What is short fiction?

- A made up story that you can read in one sitting fingere= to make, to shape fact=facere=to do, to make=a thing done What is fiction? - A made up story; Facts do not last. Fiction describes the truth, the fact. Facts, in order to survive, must become a fiction. Fiction is not the opposite of fact. Fiction is the complement of the fact. Truth is like orinary light, present everywhere but invisible unless it is fragmented by the prism of fiction.

A Red Girl's Reasoning- Emily Pauline Johnson Emily P. Johnson- her father was a Mahawk Indian and her mother was English. This was not a common combination, the other way around was more common. She was educated and knew the language of her people, and their tradition. She was promoting her culture. The story was written in the 19th century. The title 'Reasoning' her way of thinking; it focuses your attention on the problem itself. Charlie (24) and Christine (18). Charlie is an Englishman, wanted to study the Indian culture. He is very proud of his extensive knowledge of his Indian culture. He falls in love with a first nation girl, Christine ( Her mother married the white man ). To Charlie, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. To him, she is so exotic, different, unlike those European girls. These are the Victorian times, so they had a church marriage, because without it would not be valid at all. However, her parents did not have a church right, they married according to the customs of native people. Charlie wasn't aware of that, when he proposed to Christine. Charlie is Christian, so to him it was not insignificant that his wife was a bastard. Misunderstanding: She ruined his reputation after telling the elderly couple of her origin. He feels that people turned against him, he was embarrassed. His public shame is stronger than his love. That is why he sents her back home, he asks his brother to take her home. Then, he comes home late at night and starts yelling at her, she is confused and does not understand why he was so angry. She is not really exotic, she stands for the 'other' , the other is seen as a stereotype. She could be seen as dirty, immoral Indian woman ( a squaw ). But it was not her fault. She did not tell him because she was not aware that her parents' marriage was not valid. She explained to him that when the priest came to the village, he wanted to remarried her parents but her mother opposed to that. Her mother believed as well that her marriage was valid according to their customs. Her people could as well say that she was not legally married, because their custom is different to the one of white people. However, this is the collonial Canada, therefore The British laws and customs become the norm. Everything that is different from the british norm is illegal, inappropriate. He would like her to be a hypocrite, he wants her to lie. She is offended and leaves him. He realizes

how fool he was, and searches for her for months, but when he found her she rejects him. The final seen of the story: She is standing on the porch in her cloak, she is walking towards her, she is above him, he fells on his knees and claims on her heart, but she does not want to have anything to do with him. When he touches her arm, her arm burns, because she longs for him so much, but she tells him that she does not like him anymore ( she lies ). She tells this because she is proud out of being hurt by him. What is it that actually hurt her? Which word of his? 'God knows' He says everything would have been different if you should have kept silence, and she says: Would that have change anything? He says: God knows. This means that his love for her was not absolute, it was imperfect. His final mistake was that he left without a fight. He is ravished with what had happened, he loves her but he is too young. He longs for love, the only love he can find is in his dog ( opposite of god ) and he says: Dog can you forsaken me? And only dog is there to lick his face. Can this dogmatic world view make a person happy? We see that God left him when he needed him most. And her name is Christine, wasn't she his salvation? The problem was, he did not understand that or he misunderstood it, and he was not aware of it. Dopuna: The role of his brother- he is silent, he doesn't make any comments about his brother's marriange and he doesn't complain. So, his brother has to ask him whether it is strange for a red girl to live with him. Charlie was probably worried already, he was uncertain whether he did the right thing or not. And then, when Christine joins the conversation she says for his brother Joe that he is a fine man and if Charlie ever fails her, Joea would be a good replacement. What does that tell us of Christine? Maybe she really felt that. It seems to us that the two men are interchangeable, they are the two white men, so what is the difference. He is an interesting character who has a much deeper understanding of the comlexity of this situation than either Christine or Charlie. So, why is this story complex? Homi Bhabha: hyber identity is possible. There is a space of one nation and there is a space of another nation, but there is also the third space that may belong to both nations. There is this overlapping space and the persons who develop this sort of identity, which is then a hyber identity, they would actually benefit from the heritage of the both sources, both cultures. This was the case with the metis. In the marriage btw Christine and Charlie they managed to create this third space, they marriage was very good until it was exposed to the test at the ball. Edward Said- the idea of the other: considering someone that is different than you as 'the other'. How is that relevant for early Canada? Feminism: Who were the women that tried to fight for their rights? Not the Aboriginal women, thay did not exist at all. White women would refuse if some Aboriginal women wanted to join. They were selfish, they fought for their own rights. Let's first get this and then we will think of you. That is how they indirectly labelled them. VEZBE: The first native Canadian poet The clash between the imperialist white culture and fetishized image of the native people Christine is perceived as the cultured Indian. Charlie was proud of her, they saw her as the sweetest wild flower. -One version of the stereotype is this look of the Indians as savages, barbarians, who can improve, who can be civilized. So she did not offer resistance to this doctrine on the part of the white

settlers, but she did not forget her Indian origin. Terry Goldie: When we talk about the theories of the other in the 19th century, all theories actually go down to fear and temptation. Fear that somehow white people will get infected by these dirty, uncivilized, immoral Indians who are even lower on the evolutionary scale than animals, and as such should be kept on the reserve. -The other version of the stereotype is the one that is present in the story. The concept of temptation., the so-called cultured Indian. They are rude, savages but, after being civilized a bit thanks to their mobility of spirit they can become cultured. That's why Christine is perceived as that. Charlie is attracted to her because she is exotic, mysterious, the other. Not that beautiful and exceptional, but simply the other. Milena: She is just one of his relics to be studied on the way. :) This is how, not only Charlie, but all the other people from the Victorian society perceive her. The Victorian society, rather conservative society with the famous notions of purity, prudery and propriety which actually excluded the other version of the Indian stereotype. So, she was this devoted angel in the house, doing the house chores, devoted to her husband...pure, prudent, proper, and on the other hand there is an image of dirty, immoral squaw. She always wore blue, and velvet gowns. The blue is the colour of her Indian origin and the place that she came from, and velvet is sth that relates her to the Europeans, which indicates that she never gave up on her origins. The Occident ( the west ) vs. The Orient ( the other ) The Occident which is characterized by the rational, viruous, mature, normal way of looking at things. The Orient stands for irrational, deprived, childlike or different way of looking at things. 'Reasoning'- rezon jedne skvo Red girls cannot reason, they cannot use reason, they belong to the other, but this story shows that red girls can reason. Charlie acts as the authority on two grounds: race ( he is white ) and gender ( as male, therefore according to the notions of the Victorian society he is the one who can think and reason ). He is described here as a sort of amiable authority, benevolent, he loves Indians, their culture, but not the Indians what they really are like but cultured Indians. He perceives their culture in order to feel better about his own culture. The conflict: Her parents are not married according to Christian rights. It basically means that they are not married at all and that she is a bastard. The Indian tradition: For them it is much more important the word than the written document. The conflict btw the oral and the written. This did not bothered Charlie before, but now he is bothered because, all of a sudden, all the people knew. Her speech pg. 16 She asks what would happen if another civilization came, maybe none of their values would be the right ones. When they meet again at the end, she is isolated from the rest of the community, she is alone. He realized that the love that existed btw them was real, that he made a mistake. They are not ready to give up on their principles, she is so proud. 'Not even love can make us slaves' Her body reacts to him. She is attracted to him. He noticed that, and that was a sign of hope for him,

but she says she does not like him. ( lie ). The difference btw the private and the public set of values. This is how she shows that the principles of her society were much more important to her than love. This shows the paradox in the title: Red girls can reason.