish to provide increased accessibility to education.?
Closely related to this fair education policy is the value of equality of educational opportunity. This value is described as the idea that the quality and choice of educational programs should not be lessened by where a person lives (Fleming, 1997). As part of the Pan-Canadian Protocol (1997), the ministry stated that one of the objectives of the Corroboration was the ?application of technology to curriculum and the use of distance education for delivery.?
Abstract This paper addresses this question in terms of both Canadian laws governing child pornography on the Internet, and the role of these laws in terms of wider international legislation and norms in this area. It will be argued that the key problem related to Canadian child pornography legislation and the Internet is not so much a need for stronger laws, but rather the enforcement of those that currently exist.
Abstract The problem for immigrants to Canada is cultural confusion. Immigrants do not know to which culture, that of their original country or that of Canada, they belong. This is the problem discussed by Bannerji in her essays on cultural conflicts for Canadian immigrants. In this paper I argue that Bannerji does not support the Canadian government's policy of "multiculturalism" towards the cultures of immigrants. Yet, while she retains an interest in her original country of India, Bannerji does not seem to have many cultural traditions of her home country. This is, I think, a sign of the cultural confusion that she says immigrants have.
Abstract This paper states that he Canadian health care system is broken. The author compares the Canadian health care system in relation to health care in other nations. The paper concludes that NAFTA has not significantly affected the disparate levels of health care available its three member nations.
From the Paper "The Canadian health care system is broken. This condition is not an unusual one in health care, unfortunately. Similar difficulties exist in countries with similar systems, such as Finland and Sweden. But broken health care systems are not limited to those countries with socialized medicine. Other countries, such as the United States and Mexico, also have difficulty providing consistently adequate health care in a timely fashion to all of their citizens. How do the problems within the Canadian health care correlate with those of other countries? "
