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A review by earthgirl207
I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
I think it’s important to tease apart the story itself (the fiction) from the historical context (the fact). The story is beautiful, about the way human beings need each other and about living life fully in order to be prepared for death; about living your authentic life while your culture is fading around you. I also suspect that it was pretty groundbreaking when it was released in the late ‘60s for treating its Native characters as fully rounded people and not caricatures.
That being said, there are important pieces of context missing from the story (perhaps not widely known at the time of publication?). The biggest is the non consensual nature of children being removed from their parents and sent to the residential schools as part of an explicit cultural genocide, and the ways that the church was complicit in that. While the young being away at school and becoming assimilated and losing their culture is a big part of the story, it comes across like the families have a choice in sending them.
That being said, there are important pieces of context missing from the story (perhaps not widely known at the time of publication?). The biggest is the non consensual nature of children being removed from their parents and sent to the residential schools as part of an explicit cultural genocide, and the ways that the church was complicit in that. While the young being away at school and becoming assimilated and losing their culture is a big part of the story, it comes across like the families have a choice in sending them.