Exploring the Importance of Traditions in Richard Wagamese’s Keeper’n Me

Any relationship goes two ways to keep our life in balance, and also affect our life whichever of family or culture. As Bernice Weissbourd says: “Because it’s not only a child is inseparable from the family in which he lives, but that the lives of families are determined by the community in which they live and the cultural tradition from which they come.” In Keeper’n me, for instance, Garnet Raven who was taken away from his family to a series of white foster homes when he was three. Garnet’s experiences as a result of the oppressive political and social policies. Moreover, Keeper as a storyteller tries to pass the message of traditions and a way of life to guide Garnet, who arrived in White Dog reservation with anything but Native, to find himself. Finally, Garnet dealt with fitting in the life on the reservation and acceptance of people that around him by learning the Ojibway culture that Keeper taught him. Through setting, character development and symbols the author shows that there is more significance to our actions and emotions in finding a place to belong and a balance of life. Traditions which means a custom or belief that has existed for a long time, affect a person’s identity. The protagonist of story, Garnet, initially feels uneasiness and disconnected from his family and his culture. Environment changes the way that he lives by taking him away from where he was born. When he first arrived at White Dog reservation, people laugh at him on account of dressing like a black man “ I had my Afro all picked out to about three feet around my head, mirrored shades, a balloon-sleeved yellow silk shirt with the long tapered collar, lime green baggy pants with the little cuffs and my hippest pair of platform shoes, all brown with silver spangles, and three gold chains around my neck” ( Wagamese 45). He's just like a tourist, not knowing what to do or what to be as an outsider in his culture. The society forces him to be someone else