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Raj Parikh

Mrs. Caldwell

ENG4U

10 August 2020

Fiction, Nonfiction, or Creative Nonfiction?

Part 3: Creative Nonfiction

1. Tomson Highway adds exaggeration to his writing when describing the place he grew up

in. This allows him to create more interest and imagination about the playwright.

Highway says, I come, instead, from one of the tiniest, most remote, most inaccessible,

most underprivileged and most troubled Indian reserves in the country, Brochet,

Manitoba, population 700, one thousand five hundred kilometers directly north of

Winnipeg (further than Churchill but on the opposite side of the province).” (Highway 2).

This allows him to create more interest and imagination about the playwright. By

exaggerating the location that he is from, the reader is able to better understand the

difficulties he faced to get his name out there.

2. The author creates an image in the reader's mind in paragraph 4 to present how he has

grown. Highway says, “So along comes this little Indian boy from one such remote

northern Native community and into the big, big city of Toronto and he dares to dream of

a career in the theatre, or, at the very least, in the world of Canadian letters. Fat chance,

baby! Forget it.” (Highway 5). This line is effective in allowing the reader to visualize
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where he came from and heightens his success story. Showing how the writer has grown

is an example of creative nonfiction.

3. The author creates a severe comparison to validate his point in paragraph 24. Highway

says, “Or as I asked, one sunny day, a respected, much admired Jewish theatre artist,

‘how would you like to work with no but Jews for the rest of your life?’”. (HIghway 6).

He also draws another comparison earlier in paragraph 24 when he says, “that’s like

saying only Italian actors have the right to play in Romeo and Juliet” (Highway 6).

Highway is making these severe comparisons in order to highlight the negatives of

working with only your own kind.

4. Tomson Highway is overemphasizing the difficulties an artist faces in order to create

emotion. Highway says, “The life of an artist is so incredibly challenging, after all, a

Native artist’s most especially, in Canada today, or anywhere in the world. Everywhere

you turn, insurmountable obstacles meet you square in the face.” (Highway 7). The

purpose of this line is to show vulnerability towards artists. This allows the reader to

better comprehend the reasoning behind giving artists opportunities and freedom.

5. In paragraph 2 Tomson Highway adds extra emotion to a genuine occasion. He says,

“When it dawned on me, one cloudy day, that my career as a playwright had been

destroyed by political correctness, I just about died.” (Highway 2). When Highway says

‘I just about died’, he is making the story more dramatic which is an example of creating

nonfiction.

6. Tomson Highway adds emphasis to the genuine occasion once more in paragraph 2 when

he's talking about his emotions. Highway says, I wanted to throw myself under a subway
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train and just call it a day.” (Highway 2). He adds great emphasis to his emotion to

interest the reader and encourage them to read more of the article.

7. The author builds an image in the pursuer's mind making a dream-like situation in

paragraph 8. Highway creates an image where he has to listen or die when he says, “So

what choice did I have? Either I forget the play and kill myself. OR I go right ahead and

hire - horrors! - white actors!” (Highway 3). Highway is excessively intensifying the

situation by giving himself two vastly different options, hire a white actor or kill myself.

8. In the last paragraph Tomson Highway foresees the future without having any solid

evidence that leads to his assumption. He says, “Will they, too, one day find themselves

standing on that subway platform - late, late at night, stoned, drunk out of their skulls, not

a penny in their pockets, no future in sight - and those long, silvery tracks down below

gleaming up at them in a manner most, most enticing?” (Highway 8). Highway is

foreseeing the future without any concrete evidence that leads to his magnified

assumption. The author is exaggerating indegnous people's future which in return leads to

the empathy towards indegnous people.

9. Tomson Highway's use of evidence in paragraph 25 to prove his point about what will

take place in the future. Highways says, “Look at what the Argentinians did TO EACH

OTHER during the so-called “dirty war” of the 1970s. Look at what the Spanish did TO

EACH OTHER during the Spanish Civil War. Look at what the Chileans have done TO

EACH OTHER.” (Highway 6). Highway is attempting to prove that diversity is required

by comparing it to previous civil wars. This is excessive as not only does this take place
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in Canada but there is also no definitive cause of the civil wars. His use of evidence from

past years is invalid as the world has changed greatly since.

10. Tomson Highway is able to amplify his emotions after his success in the play Rose.

Highways says, “Coming out of Rose, I ended up with the immense gift of, minimum, 30

gorgeous, fantastically kind new friends, people whose friendship and generosity - and

laughter - I will cherish right up until the day I die.” (Highway 5). Highway adds

importance to how grateful he is for the opportunity he was given. This allows the reader

to visualize how it will impact his life until the day he dies.

Part 4: Paragraph

Tomson Highway has a strong central argument that can be resonating in people's mind

after reading this article. Highway is stating that allowing non-native actors to play native roles

allows playwrights to succeed and is beneficial to not only natives but non-natives as well.

Highway is able to prove that the benefits of allowing non-natives to play their roles outweigh

the negatives of not giving a native person the job. When talking about the success of The Rez

Sisters Highway says, “ And it has never really stopped playing ever since, somewhere in the

world, giving continued employment to many, many, many actors both Native and non-Native.

As it will do probably forever … something that would NEVER have happened if not for the

help of extremely generous people who happened NOT to be Native, actors who happened to be

white!” (Highway 3). Highway successfully demonstrates why he made the right decision in

opposing what was seen as politically correct. He explains how the play will create employment

and money for generations to come and how he would not be where he is today without doing

what others preview as wrong. In today's world, a play that has non-indigenous actors in roles of
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indigenous characters would definitely create controversy and discussion on social media. In my

opinion, I believe it is warranted for not only indigenous actors, but actors of all different

cultures to play the roles of cultures that may not be their own. The life of an artist is already so

incredibly challenging as described by Tomson Highway, “The life of an artist is so incredibly

challenging, after all, a Native artist’s most especially, in Canada today, or anywhere in the

world. Everywhere you turn, insurmountable obstacles meet you square in the face. Everywhere

you turn, events, or people, conspire to bring you down, to destroy you . . . Don’t hold them

down. Don’t shoot them down. You will kill them. Or drive them away. They need all the help

they can possibly acquire. They’ve already almost killed themselves just to get to where they are

today.” (Highway 7). Instead of throwing the book at these artists, society should give them the

freedom to create and employ their imagination without worrying about political correctness. For

example, a playwright may rather have a talented and experienced actor bring life to a character

than just somebody with a status card who's never acted. A moment in the article that I made a

hearty connection with was when Highway said, “ I was horrified! After all that work? After all

those years of struggle and of hope and of prayer and of pain and of tears and of more struggle,

against odds that were impossible to begin with?” (Highway 2). To me, I felt like Highway was

talking about the fear of failure he felt. Previously in my life, I have gone through a lot to make

me the person I am today. I related this to one of my business ventures that I worked extremely

hard on for months. After launching the business, for the first couple of days I feared failure, I

feared losing time, I feared losing revenue, and I feared losing faith. Eventually, the business

turned out to be successful but I am able to relate to the fear of losing something that you have

worked so devotedly and passionately on.

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Works Cited

Highway, Thomson. “Should Only Native Actors Have the Right to Play Native Roles?”