Romina-Nicoleta Andra

Maj. English – Min. Japanese

Professor Octavian More
Canadian Literature LLE6126/6226
June 11, 2019
Acceptance and Assumption throughout History:
Victim’s Role and the Process of Survival in Canadian Literature

“Then slowly, slowly she got up

And slowly she came nigh him
And all she said, that she ever did say,
Was young man, I think you’re dyin’!”
(Verse from “Barbara Allen” in Royal Beatings)

It is widely believed that the historical events and encounters of a nation shape the
mindset and attitudes of the individuals belonging to that particular community. There are many
such examples, with groups of people behaving differently based on the experiences they have
had throughout time, on the conditions they have lived in, or on the resources available to them.
In order to find such examples, it is enough for someone to open a history textbook, and to pay
close attention to the conduct of members of the European countries, as opposed to that of Asian,
African or American ones. In the same manner, depending on the circumstances, two opposing
roles are almost always assumed by individuals, communities, and countries alike: the role of the
dominator and that of the victim. Even though they might shift in form as times change, not
always visible to the naked eye, the aforementioned roles retain their essence and cast their
influence on the ones they are attributed to.
Pondering upon the role of literature in relation to the identity of a person, as well as that
of a nation and its historical course, one may suggest that it strives to paint into words the image
of the inner and outer world of the author, morphed into their characters, at a particular moment
in time. In addition to delivering certain emotions and possibly raising some questions, literature
is also meant to subtly outline the effect of what is known to us as history on different persons,
based on their life experiences, and to bring the readers closer through mutual understanding. E.

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D. Blodgett even suggests that ”(literary history) seeks either to construct or rewrite the sense of
a nation.” (1) Focusing on Canadian literature, the aim of the present paper is to take into
consideration Margaret Atwood’s argument in her Thematic Guide, Survival, and to analyse and
argue on the idea that the ‘Canadianness’ of literature, the very essence of this literature is, in
fact, the acceptance and assumption of the victim role; asserting one’s truth, beginning and
carrying out the process of self-discovery and healing, as well as drawing attention to the state of
things and to the possible threats awaiting, these are some of the proceedings accomplished
through this particular process, illustrated in the works of some of the most important
contemporary Canadian writers.
In her book, Survival, Atwood starts from the suggestive idea that “every country or
culture has a single unifying and informing symbol at its core” (26), giving as examples the
Frontier in the case of America, and the Island in the case of England. This idea is particularly
relevant given Frederick J. Turner’s text, The Significance of the Frontier in American History,
arguing no only on the relevance of the Frontier as a symbol, but on it being the core of the
American spirit and values, going as far as to state that “The result is that to the frontier the
American intellect owes its striking characteristics.” (9) With this symbol extending to aspects of
everyday life, it is also reflected in literature, given some of the most important American literary
works, themes, and motifs, the same case being easily applied to the symbol of England, its
history and its literature. Thus, Atwood’s argument becomes a solid and plausible one.
After introducing the symbol of Canada as Survival, Atwood follows by mentioning the
two types of survival Canadians were faced with in the course of history, namely “bare survival”
and the “cultural survival” (27). The second one, in reference to the cultural aspect, introduces
one of the most important topics treated in Canadian literature, stemming from the historical
existence of the Aboriginals as the first people to inherit the Canadian land. Also the first to
experience the role of the victim in relation with the foreigners who arrived later but still claimed
the land, it is important to understand that the art of storytelling has always played a significant
part in the Native communities, representing the way in which their history was preserved and
the lore was passed on to following generations. On the other hand, outside of their group,
history seems to have silenced these communities, given the historical events where, most often,
they played the role of the oppressed.

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 However, Aboriginal Canadians, through accepting and assuming their role as victims of
history, have turned to literature in order to rediscover and preserve their identity, while also
presenting the world with their own account of history. One such writer is Thomas King. Two of
his short stories, One Good Story, That One along with A Coyote Columbus Story, each have
their own distinct purpose, both constructed around the symbol of survival, although not directly.
The oral component of both stories is a powerful one since the advantage of the setting and the
narration is attributed to a Native, comprising elements unknown to the reader of ‘common’
origin.
Thus, in the first story, the victim’s role is assumed in a way that breaks stereotypes and
reverses perspectives. When the narrator is visited by the three men, in a characteristic style and
approach, he does not deliver what he is expected to, namely a rather stereotypical story, difficult
to understand by the uninitiated reader, about the Native traditions and beliefs; on the contrary,
he uses the opportunity to ‘mock’ the religious beliefs of the three Whitemen, telling a story
about “Ah-damn and Evening”. Foreign elements are included in an indirect manner, and the
coyote tracks mentioned at the end represent one of them. Since the coyote is known to represent
the trickster, it offers the key to understanding the text and its purpose. Even though in the actual
history, the Natives were the victims of the Whitemen, even though in the story, the narrator is
also surrounded and expected to provide a satisfying and exotic tale, through words he manages
to become a “creative non-victim” (35), the fourth stage of the victim in the process of survival
described by Margaret Atwood. The narrator is no longer merely a victim, but the designer of an
alternate version of historical events.
The style of narration remains rather puzzling, characteristic to the storytelling of Native
people, the writer passing on the cultural legacy of the Natives, seconded by the use of simple
English. Alongside the style of writing, satire is a means used by Thomas King in these short
stories in order to convey meaning and deliver a message. In the second text, on the other way,
the coyote is no longer the bearer of a possible interpretation, but a character in a story that has a
seemingly childish approach. The story speaks of the subjectivity of history as presented from a
single perspective, bringing to mind W. Churchill’s words “History is written by the victors”.
Despite the playful account of actual historical events in a manner that includes Coyote, the
symbolic survival and the assumed role of the victim suggested in the text call attention to the

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actual state of historical events, through a simple idea the narrator shares as an answer to a
puzzled Coyote’s question:
But if Christopher Columbus didn’t find America and he didn’t find Indians, who
found these things?
Those things were never lost, I says. Those things were always here.” (127)
The position of the victim as assumed by the Aboriginals in Canadian Literature is
explored and brought to the public’s attention more and more nowadays than before, but the
Canadian symbol of survival suggested by Atwood is certainly not restricted to this particular
topic. Given the tumultuous historical development of Canada as the country we know today, the
role of the victim was not and, to this day, it is not solely attributed to minorities. The confusion
surrounding the identity of Canadians as a nation and the oppression the Canadian people had to
face from different directions throughout time made of the process of perpetual survival what the
frontier represents for the Americans nowadays. The relationship between the oppressor and the
oppressed is present and explored even in some of the most popular works of contemporary
Canadian literature, which many would agree to be Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and
the short stories of Nobel laureate, Alice Munro (also, another important piece of Canadian
literature worth mentioning is Yann Martel’s Life of Pi).
Alice Munro’s Royal Beatings draws its symbolic act of survival from the
autobiographical elements of the authoress’ life. Focusing on the relationships between Rose, the
main character, her stepmother Flo, the other important figure in the text, her father and other
participants to the story, the process of writing works in this case as a means of understanding
and accepting past events which are reduced to a smaller scale, not affecting a group of people,
but a single individual. The historical role of the victim throughout the decades is mirrored by a
simple act of domestic violence, embedded firmly in the structure of a complex narrative. In the
case of this short story, the role of the victim is not only attributed to Rose, but to almost each
character present; Flo, the victim of her choice of marrying Rose’s father and “sacrificing”
herself, the victim of her own ignorance, Becky and Robert Tyde, the victims of an abusive
father, Rose herself, the victim of violence and lack of proper communication. A line from the
text describing Rose’s perspective could carry a relevant interpretation to the role of the victim
and their survival: “Present people could not be fitted into the past.” (11) In order to survive, as
illustrated in the text, one must accept and assume their role, they must evolve, adapt and live

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under the given circumstances. The scene with Rose’s royal beating and its aftermath illustrates
the process of denial, acceptance, and blame, assumption and, finally, the creative escape.
While Royal Beatings explores an intimate part of the act of survival in the past in
relation to the present, The Handmaid’s Tale, the dystopian novel turned into a popular TV series
addresses, though its nature, the victim’s survival in a future, possible world. Not only this, but it
also highlights the place of women in nowadays’ society and the possible threats posed by the
dominance of men. In the case of Offred and the other handmaids, the role of the victim is a
brutal one, materialised through their objectifying. They no longer have a name (being called by
their “owner”’s name), they all have to wear the same clothes, they do no longer decide upon the
sexual acts they engage in, or the pregnancy they have to complete. Covering aspects of several
types of dominance, from physical to psychical and extending to the type involving feelings such
as love, Atwood’s novel is the perfect example proving her theory of the essence of Canadian
literature. The archetype of the victim placed in the future, Offred struggles to save what is left of
her identity through her reflections, transmitting Atwood’s own idea of the process and
importance of writing: “Perhaps I write for no one. Perhaps for the same person children are
writing for, when they scrawl their names in the snow.” (Blind Assassin, Unit 6, slide 16)
Aesthetically representative to the reachable depths and invisible manifestations of the
influence of the oppressor, the verse sung by Flo in Royal Beatings and cited at the beginning of
the paper capture one of the instances of the oppressor: slowly approaching its victim,
mercilessly asserting the truth regardless of the victim’s desires, and moving on, the victim left to
suffer and perish. But in the same way Barbara Allen 1 comes to regret her actions and disappear,
too, in the same way, the two roles can be reversed, should the victim accept the situation and
have it work in their favour. But past events cannot be altered unless it is through writing.
Therefore, it is the role of writers to capture reality and ponder upon its lessons, and the essence
of Canadian literature lies in its tendency to capture these trials and learn from them, while at the
same time leaving a statement behind. To the question “Where is here?” still asked by Canadian
writers who are yet to discover their whereabouts, the natural response of the victim is to
observe, to learn, and then... to survive.

1 Protagonist of the Scottish ballad with the same name, a verse of it mentioned in Royal Beatings

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 Works Cited and Consulted

Atwood, Margaret. Survival. A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature. House of Anansi Press,
2012.
Blodgett, E.D. “Literary History in Canada: The Nation and Identity Formation.”
https://soi.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/soi/article/download/8044/7216/ Accessed 10 June
2019.
Hammill, Faye. Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature. Canadian Literature. Edinburgh
University Press, 2007.
Hogan, Patrick C. What Literature Teaches Us about Emotion. Cambridge UP, 2011.
Kröller, Eva-Marie. The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature. Cambridge UP, 2004.
More, Octavian. “Unit 2: Canada – past and present: a survey of Canadian history. The
distinctive markers of Canadian literature.” PDF File.
---. “Unit 3: The First Peoples (First Nations) of Canada.” PowerPoint File.
---. “Unit 4: Thomas King and Beth Brant.” PowerPoint File.
---. “Unit 6: Landmarks of Canadian Prose II. 20th Century Prose Writers.” PowerPoint File.
Turner, Frederick J. The Significance of the Frontier in American History 1983, Excerpts.
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/gilded/empire/text1/turner.pdf Accessed 7 June
2019.