Honouring The Blood Of The People Analysis

Critical Analysis of Honouring the Blood of the People: Berry Fasting in the Twenty-First Century

Class: 107 Section 3
Due date: October 1st 2013
Student name: Yu Su
Student number: 11136481
Seminar Instructor: Emma Sim
A Critical Analysis of Honouring the Blood of the People: Berry Fasting in the Twenty-First Century

Introduction:
In Honouring the Blood of People, Kim Anderson presents she has duties to pass on "berry fest", which is an original puberty festival for aboriginal girls. She points out that by joining this festival, Native young women could learn to "saying no", to be self-discipline, to have a sense of responsibility and sacrificing, to be offered opportunities to think about their authorities of sexuality
Anderson states "I have duty to pass along those stories that will empower our young girls"1. In the whole article, Anderson tries to teach girls to be brave, strong, self-esteem and with a spirit of revolt. She explains that girls should learn to "say no" when they are facing violence because they have that "healthy choices".2 It is actually more than choices but also rights for females because it tells women to fight for their life and not to give up when they are in difficult positions. Anderson also tries to teach young girls that men and women are equal. When she illustrates her idea that berry fast offer an opportunity for girls about sex, sexuality and relationship, she uses quote from Maracle that women and men have fifty-fifty responsibility and positions when they are in a relationship.3 Women are not in lower positions and they should not yield to men or endure silently. Beyond feminism, Anderson tries to inherit Native culture and does not want to lose it. In the begging of the article, she starts with a traditional story from a story teller, which aims at arousing reader’s interests about Native stories. Later on, she points out her purpose is to pass on those stories to empower aboriginal girls. Passing on traditional stories is a way to passing on culture to
When she claims that "self-discipline is another lesson that the young women refers to in their reflections on the berry fast", she reports from a sixteen-year-old girl named Simon who tells her that the girl wouldn 't accept berries from others in her puberty festival because she would stop and think to make sure if it is right for her to do it. From Simon 's words, it is strongly proved that girls could learn how to be self-discipline in "berry fast".4 In addition, a singer/hand drummer-Gertie Mai Muise 's reflection is also used in Kim 's argument. Muise writes her with those girls who grow up in a world of violence and abuses are going to change their history for original women to make their life bright and beautiful in the future.5 Again, those words from Gertie are well explained a deep feeling of love and expectation, which strength author 's thesis that "berry fast" should be passed down for native girls. Anderson quotes some words from Sylvia Maracle and Gertie Beaucage, both of whom are professors who "work for the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres". She reports from Beaucage that people in their society should learn to be disciplined and self-determined, which shows the same view with Anderson. According to Beaucage, “We need