Essay Ideas by Julia Reade

jreade1 — 2025-01-07 19:48:17 UTC

Topic: symbolism & clothing

Theoretical Lens: Native survivance (Vizenor)

Points for analysis/examples in text: RiRi's pink boots (joy), jingle skirt (Minerva), twin's hat (family)

jreade1 — 2025-01-07 19:53:26 UTC

Topic: Individualism v. Collectivism and survival

Theoretical lens: de Tocqueville & man from TBAF

Points for analysis/text evidence: ego (man v Frenchie v Recruiters), coming-to stories (coming into community = survival), cooperation (leveraging various skill sets to navigate the wilderness and survive)

jreade1 — 2025-01-07 19:55:43 UTC

Topic: language

Theoretical Lens: Native survivance

Points for analysis/examples in text: desire for the "old-timey" ways, Minerva being the key, Isaac dreaming in Cree

jreade1 — 2025-01-07 19:59:51 UTC

Topic: nature as classroom, sustenance, and kin

Theoretical lens: Banerjee and Dunaway; Fortress Conservation

Points for analysis/text evidence: separate discussion into those three sections (1-2 paragraphs in each section) and support with evidenced marked in the novel while reading. Classroom: using natural environment to track animals, Sustenance: foraging, kin: not killing the moose

2025-01-08 18:41:14 UTC

Topic: Settler Ideas of "Extinction" vs. Native Survivance

Theoretical Lens: "Aesthetics of Survivance" (Vizenor 2009), "The Deaths of Settler Colonialism" (Dalley 2018)

Points for analysis/text evidence: Settlers' lost ability to dream; the poisoning of the Great Lakes; mentions of Indigenous kin crossing the U.S./Canada border; theme of Catholic oppression (Minerva, priest/recruiter, schools) and settler apocalypticism (Book of Revelations)

jreade1 — 2025-01-08 20:19:58 UTC

Topic: language describing nature

Theoretical Lens: de Tocqueville

Points for analysis/text evidence: words, phrases, literary devices used by de Tocqueville vs those used by Dimaline and implications

2025-01-08 21:07:51 UTC

Topic: Community as a need for survival

Theoretical lense: De Tocqueville

Points for analysis: The main group, Minerva, Frenchies dad/brother, Isaac

2025-01-08 21:38:42 UTC

Indigenous teaching and how it influences the characters "coming-to" stories, use other texts about indigenous teaching like Fresh Banana Leaves, Traditional Knowledge, and Turtle Island

2026-01-05 20:48:52 UTC

Topics: The utilization of its unique setting and themes within animals that appear in the narrative, ex: The moose, the cannibal people(ish legend includes the caribou), the wolf dog story, and use of ravens/corvids in the latter half of the arc and if it perpetuates any stereotypes about the animal or demonizes it (which it doesn’t) example, wolfs=evil, bloodthirsty baby eaters and deer=perfect angels 100% of the time, it’s not black and white they all have to survive.

2026-01-05 20:49:38 UTC

Compare/contrast Frenchie and “the man” from “To Build a Fire.” I could apply a psychoanalysis and consider the role of the ego and hubris.

2026-01-05 20:53:54 UTC

Representations of Indigenous youth in media as exercise of survivance. Youth learning “old timey” ways. Think: Rez Dogs—Rose and the character who learns to be knowledge keeper of traditional medicine.

2026-01-05 20:59:35 UTC

Topic: Symbolism and hidden meaning in language and how it serves to immerse the reader in a bleak atmosphere that mirrors the state of the world and its characters.

Theoretical Lens: Native Survivance

Points for Analysis: Ragarou Story, character dialogue, descriptive language, coming-to stories.

2026-01-05 21:00:11 UTC

Topic: their relationship to nature and how that was effected by being in the wilderness for so long. You could talk about how they're being attacked by the same people, the moose, the story of the inn, how they've learned to move and hide on the land, etc

2026-01-05 21:02:42 UTC

the symbolism in the book of kidnapping indigenous people for their bone marrow and the similarities of stealing indigenous land and forcing natives into reservations and boarding schools. also the loss of indigenous languages and the connections to survivance in the real world, and how communities come together during times of prosecution to keep each other safe and keep traditions alive