Keeper'n Me

“Most of our history’s about fishing, hunting and trapping on accounta that’s what we do. Or at least that’s what we did before “the settlement of North America” as the books say. Nowadays there’s still a lotta that happening but no one’s making a living off it anymore. Most of the time there’s just welfare. Every once in a while the government will surprise the hell outta everyone and give us work cutting scrub timber or something. […] You get to know each other pretty good when all you got is each other for entertainment. Guess that’s the strongest point about this reserve and the people here. Even though we’re poor we still got spirit and heart and we look out for each other. Lotsa other places can’t say that.”

The passage describes the origins of the Ojibwe tribe and its contemporary condition. The Ojibwe are part of the Anishinaabe group and depended on hunting, trapping, and fishing for their survival. Wagamese illustrates how colonialism changed the land and the ability of the tribe to sustain itself. The tribe depends on governmental support for jobs, while poverty dominates in the reserve. Despite cultural loss, the community shares a strong bond that colonialism could not eliminate.

“By the time I made it back here I was lost. At twenty-five years old I never figured on bein’ no Indian. I didn’t remember a thing about my earlier life and when I disappeared alone into the foster homes I disappeared completely from the Indian world.”

As the Canadian government was following policies of assimilation toward Indigenous people, Garnet was forcibly removed from his family and placed into all-white foster homes. Garnet grew up completely disconnected from his culture, without any knowledge of his Anishinaabe identity. Wagamese repeats the word “disappeared” to convey Garnet’s diminished sense of self, since he is both figuratively absent from the foster homes and literally absent from his home.

“He told me that I had a whole herd of aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins that missed me and loved me and wanted me home. He wrote about my brother Jackie and sister Jane, about my mother and how she’d never given up believing all these years that her baby would come home one day and about my father who’d passed away really young but who loved me too even though he never ever saw me again. He told me about the country there, about my language, a little history of our tribe and the White Dog band.”

A turning point in Garnet’s life is the letter he receives from his brother Stanley while in prison. Stanley presents a new reality to Garnet, as he explains that he has a family and a community waiting for him to return. The word “herd” uses a natural metaphor to emphasize their community’s connection to the land. Stanley’s letter provides Garnet with historical, cultural, and personal information that offer him a sense of who he is for the first time.

“But we lost a generation here. In the beginning it was the missionary schools. Residential schools they called them. Me I was there. They come and got me when I was five and took me and a handful of others. The boy’s mother was one of them. They took us and cut off our hair, dressed us in baggy clothes so we all looked the same, told us our way of livin’ and prayin’ was wrong and evil. Got beat up for speakin’ Indyun. […] Hmmpfh. See, us we know you can’t make a beaver from a bear. Nature don’t work that way. Always gotta be what the Creator made you to be.”

This is a key passage in the text that describes The Impact of Colonialism on Indigenous Tradition. Keeper relates his own trauma and experience of residential schools. Residential schools were designed to eliminate Indigenous culture and provide Western education to Indigenous youth. The similar haircut and clothing is a metaphor for the process of forced assimilation. However, despite the dehumanizing experience of colonialism, Keeper notes that people never stop being who they are, and they have the right to claim their identity and humanity.

“S’why it’s so important for old guys like me to be passin’ on what we know. I’m not talkin’ about bringin’ back the buffalo hunt or goin’ back to the wigwam. I’m talkin’ about passin’ on the spirit of all those things. If you got the spirit of the old way in you, well, you can handle most anythin’ this new world got to throw around. The spirit of that life’s our traditions. Things like respect, honesty, kindness and sharin’.”

Keeper explains the meaning of tradition. Cultural heritage is not only expressed through tokens or older ways of living. Tradition is a set of values through which people see and perceive the world. Respect, community and simplicity are key Anishinaabe values, and they must be followed as a way of life. Wagamese hence denotes the difference between historical life (hunting and wigwams) and the spirit of tradition, which lays the foundation for his exploration of modernization in Indigenous communities in the text.

“And bit by bit as I lost myself in that heartbeat, any doubt I ever had about this woman being my mother began to disappear. My speeding brain got quieter and quieter and I felt more and more relaxed and safe and sheltered and warm until I began to realize that I’d felt this same way somewhere back in my past.”

Garnet’s reunion with his mother is a vivid and emotional scene. Even though Garnet does not remember Alice, she immediately feels familiar. Garnet feels connected to his mother, inwardly recognizing their relationship by feeling her heart and body. As time passes, Garnet loses his fear and nervousness and feels safe in her arms. The juxtaposition of speed to quietness and relaxation is a metaphor for the difference between urban life and rural Ojibwe life in the text.

“So he’d bring me out here on nights like this, make tea an’ we’d sit by this fire an’ he’d tell me all about the old Midewewin. Talk about the old ways. Told me stories, legends, all kindsa things I never heard before. […] Ev’rythin’ he gave me, all the things he taught me, ev’rythin’ he put inside me stayed right there. Didn’t go away. All the time I was runnin’ around with my friends it didn’t go away.”

Keeper reveals his connection to Garnet’s family. Harold, Garnet’s grandfather, a traditional Ojibwe man, was Keeper’s teacher and passed on foundational cultural values to him as a young man. Even though Keeper’s colonial trauma led him into alcohol abuse and distanced him from Anishinaabe culture, he never forgot Harold’s teachings. This emphasizes Indigenous Healing Through Storytelling and Community.

“Both of us lookin’ to find our way back, both tryin’ to win back some time got taken away. You, you need someone to teach you about your own people. An’ me, me I kinda need to pay back a debt. Need to give back what the old man gave me. Need to become the drum keeper he wanted me to be. Find another teacher around to keep on learnin’ and need to pass on whatever I learn.”

The passage describes the connection between the two main characters. Garnet intrigues Keeper as he reminds him of himself. Keeper recognizes Garnet’s will to listen and learn. Both men have a common trauma rooted in colonialism. Their bond reflects both traditional and contemporary ways of learning about Anishinaabe history and culture.

“One of the biggest parts of being Indian is living with respect. Young people learn respect real early and for me, being young at being Indian, it was important that I get into thinking that way right off. Having to get up and walk over to Keeper’s to pray and make him breakfast was a good way of learning a respectful way real quick, she said. Sure, I grumbled like hell, but looking back I sure learned a lot awful fast by doing it. Pretty soon it got to be as natural as could be and I was waking up long before the alarm clock. Keeper says I was finally learning the real meaning of ‘Indian time.’”

Through their relationship, Keeper initiates Garnet into traditional Ojibwe practices that awaken his cultural consciousness. Being in the presence of an elder and caring for him makes Garnet realize the significance of respect. Simultaneously, their early mornings together help Garnet become attuned to the natural world. This portrays one of the tenets of the novel: It rejects colonial values of exploitation and strict time-keeping and conveys the power of “respect” and becoming attuned to natural temporal rhythms.

“You hear lotsa great stories around here. See, one of the things I caught onto real quick was the humor. Reason no one minds the welfare so much, or the government’s empty promises, or the lack of lots of things, is on accounta they always find some funny way of looking at it. They find a way to laugh about it. Keeper says that it’s the way they’ve survived everything and still remained a culture. Lotsa Indian ways changed when the whiteman got here, lotsa people suffered, but they stayed alive on accounta they learned to deal with things by not taking them so damn serious all the time. Go anywhere where there’s Indians and chances are you’ll find them cracking up laughing over something. Humor’s a big thing with Indians.”

Wagamese describes humor as a key trait of the Anishinaabe. The motif of humor counters dominant stereotypes of Indigenous people as stoic and unemotional. Humor is present in traditional stories, functions as a sign of affection between people, and becomes a common defense mechanism against intergenerational trauma.

“That’s what’s important really, Keeper says. Learning how to be what the Creator created you to be. Face your truth. Do that he says and three big things happen in your life. First, you learn how to be a good human being. Second, you learn how to be a good person, and in the process of learning that you learn how to be a good Indian. Can’t happen the other way around on accounta you’d be so busy trying to be the ultimate Indian you’d kinda miss out on just being happy being a person.”

Keeper makes Garnet realize the core of an Anishinaabe consciousness. To claim his identity, Garnet must embrace his humanity and learn how to be a complete and good human being. To be whole, the novel suggests that people must achieve spiritual and physical connection and balance, which help them navigate life with respect and thoughtfulness. Wagamese uses colloquial language when recording dialogue, such as “accounta” and “kinda,” to imbue it with a sense of verisimilitude and convey the intimacy of the interactions in the community.

“AIM was Jackie’s way of gettin’ back. He didn’t know how to fight the system either, an’ when the Ojibway Warriors an’ AIM came along he found his way of fightin’ it. Not only fightin’ it but gettin’ back at it. Also found a way of gettin’ all that anger out.”

The passage describes Jackie’s character, who initially remains distant. Garnet’s and Jackie’s experiences connect and diverge. Even though Jackie remained in touch with his culture, he also bears colonial trauma. Jackie became an activist to channel his wrath into claiming Indigenous rights. As a fervent supporter of Indigenous culture, he always remained close to the traditional way of life. The repeated word “gettin’” suggests an action rather than a reaction (“fightin’”), emphasizing Jackie’s drive to claim rights.

“Then you show up here, all white, black, anything but Indyun, and I found myself hatin’ you. Hatin’ you, man! Knowin’ that it ain’t your fault on accounta they kidnapped you and you didn’t have no choice. Kidnapped you and turned you into that thing that crawled outta that cab that day. Knowing all of that but hatin’ you anyway on accounta you’re walking around here tryin’ to be some kinda instant Indyun. Knowin’ you’re just trying to get back but hatin’ you because of the whiteness I can see all over you. My own brother! My baby brother I used to sleep with an’ hold onto when he was a little guy! Hatin’ you for the white that ain’t your fault.”

Jackie explains to his brother that he remained distant because of his anger toward white people. Jackie saw his brother lost and alienated from their heritage and his wrath overtook him again. However, Jackie recognizes his brother’s transformation. The word “white” is both an adjective and a noun in the final sentence, referring to the white person who abducted or raised Garnet and to the whiteness that Garnet has been forced to embody; this grammatical ambiguity makes whiteness appear as a force that is both physically and culturally oppressive.

“You come here. Become part of it. Walk around the rest of the day bein’ part of it too. Never get lost. No one ever got lost bein’ part of somethin’. Only when they’re not. Beedahbun connects you to life. Them colors become a part of you, them trees a part of you, rocks a part of you, water a part of you, animals a part of you, everything. And you…you…you’re a part of all of it too. It’s Beedahbun. That first light comes through your eyes, moves through you, all of you, fillin’ you with light. The lighta life, all around you and part of you forever. Beedahbun.”

Garnet’s meetings with Keeper at sunrise reinforce Garnet’s transformation. As sunrise signals the start of a new day, it reconnects people to life. Garnet must realize his connection to the natural world and the fact that he is part of the land to find a sense of belonging.

“See, the drum’s about motherhood. It’s about the woman power all around us. Woman’s only one got power to give life. That’s why we call this land our Mother. Land gives life to Indyuns. Get all we need to survive from our Mother.”

The text describes the equality between men and women as a foundational Anishinaabe value. In the tribe’s tradition, women are powerful as they are a source of life. Traditional practices, like the drum, carry the spirit of this value and always remind people of female power. This passage exemplifies Wagamese’s method of using Keeper’s teachings as a way to inform less knowledgeable readers about Anishinaabe culture.

“Do what the world asks you to do but do it with the spirit of the teachin’s. You’ll never get lost that way. Never. You can go and be whatever. DJ, hockey player, businessman, lawyer, anything as long as you carry them traditional teachin’s with you wherever you go. That’s balance.”

Keeper notes that balance, a motif in the text, is key in surviving the postcolonial condition. For Keeper, change must be followed with balance and according to tradition. As long as the Ojibwe maintain their cultural values, they will never lose their identity. Wagamese uses a list of varying modern professions to assert that Indigenous people belong everywhere in the modern world.

“He told me about the woman side and the man side of all of us and how we gotta learn to lie in balance with both those sets of gifts to really be happy in this world. It all sounded strange to me at first but as I sat there in the middle of the lake that night it began to fall together inside of me.”

The Power of Connection to the Land helps Garnet understand Keeper’s lessons. Nature teaches people about balance and respect and shows them the way to living. Being alone on the lake, Garnet understands that achieving inner peace will help him reconnect to his community and the world as an Ojibwe man.

“Me I figure the boy’s been kinda my key to callin’ back a little of that magic around here. Us we all need someone or somethin’ to guide us. Sometimes that guide’s funniest-lookin’ guide you can imagine an’ lotsa the time they don’ even know they’re guidin’ you. That’s what the boy’s been for me. Unknowin’ kinda guide for me. He guided lotsa us back then. Dug in so hard tryin’ to learn an’ be parta us he helped us see what we shoulda been doin’ ourselves.”

Keeper is Garnet’s guide as an elder Ojibwe man. However, Garnet is equally important for Keeper. Garnet reminds Keeper that the healing process is a constant endeavor as people must always strive to protect their cultural heritage. Garnet’s desire to learn about the Anishinaabe culture and reclaim his identity reawakened Keeper and reminded him of the community’s responsibility to protect and guide their youth and culture.

“Anyway, what I was meaning to say was that the land is a feeling. The reason the Indians want all these land claims settled is on accounta they wanna protect their connection with the land. It isn’t on accounta they want all of North America back like some people believe. Keeper says nobody in their right mind wants something back that someone else has already wrecked. They just wanna protect their connection. Land is the most sacred thing in the Indian way of seeing.”

The passage illustrates the centrality of land regarding Indigenous rights. Indigenous people continue to reclaim their lost ancestral lands because they constitute an integral part of their identity and culture. Land has formed the Anishinaabe worldview and life, and their connection with it signifies their existence as human beings. Wagamese indicates that loss of land equals loss of identity and the self.

“Next day he come an’ brought me two eagle feathers tied all together with moose-hide thong. Said I earned them. Then he talked to me about them two sets of gifts we all carry. Told me them two eagles were signs to me about livin’ in balance with them two sets of gifts. Mother’s and the father’s. When I was prayin’ I was in balance an’ that’s why they came. Both sides comin’ together with my prayers. Man side and woman side. Sacred union comin’ together when I pray. Sacred union inside me.”

The passage includes the symbol of the eagle, an important cultural symbol of the Ojibwe culture. Harold granted Keeper two eagle feathers to honor Keeper’s powerful connection with his culture. The two eagle feathers symbolize the balance and equality between the female and the male, a reminder that people must honor humanity.

“I could hear their voices there. The ghosts of voices that filled those shriveled timbers with love and hope and happiness. The voices of an Ojibway family alive forever in a time beyond what the world could do and did not so far from then. Voices from a history that got removed. A past that never got the chance to shine in me. A glittering, magic past that was being resurrected right there in the crumpled heap of an old cabin that had given itself back to the land a long time ago. It was part of me.”

Garnet completes his journey by returning to the old hunting grounds of his father and grandfather, where he was born. In his place of birth, Garnet reclaims his Anishinaabe identity and history, which were distorted and erased due to colonialism. Garnet feels his memory awakening and realizes his connection to the land and his family. There, Garnet finally attains a full sense of belonging and a feeling of home. This passage epitomizes the falling action of the text as things fall into place.

“I listened to the land around me. I could hear the quick little movements of the smaller animals drawn by the shiny light of the fire and from further off the howl of wolves saluting that moon. […] Me I sat there by that fire listening and thinking. Listening and thinking. Feeling safe in this full and empty land with that blanket of darkness covering all of it.”

Garnet’s four-day stay in his place of birth resembles a traditional vision quest. Garnet remains alone in nature, observing his surroundings and awakening his senses. He embraces the peace of nature and reconnects with his inner self while realizing that land is an integral part of his identity. Wagamese uses vivid imagery of sights and sounds to convey the peace of the moment and Garnet’s attunement to something as small as animal movement.

“Us we see power in everythin’ except ourselves. Them trees an’ rocks an’ things are all blessed with power comin’ in. Us we gotta look for it. So we go to the land an’ see where the real power is. Get humble an’ respectful in the middle of it all. Pray’n ask for help. It’s the start of findin’ your own power.”

Keeper emphasizes that real power only comes from the nature that nurtures and sustains people. Wagamese conveys that Anishinaabe draw on power from the natural world, which they treat with respect and humility. Connection with land restores people’s relationship with their inner self and reinforces a life of harmony and peace.