Premium Essay

Naomi Fontaine

Submitted By
Words 1115
Pages 5
Today I would like to present to you a version of a petcha kucha I completed for my Quebecois literature course this year. Kuessipan, the stirring debut novel of Innu writer Naomi Fontaine, is divided into four sections: Nomad, Uashat, Nutshimit, and Nikuss. Today I would like to explain perhaps why Naomi Fontaine chose these 4 Innu words to represent the main themes of her novel as well as discuss their importance in relation to the overarching plot. To conclude, I want to examine the connection between these four sections in a way that ties into the novel’s recurrent circle motif.

The first section is Nomad. Since the beginning of human history, nomads have been present as hunter-gatherers, thus it is only fitting that the novel begins …show more content…
However, it is an ideal that no longer exists in the present day. She contrasts the honorable origins of her people with their current situation where poverty, suicide, and drugs persist. For her and others on the reserve, it appears that they have become a completely different people than those who lived off the land less than a century …show more content…
The choice of this Innu word as the title carries many meanings. In one sense, it serves as a reminder of the complexity of the Innu language. There is no French or English equivalent that conveys the four meanings of Nutshimit outlined by Fontaine. All at once, Nutshimit is ancestral land, a ritual for caribou hunters, unchartered territory once inhabited by nomads, and inner peace for a confused man, a sort of complete silence. In this section, the narrator recalls the travels of a young women who followed the route of her ancestors to Nutshimit. “Rowing, walking, carrying, camping, eating, sleeping, breaking camp, rowing – that was her life. The life she had chosen now, that she had borrowed from her ancestors; and heiress by choice. The path had been broken by thousands of others.” (68) This ideal land is presented in stark contrast with the present realties. To demonstrate just how separated Innu youth are from tradition, the narrator introduces the concept of taking the train, a symbol of otherness and intrusion, to Nutshimit, a place venerated for its spiritual significance. Taking the train to Nutshimit is, in fact, a paradox because it is the grueling physical journey on the sacred trails of the ancestors that enables a reconnection with custom and

Similar Documents

Free Essay

F Fwvf Etherth

...“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard “Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard “Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power Play for Howard“Power...

Words: 1489 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

The Best.

...Video production 9/18/12 The two thousand and five version of King Kong is by far much better than the 1933 version due to certain technology advancements. “Good things never last” said Naomi watts as “Ann” to character “Mr. Denham”, and that seems to be the fate for the once beloved “king Kong” of 1933. Technology seems to be the reason the new version transcends the classic and out shined version. Green screens of the nineteen thirties where great compared to other motion picture technology of its time. Back then you could set up a Claymation diorama or an acting set then just generate an interesting picture behind it and the crowd would go wild. But old ways have proven inadequate in comparison to new age technology. Green screens in two thousand and five could cultivate an entire feature length film with the addition of some other computer animations and sound affects. Such advancements pertain to the reason why I think the two thousand and five versions is better than any previous version. Motion pictures of the nineteen thirties where missing a vital piece of technology that helps the viewer better understand and illustrate the scene. That technology is color, and earlier motion pictures lacked the technology, leaving the viewer to use his imagination. Although “Technicolor” films had started as early as nineteen twenty two, many producers did not acknowledge the technology until later on. Color isn’t a necessity to make a movie “great” but it sure does help the...

Words: 381 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Shock Doctrine

...The question on my mind after seeing The Shock Doctrine was whether ends justify means. Quite possibly, this is the question Klein wanted to be asked, because much of her case regards the distasteful means taken in order to further free market economics, tactics which the very proponents of these dogmas may feel they want to disassociate themselves with. However, my question was about Klein's/Winterbottom's own tactics. The film uses all methods that we've grown used to from modern politics: cherry-picked facts, "proofs" by emotionally-charged metaphors, hinted claims of guilt by association, sound-bite slogans that are repeated incessantly, and, of course, scare tactics. Sad to say, I've come to expect these things from political candidates that need to make their points in a 30-second TV appearance. I've even come to expect them in rating-seeking news programs. But have we stooped so low that these tactics are now par-for-the-course in documentaries, where a film-maker has 90 minutes of canvas to make a clear, compelling, and well-argued case? I happen to agree with Klein's stance that extreme capitalism is dangerous, and I think what we are seeing in both Europe and China in recent years (e.g. the collapse of Chinese nation-wide education and health policies) are just further proofs of the narrative Klein forwards. However, I don't see that there is a well-argued case here that would convince someone claiming that any change, good or bad, rarely happens in a peaceful way...

Words: 407 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

K an Understanding of National Cultures Is Important to the Formulation of Strategy Management. Most of Cultures Are Centralism of the Self Culture. If a Global Corporation Invests to a Country, the Country Cannot

...k An understanding of national cultures is important to the formulation of strategy management. Most of cultures are Centralism of the Self Culture. If a global corporation invests to a country, the country cannot reject the investment. But if the investment is contradictory of their rules and to protect domestic industry, the corporation won’t be welcomed in the nation. So corporation must be understanding national cultures before enter to start business in a nation. k An understanding of national cultures is important to the formulation of strategy management. Most of cultures are Centralism of the Self Culture. If a global corporation invests to a country, the country cannot reject the investment. But if the investment is contradictory of their rules and to protect domestic industry, the corporation won’t be welcomed in the nation. So corporation must be understanding national cultures before enter to start business in a nation. k An understanding of national cultures is important to the formulation of strategy management. Most of cultures are Centralism of the Self Culture. If a global corporation invests to a country, the country cannot reject the investment. But if the investment is contradictory of their rules and to protect domestic industry, the corporation won’t be welcomed in the nation. So corporation must be understanding national cultures before enter to start business in a nation. k An understanding of national cultures is important to the formulation of strategy...

Words: 297 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

The Shock Doctrine

...The Shock Doctrine Matt Linseman The Shock Doctrine describes the concept of “disaster capitalism” where the “the powers that be” exploit the current social and economic systems in place to gain an advantage over the general population and in turn achieve their ultimate goal of generating any type of profit or power possible. Naomi Klein’s book describes how free market policies have come to dictate the world with the help of disaster manipulation, torturous exercises and shock of all kinds implemented upon countries as well as individuals themselves for profit and power gain. Naomi Klein dissects this theory in her book by illustrating countless unfortunate events that have happened across the globe such as revolutions, terrorist attacks, market meltdowns, wars and natural disasters and how “disaster capitalism” is implemented behind the scenes while these events take place. “Friedman defines these orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events, combined with the treatment of disasters as exciting ‘market opportunities’ or ‘disaster capitalism.’”(p6) It’s interesting because critics have been known to label Klein as a kind of conspiracist due to the nature and tone of her writing, though she does backup her arguments. She also follows the actions of a man named Milton Friedman throughout her book; she describes him as “a grand guru of the movement for unrestricted capitalism and for writing the rulebook for the contemporary, hypermobile global...

Words: 771 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Globalization

...barriers to trade and investment flows. The concept of globalization is said to have been spawned out of the Cold War as a result of the increase in specialization and the need for trade. As a result of globalization many economists, businesspeople, and politicians have found that they needed to change their policies and adopt what is called “the Golden Straightjacket”, which is a set of guidelines that governments and businesses must follow to be successful in a unified market. Many economists, politicians, authors, and businesspeople have differing views on the costs and benefits of putting on the Golden Straightjacket. Tom Friedman, an economist and author, argues that the Golden Straightjacket is a good thing for the world economy, while Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine, argues that free trade is a technique used to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Other ideas that have been argued are the effect globalization has on the spread of democracy. Tom Friedman argues that globalization is used to revolutionize governments to conform to democracy while Dani Rodrik, author of The Globalization Paradox, says that globalization actually hinders the spread of democracy. Klein, Rodrik, and Friedman offer differing views that reveal the various costs and benefits of globalization. Globalization usually refers to the global distribution of goods and services though reduction of barriers to trade. Globalization has existed for as long as there has been international trade...

Words: 1818 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Music Janis Joplin

...La doctrina del shock. En el ser humano siempre ha existido el instinto de descubrir y experimentar para poder avanzar y evolucionar. Este hecho provoca que en determinadas situaciones, como conflictos bélicos, se haya experimentado con individuos diferentes técnicas de tortura y resistencia, no sólo por lo que implica, sino por descubrir hasta que punto podemos ser flexibles, y para detectar cuales son nuestros puntos más débiles y nuestra resistencia. Esto nos ha conducido a encontrar el arma fundamental de cada individuo, la comunicación en términos de persuasión. En este documental Naomi Klein nos otorga su punto de vista, donde recurre a las terapias del shock como ejemplo de aquello a lo que recurren determinados organismos para conseguir beneficiarse de ello. Así las guerras, los ataques terroristas y los desastres naturales son fenómenos en los cuales se debe actuar para conseguir que la economía, el capitalismo florezca. Explica como determinados políticos y empresas recurren a esta terapia de shock para imponer el miedo y la desorientación sobre la sociedad y así conseguir avanzar con los planes económicos. Por tanto entiendo que para dominar un país, hemos de atacar su población imponiendo una serie de normas a seguir, penalizando aquellos opositores. Mientras sucede esto, introducir unas medidas económicas que el país no soporte, creando por tanto una crisis, consiguiendo así un beneficio, además de poder. Desde mi punto de vista es evidente que algunos países...

Words: 288 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Mulholland Drive

...Deciphering Mulholland Drive Mulholland Drive is a twisted and exhilarating movie directed by David Lynch. The movies tells the story of a Canadian women, Diane Selwyn, who moves to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. For the most of the movie, we are thrown into a dream Diane has. In this dream many of the characters and people in her actual life are integrated into her dream with new identities. The last part of the movie we are brought back to Diane’s actual reality. Only once I was brought into Diane’s reality did I realize the importance of the fantasy. I believe Diane has realized the hard, cruel reality of Hollywood and this has caused her to have a breakdown. She has lost the love of her life to this Hollywood scene and is faced with the fact that she is a failed actress. These inner conflicts and struggles have caused her despair and ultimately her demise. David Lynch is highly praised in this movie because of his ability to mesh fantasy and reality. The fantasy part digs into Diane’s deepest desires and conflicts. A lot of the things that happen in the dream part of the movie, I feel display the way she wished things had happened, mostly with her relationship with Camille. In order to understand Mulholland Drive you must be able to distinguish between Diane’s dream and her reality. The movie starts with Diane arriving to Hollywood, she is very excited and thrilled for her new opportunity. In the fantasy Diane is introduced as Betty and is described...

Words: 2069 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Book Review: This Changes Everything

...Book Review: This Changes Everything, by Naomi Klein, published: Sept. 2014 Summarize the book. What is being discussed? Rob Nixon of the New York Times called Naomi Klein’s “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate” “a book of such ambition and consequence that it is almost unreviewable.[1]” Naomi Klein researches the impact of Climate change and its relationship with free market capitalism. She discusses capitalism as failed economic system. She goes into great depth on the subject of resource extraction, pollution and the events of surrounding the affected communities in these regions across the world. However, rather than concluding that things are hopeless Naomi Klein argues that: We can build something better and reclaim our economic system. She argues that the market cannot save us. We have the tools/technology to get off of fossil fuels, but it requires leaving free market capitalism behind. We need to rebuild local economies, reign in corporate power and reclaim democracy. She argues that we aren’t all the all powerful saviours of the planet, but that as visitors on the earth we have to save ourselves from an earth that is rocking, burning and driving humanity into extinction because of our actions. Describe the three most important arguments or claims made in the book. The first argument Naomi Klein makes is that world leaders and climate scientists agree if we are going to avoid truly catastrophic consequences of climate change; we need to...

Words: 1681 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Socology

...Disaster Capitalism The best way to describe the opening stages of disaster capitalism is shock and awe and the inception of what she refers to as the shock doctrine. Throughout Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, she describes how cataclysmic events whether through wars, terrorism, military coups, market meltdowns or natural disasters open the doors to Friedmanite (named after Milton Friedman) economics (2007). Not only do these disastrous events make countries susceptible to increased exploitation from free market capitalists looking to profit from disaster, their radical economic policies and the massive privatization of public schools, utilities, health care and other public services, but also, as Klein describes in the book, it has led to some of the most atrocious and violent acts carried out by governments and their army and police forces throughout the world. Klein begins with describing the events that took place immediately after Louisiana was hit by Hurricane Katrina. She introduces us to Milton Friedman, author of Capitalism and Freedom and the one responsible for using “shock therapy” to implement Chicago School economics in other countries. Friedman’s goal was to recreate societies and return them to a pure capitalist state without any interruptions, government regulations, trade barriers and entrenched interests (Klein, 2007). In addition, he believed that the reformation to pure capitalism of these societies was not possible without the presence of a disaster...

Words: 1235 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Resistance Research Paper

...Resistance can be interpreted into a variety of alike but altered interpretations all boiling down to being opposed to the ideas of others or to an entire situation occurring. These ideas lead to groups of individuals who have similar opposing ideas to what some call the norm, these are called resistance groups. These groups are usually hidden and show their own twist on the ideas altering from the countries beliefs. Naomi Klein and Barry Lopez are two boisterous authors when it comes to resistance. Barry Lopez was not the one to sit back and let something he believed to be not right go on without voicing his opinion. Therefore he creates the multiple short story book “Resistance” to show his readers how he believes the world is not healthy. Naomi Klein on the other hand takes her own approach to resistance and puts it into a more straightforward subject of excessive branding and globalization. “No Logo” created by Naomi Klein, focuses in on four parts of the excessive branding going on in the world today, “No Space", "No Choice", "No Jobs", and "No Logo." () These four confrontational ideas that Klein speaks about throughout “No Logo” are the basis to her resistance. “I was an angry bystander. I'd no power to intervene, and had no intention of dropping the work I was already committed to, not in order to raise someone else's awareness, promote greater indignation, or organize.” (Resitance) Lopez begins resistance with the short story “Apocalypse,” () a key short story to...

Words: 1566 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Disaster Capitalism

...Disaster capitalism The two terrible natural disasters occurred recently in Haiti and Chile, together with the coup de eta in Honduras, plus the reaction of USA about this critical situations, have reawakened the fear that Latin America might be completely directed to the application of the doctrine of the “Disaster Capitalism”. According to Naomi Klein, capitalism has triumphed in the world not because the nations had willing accepted it, but because the ‘rules of the game’ of capitalism have been imposed in the form of liberal market politics. This is true especially in moments of disasters produced or used as an excuse for impose these politics. The fundamentalists of capitalism believe that the countries crashed by natural disasters become very ductile and easy to influence politically speaking. According to Naomi Klein, this is the way how big nations ideologically take over small crushed countries. No matter what our thoughts about her claims might be, we cannot ignore the fact that calamities like the attack to NYC in 2011, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the AH1N1 pandemic and let us not forget the devastation of New Orleans by hurricane Katrina, were used as mere business opportunities by American companies. These companies try to profit even if it means taking advantage of pitiful situations. The terrible events occurred during the September 11 attacks in NYC, no matter if they were product of an evil force or a self-attack, fitted like a glove to the plans created...

Words: 493 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

The Beauty Myth Analysis

...an action feminist praxis. This young girl speaks for every generation, above and below her. She is so empowering to the current movement that is going on worldwide and will definitely be remembered in history because of her powerful voice that will never be forgotten. Part 5: Movements, Resistance and Women 11. Intersectional Feminism is including women of all color, race, sexual orientation, wealth, and religion. It is important because most people think it only categorizes white women, but that is false. The category of intersectional women should include all women, and the issues that impact women. Works Cited: Hooks, Bell. Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Cambridge, MA: South End, 2000. Print. Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women. New York: W. Morrow, 1991. Print. "Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2017. ...

Words: 1297 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Femininity

...Their thighs are too big, their breasts are too small, their hair is boring, their skin is flawed, their body is shaped funny or their clothes are outdated. Today these are the thoughts of many women who feel they’re not beautiful. Naomi Wolf’s essay “The Beauty Myth” explores, why women feel they don’t measure up. Meanwhile Helena Maria Viramontes’ short story “Miss Clairol” examines the life of Arlene, who is a product of “The Beauty Myth”. Each author shows the power exerted by beauty ideals over women’s identities and goals, including the anxieties produced in women by these beauty ideals. The basis of Wolf’s essay was to show as time progresses it seems, the standards of physical beauty have grown stronger for women as they gained power in other social arenas. “The more legal and material hindrances women have broken through, the more strictly and heavily and cruelly images of female beauty have come to weigh upon us” (120) Women have accomplished so much over the past few decades yet, as you watch television or walk around the city, images of pencil thin women are shown to basically tell you that what you see is beautiful and if you don’t look like that you’re not. Wolf states that women today feel a need to purchase cosmetics to make them feel a sense of beauty, this is actually evident in “Miss Clairol” when Arlene is getting ready for her date, “She has painted her eyebrows so that the two are arched and even, pencil thin and high.” (90) This is showing that...

Words: 926 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

The Shock Doctrine

...SOCIAL CHANGE Neoliberalism specifically refers to economic changes that also bring about changes in public policy, economic policy, the distribution of income and wealth, the weakening or elimination of labor, increased impoverishment, increased mass powerlessness, and even sometimes war and torture (class notes). For Klein neoliberalism is the rule of the market and corporations over the state therefore, meaning over the people. In her novel, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism she gathers together decades of economic catastrophes made by the United States, the IMF and the World bank. In this novel Klein is pushing to expose capitalism’s true nature,“ a policy the breeds poverty and crime” (Georgi Arbatov). Klein’s basic thesis and main point is that neoliberalism is dominating the world by using public disorientation such as wars, terrorist attacks and natural disasters to push through reforms that are not accepted. The introduction of the book Klein talks about the disaster in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, one of the many examples she uses to support her thesis, and how the Louisiana State Legislature in Baton Rouge were using this tragedy as an opportunity to change New Orleans. They spoke about building condos now that public housing was finally gone. One congressman said, “ We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did”(page 4). Klein recalls what some of the victims commented on when they...

Words: 1539 - Pages: 7