Today students discussed "Refugees Living and Dying" and "Shonnud's Girl" (59 and 77). In class students are to post a three paragraph response to a story (1).
Today's homework is to write a response to "Ojibwe Boys." Tuesday students will have an opportunity to discuss the entire work and talk about essay ideas.
Handouts: Intial Planning Sheet, OWL guide to Thesis Sentences, Literature Circles.
One of your classmates, Tia is reading poetry this weekend at Webster Street Jam Festival at 10 AM. It is the festival's 10th anniversary. She was invited by Alameda's Poet Laureate Mary Rudge.
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Jacqueline Diulio
Professor Sabir
English 1B
8 September 2011
Family Ties- Response to Shonnud's Girl
In the short story “Shonnud’s Girl,” from the book The Dance Boots, family roles were very important for Artense, the main character, and her younger sister Violet. Many times throughout the story, Artense and Violet’s mother would leave for days at a time with no explanation as to where she was going. While the mother was away, the two girls would take over all the household duties until she returned. At a very young age these girls were forced to become the mother to their younger brother Sam (82). Although these girls had some help from their cousin, Cynthia, they were still too young to be left alone with their mother’s responsibilities.
Cynthia and Ernestine, Cynthia’s friend, help take care of the two girls by coming over to clean the house, washing and drying their clothes, and even mending the clothes when need be. As Cynthia and Ernestine cleaned they gave Artense and Violet attention they had never had before from their mother.
We swung and twirled, then Johnny grabbed Violet around the waist and carried her around the room, dancing with only his feet on the floor, her feet dangling near his knees. We were delighted with the attention; I watched the room tilt and spin as Ernestine held me by one hand and twirled me one direction, then the other (88).
The girls were not used to getting this sort of attention and loved every minute of it. They were never able to act like children because they were forced to become adults at such a young age.
The last time Artense and Violet’s mother left, she never came back. After the death of their father, the Artense and Sam were forced into an orphanage, While Violet stayed on the farm with the McCuskeys, their father’s boss and neighbor. After Artense went to the orphanage she never found what had happened to her mother’s belongings, which were left exactly the way their mother left them, or what had happened to her sister Violet. “I don’t know what she did with the box under the bed, what she did with Mother’s good white dress and powwow dress wrapped in sheets. And I don’t know where Violet is” (95). Their mothers absence was a big part of Artense’s life because she ever got to say goodbye to her mother or her sister.
Work Cited
Grover, Linda Legarde. “Maggie and Louis.” The Dance Boots. Athens: Georgia, 2010. (77-99). Print.
Tia Gangopadhyay
Angela Stokes
June Yee
Nick Malecek
Arjmand Khan
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201 B 9-10:50 AM
8 September 2011
Refugees Analysis
In Linda Legarde Grover’s The Dance Boots, we are re-introduced to Artense, this time as a recent high school graduate. From previously we already know that Artense spent much of her adult life insecure and lost. Certain factors that could have caused these deficiencies in her are shown in the short story “Refugees in the West End of Duluth.” She is nervous to bring her boyfriend, Stan, to meet her family because he is white. She describes herself as “in love but mortified” (Grover 62). Artense is partly ashamed of her culture in front of Stan and partly ashamed of Stan for being slightly ignorant in front of her family.
Furthermore, Artense’s mother, Patsy, answers on her behalf for everything, for instance whether or not she should drink or smoke or whether or not she will attend school or work. This lack of control over her own decisions probably causes her to lose control of her drinking as an adult. She is afraid to take a cigarette under her mother’s watchful eye and only takes it after making sure her mother is gone. The effect of her mother’s controlling ways is exemplified in the following interaction:
“She doesn’t smoke,” my mother answered for me. She was sitting at the end of the table, perched really, on a kitchen stepstool, with a straight back and an eye I had felt on me as long as I could remember, through walls and over distances and now across Auntie Babe’s dining room table. (Grover 64)
Artense wordlessly accepts her mother’s intense control over her. This probably leads her to immerse herself in alcohol as an adult.
Artense suffered from insecurities that were instilled in her from a young age. A neighbor told her that she has a gorgeous mother but that she resembles her father (Grover 67). She doesn’t believe that she truly has Stan or Frankie. She is shocked that Frankie, a grown man, is flirting with her and she, being nearly 18 years old, believes that she does not have control over Stan or Frankie, because neither of them are really hers. She also believes that she is old enough to be able to carry a conversation with a man. She is constantly beating herself up and this causes her insecurity.
Works Cited
Gardner, Janet E. Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print.
June Yee
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B Tuesday/Thursday, 9:00-10:50 A.M.
8 September 2011
"Ojibwe Boys" Response
“Ojibwe Boys” by Linda Legarda Grover is told from the point of view of Sam, who is the younger brother of Rose from “Shonnud's Girl”. It is about Sam as well as his cousin Vernon, who is the son of Maggie and Louis from “Maggie and Louis, 1914” and what is basically their journey to find their own way and essentially a purpose in life after running away from Harrod boarding school as they felt like it had nothing to actually offer them. They both set their minds on joining the military and find jobs in a bowling alley in the meantime for until they get old enough to serve. However, it is through Maggie in which Sam learns and understands that life is truly meaningful and fulfilled if one does want they want to do with it.
Maggie was supportive in the sense where she gave the boys what they needed to go off and even gave them a place to go to in Minneapolis. It was there where they met with Louis and found other Native Americans in the Holland House Hotel who were pretty much in similar junctures in their lives. Those people too were just working their jobs and making due with their lives any way they could that was available to them that gave them some kind of purpose. It was also where others would help one another and just to “work with the rhythm” (100, Grover) of their current lives to get by.
Vernon actually ended up experiencing the feeling of falling in love with a girl named Dolly who frequented the bowling alley he and Sam worked at. From there, they would spend much of their time together and eventually became more and more serious and that was something he did not expect at all, but it is something that can be beautiful and a part of really living life instead of just simply getting by (116-117, Grover).
It is eventually through what Maggie says that Sam gets a clarity of what it means to live life with a purpose. It is about having that choice of doing what one wants to do as said by her directly: “She always worked, and so we did, too. That was other people's business, whether they worked or not, she said. Just like it was our business that we worked. When you went to work you could be your own person, didn't have to ask people for things all the time. We could see that. You could do what you wanted with your money.” (120, Grover). While other people may not view that as the ideal way to live especially if one cannot afford it, it is in the end the person in question's viewpoint that matters because it is their life.
Grover, Linda Legarde. “Ojiwbe Boys.” The Dance Boots. Athens: Georgia, 2010. (100-121). Print.
Jacqueline Diulio
Professor Sabir
English 1B
9 September 2011
Lifestyles: Response to Ojibwe Boys
In the short story “Ojibwe Boys,” from the book The Dance Boots, by Linda Legarde Grover, told the story of a family that not only took care of themselves but also, anyone else who needed to be taken care of. Throughout the story Vernon and Sam, the two main characters, try to help Maggie, Vernon’s mother and Sam’s aunt, by getting jobs to send her money. Sam and Vernon were not quite old enough to join the army for work like the other men in their family; instead they left their home in Duluth and set off to find jobs in Minneapolis (102-103).
When the boys arrived in Minneapolis, they find Vernon’s father, Louis, who helped them find a job killing rats at the grain elevators. After a long day of clubbing rats to death, the boys set out to find another job setting pins at a bowling alley. Mr. Mountbatten, owner of the bowling alley, taught the boys how to save part of their paycheck and how to work hard.
He kept back a dollar a week out of our pay, which he put in an envelope for each of us in the safe. When we needed money we’d have it, he said; it was a good habit to get into while you’re young. By the end of summer we each had a pretty good-sized stack of bills in our envelopes, maybe ten, twelve dollars. When Buster heard about how we had jobs and a place to stay he thought he wouldn’t go back to school in the fall but would hitch down to Minneapolis instead (113).
Buster, Vernon’s little brother, decided to join the boys to try and make some money when he heard how well Sam and Vernon were doing.
When Sam and Vernon returned to Maggie with their saved money, Maggie gave away the money and anything else they had to spare to anyone who needed it. Maggie fed anyone passing by who needed a meal, even people who gave nothing in return. “I gave Maggie some money whenever I got paid, and Buster did too, and you would think with all those people, the LaForces and everybody else, always coming to her house and staying there, they’d all be giving her some money and she’d be doing all right. But that’s not the way it was” (119). Maggie’s acts of kindness showed numerous times through her family by helping others in need. If everyone lived by Maggie’s lifestyle of helping others for nothing in return, the world would be a much safer and happier place.
Work Cited
Grover, Linda Legarde. “Ojibwe Boys.” The Dance Boots. Athens: Georgia, 2010. (100-121). Print.
Tia Gangopadhyay
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201 B 9-10:50 AM
11 September 2011
Ojibwe Boys Response
The short story “Ojibwe Boys” is one of the many in Linda Legarde Grover’s collection, The Dance Boots. The story centers around the cousins, Sam and Vernon. After quitting the Harrod boarding school, both want to enlist in the army but both are too young. Therefore, they decide to go to Minneapolis to work (Grover 103). Both are treated harshly by whomever they are met on their journey. The owner of the gas station where they sleep in literally chases them off his property. When they arrive, however, they are met with Louis whose company they greatly enjoy.
Their first job is to kill the rats that are in the elevator so that the rats do not get shoveled into the grain that is going to the mill. The job is so dirty and sickening, that they are jealous of the grain shovelers, a job that is still dangerous, tiring, and dirty. While they work, they hold “inside hope that someday they might work their way up to shovelers” (Grover 106). Vernon who is described by Sam as a very agreeable guy vomits after working one day. After that they both decide not to kill rats again.
They then become pinsetters at a bowling alley where Vernon met a young woman named Dolly. “He was fascinated by every single thing about her” (Grover 115). She came to the bowling alley nearly every night to visit him and their relationship grew. Once Vernon turned seventeen, Dolly knew that he would go into the army.
She was polite, like Vernon, both of them so easy to get along with. They were like two peas in a pod, I thought, just alike . . .Her eyes were watery from smoke and sorrow at Vernon’s coming absence. She didn’t want to be the only pea left in the pod, a person could sure see that. (Grover 117)
Vernon ends up somewhere in Italy and Dolly goes to live with Maggie. The short story concludes with a reflection on Maggie. Her generosity makes her vulnerable to people who take advantage of her. However while George felt Maggie worked hard all her life, had nothing, and died poor due to her generosity, Maggie felt very differently. She felt that she was rich enough to be generous and she believed that she lived and died rich. Sam feels the same way. This story has the same reoccurring theme of hope and loss. The rat killers have hope that they will one day be shovelers and Dolly has the hope that she will one day live happily with Vernon. No matter how generous Maggie is, she is still taken advantage of.
Work Cited
Grover, Linda Legarde. “Ojibwe Boys.” The Dance Boots. Athens: Georgia, 2010. (100-121). Print.
Nick Malecek
Professor Sabir
English 1B 9:00-10:50am T/Th
13 September 2011
“Ojibwe Boys” Response
In “Ojibwe Boys”, we see sixteen year olds Sam and Vernon move out to Minneapolis from Duluth to find a job. This story moves from acceptance and hope to tragedy, regret, and despair.
Sam and Vernon first work with their family friend Louis in a grain factory, “chasing rats and beating them to death with shovels” (LeGarde, pg. 104). Sam did not enjoy this job at all so after the first day they quit and promptly found a job as pin setters at a bowling alley. Here they found a certain acceptance among the hospitality and diversity of the bowling alley staff. Included in this diversity is an cross-dresser named Winnie who is apparently a man dressing as a woman. Outside of the bowling alley we found Sam and Vernon snubbed everywhere they went, such as when they were staying with Louis until the apartment manager kicked them out because he didn’t like how all the Indians shared a room without paying him (LeGarde, pg. 106-107). At the bowling alley, everything seemed to be looking up for the hard-lucked boys. They had a relatively decent and stable job where they were accepted. Vernon even fell in love with Dolly, a girl he met when she came to the Alley one night. They had big plans, as Dolly describes to Winnie:
“See this? I bought this bride magazine for when [Louis] gets back. It’s got all these wedding dresses in it, and things you can do to make your place all dolled up? And ideas for keeping things nice, too.” . . . “And I’m gonna have a baby, too.” Dolly’s nose began to redden. (LeGarde, pg. 117-118)
But like all the characters in The Dance Boots, their fates soon imploded. Vernon left to fight in the military and we soon discover that he is missing in action, and assumingly dead, fulfilling the tragedy. This particular circumstance in the story really broke my heart. I can only imagine what it would be like to leave those I love, or have someone I love leave, only to never see them again. We also find out that Dolly is pregnant with Vernon’s child, and she gives birth to the baby knowing that Vernon is gone. Sam goes on to shine shoes at a bar, and helps out Dolly and Maggie whenever he can.
My final impression of this story is regret. Not for myself, but for the characters in the story, mainly Vernon. Sure it was an “honorable” action to leave and fight in the war, but he also left his love with an unborn child. What is worse? Avoid serving in the military or leaving those who may depend on you?
Works Cited
LeGarde, Linda. The Dance Boots. Univ of Georgia Pr, 2010. Print.
Adetona Adewale
Professor Sabir
English 1B
08 September 2011 Shonnud’s Girl Response
Today I would like to talk about the story “Shonnud’s Girl” and reflect on the main themes of the story. In the first paragraph I am going to cover what Shonnud’s family was doing in the countryside at the McCuskey’s. In the second paragraph I shall be discussing the dual personality as well as all sides of Shonnud. In the third paragraph last but not least I would like to bring to your attention the new kind of realization and peace of mind that Shonnud’s daughter finally found in the end.
Shonnud’s family was working for a family in the country that hired her husband for work. As the author replies, “When our dad got hired to work for Mr. McCuskey it was a good chance for us to live in the country” this particular quote restates my first sentence (Grover 83). Shonnud’s husband did all kinds of work for the McCuskeyes such as, plant cultivation, tending to the animals, revamping the property, maintained the grounds, and occasionally worked for different farms as well.
The character of Shonnud is a rather interesting one because she can almost be seen as two people in one. Shonnud would always leave her family in the afternoon and she would walk down the road because she just wanted to get away for a while. Whenever Shonnud would leave she would always look very dazed and confused and pessimistic.
Perennially oblique, her stance stepped its quarter turn away though she faced forward, her elbows out, the backs of her hands facing front. As she walked down the road away from us she looked forlorn, blown of course, on days windy or still, her walk seemingly aimless, her destination somewhere down the road (Grover 81). As the author adds, in the quote right above Shonnud had a very dark side to her personality. Shonnud was also very beautiful like a horse because of her well mannered and very ladylike and greatly kind demeanor.
The daughter of Shonnud was quite the observant one because she not only saw passed her mother’s flaws but she also had an epiphany about her life and all life in general. Shonnud’s daughter found out in a dream everybody eventually comes home to the place of their ancestors no matter where they are we all come home. Lastly, I would like to revisit what Shonnud’s daughter said according to the author, “we’re just one little piece of the big picture, and that picture is home” (Grover 99).
Works Cited
Grover, Linda LeGarde. The Dance Boots. Athens: University of Georgia, 2010. Print.
Arjmand Khan
Professor Sabir
Eng 1 B
12 September 2011
Ojibwe Boys
“Ojibwe Boys” is a sad story that can be easily related to. It is similar to the stories we hear in our everyday lives. It starts with two boys looking for a job while experiencing happiness and sorrow.
Sam, who is the narrator of the story decides to find a job with his cousin Vernon since they are too young to join the army. Vernon's father Louis, who we encounter again, helps his son and Sam find a job which involves killing rats. The job is too tiring and harsh for these young boys therefore Sam tells Vernon to find another job with him. Vernon who is described as an affable person by Sam, agrees right away (107). The next job they find involves more work which is setting pins for bowlers but due to the friendly environment, they decide to keep the job.
The story starts getting better as Vernon and Dolly fall in love with each other. Dolly starts visiting the bar more frequently in order to see Vernon. In the mean time, Vernon grows old and has to leave in order to serve the army. This saddens Dolly:
She French-inhaled a few times to oblige Winnie, but anybody could see her heart wasn't in it. Her eyes were watery from smoke and sorrow at Vernon's coming absence. She didn't want to be the only pea left in the pod, a person could sure see that. (117)
Dolly even tells Winnie that she has everything planned for when Vernon comes back from serving the army. Later we find out that Vernon went missing in action and that Dolly has a child.
Sam on the other hand, tries to support Maggie and Dolly with the money he gets. He describes Maggie as someone who spends all her money on the needy. He understands the importance of what Maggie does. “In George's eyes, Maggie worked hard and died poor. In her own, she lived and died rich” (121).
Work Cited
Grover, Linda Legarde. The Dance Boots. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2010. Print
Angela Stokes
Professor Sabir
English 1B
12 September 2011
Response to “Ojibwe Boys”
In the short story by Linda Lagarde Grover, we visit Sam’s story. In the beginning Sam is reminiscing his younger days. He remembers his mother and sisters while he is still a toddler. “In my dreams, the women in the green checkered apron holding my hand…” (Grover 101) he is somewhat unclear who she really is and the story really never tells us exactly what happens to her.
Being too young to join the Army; Sam now sixteen travels from Duluth along with his cousin Vernon to Minneapolis to look for work after quitting school. Meeting up with Louis, both Sam and Vernon are tasked with killing rats to keep them from entering the Grain shaft where Louis and a few other men were shoveling for pay. The work was tiresome and gruesome and although Vernon took to it, Sam was unhappy. “I didn’t like killing rats…” (Grover 106) “…let’s not kill rats tomorrow…”(Grover 107) said Sam and from there Palace Bowl found them.
Unlike the Grain elevator the work of setting pins at the bowling alley was just as hard but the boys found and befriended a unique cast of characters including Dolly, a chain smoking beauty. Vernon was instantly smitten and Dolly felt the same way, “they were like two peas in a pod…” (Grover 117) As with most of this book, tragedy always finds our main characters. Vernon becomes of legal age and joins the Army and after some time Vernon was”…missing in action…” (Grover 119)Dolly unwed and pregnant with Vernon’s child leaves Minneapolis to live with Maggie and her family, Maggie then claims the child as her own as to help Dolly save face.
.
That was other people’s business, whether they worked or not… Just like it was our business that we worked. When you went to work you could be your own person, didn’t have to ask people for things all the time. What Maggie wanted to do with her money was to give it away; a person who felt rich enough to do that would never be poor…and a person who thought he didn’t have enough to give away would never be rich.
Never truer words had been spoken, this was Maggie’s way she believed in giving, always thinking of others before ever doing for herself.
Work Cited:
Grover, Linda Legarde. “Ojibwe Boys” The Dance Boots. The University of Georgia Press
Athens and London. 2010
Alexander Jung
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201 B 9:00-10:50
12 September 2011
Write up on Shonnud’s Girl
The short story “Shonnud’s Girl,” in the book “The dance boots,” takes the reader back to the early days of Artense. The story talks about the life of Artense’s family and problems that they faced during that time. One of the main problems that the family faced was that Artense’s mother would randomly leave the house for an unknown reason. Artense tells the readers that she would be gone for multiple days and come back looking exhausted. (Grover 81) No one would know where she would go but that did not stop Artense from loving her mother. Throughout the story characters would part from Artense’s life but because of the love that the family had for one another, that bond of love kept them together in spirit in the end.
After the mother of Artense left the house and never returned, Artense’s father died of cancer. With both her parents gone, the county had to take care of Artense and her brother while Artense’s boss’s wife took her sister, Violet, as her own child. Even though Artense would never be with Violet and her mother again, Artense points out that
“I do see Mother everywhere, and Violet, too. Once or twice a month I drive into Duluth past the work fram and take that road to the horse paradise, which is where Lisette lives now, in this big concrete block nursing home built right in the meadow. Mother and Violet stand by the fence and wave as I pass by before the turn into the parking lot; I spot them right away partly because I recognize Mother’s green-checkered apron and the wash dress Violet is wearing […] They wave, and I wave back, sometimes when I get out of the car I walk over to where the fence was to look for them, though of course they are not really, solidly, there.” (Grover 96)
The love that Artense has for her mother and sister enables her to visualize and see her mother and sister. For Artense, she feels that she is connected to them no matter what had happened in their lives.
Once her immediate family has Artense, two other people leave her life. Artense has a cousin named Cynthia who took care of Artense, Violet, and their brother when they were young children. Cynthia would visit often and sometimes bring her friend Ernestine who was nice to Artense and her siblings, even though she did not talk to them too much. Eventually Cynthia and Ernestine moved away to live somewhere else. Once Artense grows up, she reflects on how life is different with everyone in her family being gone. She believes they are together in the end and says “but that doesn’t mean they’re not here with us, along with everybody else, Lisette, Mother, Violet, Daddy, everybody.” (Grover 98) Even after everyone has gone away or ventured off on their own in their lives, Artense believes nobody has left her life because of the bond of love that they are all connected to at heart.
Works Cited
Gardner, Janet E. Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print.
Alexander Jung
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201 B 9:00-10:50
September 12, 2011
Write up for Ojibwe Boys
The short story “Ojibwe Boys,” in the book “The Dance Boots,” depicts the lives of Sam and Vernon. Both of them want to join the military but are underage so in the meantime they decide to look for something to do. During the story these two boys will receive assistance along the way which emphasizes the value of helpfulness in this story. At the beginning of the story both the boys decide to go where Louis is. There they are able to receive help since Louis offered them both a job in killing rats at the grain elevators. (Grover 104) The help that they received gave them a foundation to work from which would later enable them to progress further in their lives.
After killing rats for some time, Sam and Vernon decide to look for another job to do. Close by to where they work they see a sign at the Palace Bowl asking for pin boys. They are able to get the job and are able to meet the owner, Mr. Mountbatten. During the time there he was able to help them earn a good amount of pay. Sam states that “he (Mr. Mountbatten) kept back a dollar a week out of our pay, which he put in an envelope for each of us in the safe.” (Grover 113) Because of Mr. Mountbatten’s helpful way in managing the boys’ money, Sam was able to earn a lot and also send some back to Maggie.
Once Sam earned money from his job he was able to give money to Maggie. Once Maggie received the money she wanted to help others with it. Sam states that
“What Maggie wanted to do with her money was to give it away; a person who felt rich enough to do that would never be poor, she said, and a person who thought he didn’t have enough to give away would never be rich.” (Grover 120)
Even though she was to be poor in the end, Maggie wanted to help others because that was who she was. Her thoughtfulness and helpfulness for others gave her joy in life, even if she was poor.
Grover, Linda Legarde. “Ojiwbe Boys.” The Dance Boots. Athens: Georgia, 2010. (100-121). Print.
Adetona Adewale
Professor Sabir
English 1B
10 September 2011 Ojibwe Boys Reflection
The Ojibwe story primarily discusses the adventures of Sam and Vernon as they venture to Minneapolis and find work. As soon as the two boys arrive in Minneapolis they immediately seek out the familiar because they want to receive some assistance in their job findings. The very first occupation that the boys acquire is a job as rat killers. As quoted by the author, “Louis and the Sioux said if we wanted to go down to the grain elevators with them in the morning we could probably get a job killing rats”(Grover 104). Next, these two young men came upon yet another kind of profession they became pinsetters at a balling alley. Mr. Mountbatten was asking Sam and Vernon where they hailed from and Vernon gave him mixed answers, because in my opinion he did not want to be judged for being Native American. The boys met a coworker named Punk and befriended him quickly because he was very willing to show them the ropes and make them feel real comfortable in their new environment.
When Vernon and Sam met Dolly a local girl Vernon instantly fell head over heels for her and vice versa. These two love birds could absolutely not get enough of one another they had a chemistry that spelled marriage and everybody could see it.
Her blue sweater that matched her eyes. Dolly looked right at Vernon when he talked to her, those near-sighted, sky-colored eyes seeking and reading in his nearly black ones what he was too bashful to say, squinting a little just like when she was concentrating on the pins ( Grover 116). I chose the block quote from above because I felt that it placed a great deal of emphasis on the sentence before that. Moreover, as you can see Vernon and Dolly clearly became an item in Minneapolis and when Vernon became a marine and went away to war Dolly immediately began not only planning his home coming but she began preparing for their wedding as well. The author denotes that,” Vernon didn’t look much at her when they were talking, or when she looked at him, but when she bowled he stared like he was at the movies” (Grover 115). I decided to add this last quote to further enrich the previous sentence that is so comfortably situated directly above.
Works Cited
Grover, Linda LeGarde. The Dance Boots. Athens: University of Georgia, 2010. Print.
Joseph Quattrocchi
Professor Sabir
English 1B
11 September 2011
In the short story, “Ojibwe Boys,” Linda LeGarde Grover uses the lives of two Ojibwe men, Sam and Vernon, to express how the social structure of the United States has changed over the timeframe of The Dance Boots. Although the prejudice against Native Americans is obvious throughout the novel, LeGarde Grover presents change in the form of interracial relationships, employment by the military, and rising opportunity for minority groups that were previously unavailable to characters in the stories. Sam and Vernon represent the younger generations of the LaForce and Sweet families, whom the audience has been following through the short stories in The Dance Boots. From the context of “Ojibwe Boys,” the audience is able to understand the changing landscape and number of opportunities growing for Native Americans, which was a result of laborers needed during World War II. The boys move to Minneapolis to take advantage of a new life, where they find quickly find a decent job at a bowling alley.
A coworker, Skinny, explains the bowling alley’s culture to Sam and Vernon. He states that everyone is “all right. Everybody’s different and everybody minds their own business” (LeGarde Grover 112). The term “all right” implies that although the characters may not be close friends, they respect one another and maintain a cordial relationship. Skinny’s comment to the boys gives the readers context into the changes in society, or more specifically in Minneapolis. Within the city, the Native Americans have even settled into a specific area.
Franklin Avenue, the Av, where the Indians in Minneapolis came and went, all the Chippewas and Sioux, Boozhoos and Howkolas we called them somtimes, and Indians from some other palces, too. There was all of a sudden a lot of Indians in Minneapolis then, during the Second World War, from all the reservations, making money in the munitions plants and factories (LeGarde Grover 103).
World War II was the fuel cell for a developing the nation as a self sustaining manufacturing center. With the creation of thousands of jobs, it led to employment of underserved populations, minorities and women. The Native Americans, as seen in the text, benefitted from these jobs and were able to begin the process of integration. Native American prevalence in big cities forced the meshing of cultures, and although there was still racism, WWII represented many shifts in society that led to a more socially accepting population. Unlike many other Ojibwe who succumbed to the pressures of American society, Sam and Vernon emulate Maggie’s strength, pursuing careers in the armed forces. The “Ojibwe Boys” uses their ambitions to earn money and channel Maggie’s selflessness in sending money back to the family. The younger generations use their earned money to help support their ancestors and family members. Although Native Americans still faced white supremacists, the "Ojibwe Boys" are able to make light of new opportunities and give back to their families with the extra money that was not needed. This was a result of a changing economy in which life was slowly becoming easier for younger generations.
Work Cited
Grover, Linda LeGarde. “Ojibwe Boys.” The Dance Boots. Athens: Georgia, 2010. (100-121). Print.
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