Text 1 : Wacousta

Question 1

John Richardson

Answer 1

He is sometimes considered as the** 1st Canadian novelist**. British origin but **first canadian born writer to publish a novel which belongs to the genre of historical fiction. **

Question 2

Wacousta

Answer 2

Wacousta was published 6 years after The last of the Mohicans

Wacousta : name of the main protagonist who is also the main villain. Wacousta : a farmer cornish soldier & the plot revolves around his revenge against a Commanding Officer. He wants his revenge because the guy loves—- Wacousta is not his birth name, it’s the name he adopts when he joins forces with the indigenous nation who are raising wars against the british. So he’s gone indian.

Question 3

plot of the book etc

Answer 3

Historical fiction : the story is not set in the beginning of the 19th, it’s set in the Pontiac’s war (Pontiac = indigenous chief and war leader), in 1763-1766. It’s one of those military conflicts that opposed a coalition of indigenous nation & British soldiers. It’s about resisting and opposing British rules in Canadian colonies.

Richardson : a defining moment in the history of the British colonies. A moment that hinges on the confrontation of different factions (European palace and French nation ; British vs French)

Question 4

To go Indian / native

Answer 4

when a European person adopts the customs & mores of indigenous communities.

Question 5

Organisation of the text and the 2 paragraphs

Answer 5

The text is organized :
from garrison, to lakeward… moving in the landscapes. 2 garrisons are mentioned : Michilimackinac (west) & fort Détroit (east)

1st paragraph : mvt btw the 2 forts that the narrator compares ; from east ( fort Détroit) to west (Michilimackinac)
2nd paragraph : mvt is from the lake to the backwood (the forest / bush)

Both paragraphs hinge on comparison and opposition
→ mvt : the eye scanning the natural environment
→ stages :

Question 6

First paragraph

Answer 6

• Liminality
• Culture & Civilisation
  *Sense of isolation
• Beauty & Nature

Question 7

Liminality

Answer 7

= in-between

In the 1st paragraph :
* a liminal zone btw civilized order & the chaotic wilderness.
* liminal in temporal : it’s int the process of being transformed : Unlike Detroit Michilimackinac hasn’t been transformed yet.

Question 8

Culture & Civilisation

Answer 8

l6 : culture = cultivation => agriculture
latin root of “colonization” points back to agriculture

⇒ type of relationship this entails with the land & natural environment. natural environment being transformed to serve the needs of human communities.

Question 9

Sense of isolation

Answer 9

idea of garrison being surrounded : what isolate the forts is the wilderness

“hid from the view” “the dark dense forest” → the forest blocks the viex ; so the eye cannot see the nearby village = idea of the forest forming almost like a wall
⇒ opposed to the idea of perspective

Question 10

Perspective : for what and when ?

Answer 10

(Renaissance painting are supposed to have invented perspective & (light) to represent the world => giving dimension)

Perspective** gives the illusion you can walk into space.** Penetration that is not only visual but also** geographical & physical.**

Question 11

Beauty & Nature
2 conclusions of the narrator

Answer 11

• the transformation serves its immediate purpose / function : security
• but shift from function to aesthetic : effect on the viewer

Question 12

What makes a portion of natural environment beautiful is

Answer 12

a “blended natural scenery” & “pleasingly diversified” = perfect mix between variety & blend
Variety in itself doesn’t make beauty ⇒ variety has to be blended.
⇒ harmonious variety & contrast: but this can only exist with human intervention on the environment

Question 13

scenery

Answer 13

a picturesque landscape
the painted scenes on a theatrical stage
⇒ There is a notion of artifice

Question 14

Picturesque

Answer 14

Picturesque = what can be turned into a picture, a painting & what looks like a painting

Question 15

Entropy

Answer 15

as you progress in time there is a lost of energy. Order always eventually lapses in disorder

Question 16

Second paragraph

Answer 16

Opposition between the view of the lake VS the view of the Canadian backward.
The same adjective “monotonous” is used to qualify both view = absence of variety.

• The boats
• The eye
• Forest = jail

Question 17

The boats

Answer 17

“Armed vessel”, “valued vessel” : the known, familiarity. They represent military reinforcement, comfort. = their only link to European civilisation
“anxiously” = anxious as they are impatient + back & forth mvt show this impatience

Canoes = When they can see them it’s not ok. Indigenous presence is ok when it’s decorative

Question 18

The eye

Answer 18

The eye always goes back to the lake. It’s all about picture
l34 : idea of repulsion aroused by the absence of beauty (harmonious contrast & variety. The wild is unsightly.

Question 19

Forest = jail

Answer 19

final metaphora of the forest as jail
Richardson is // emerging theory in the 19th century according to which the savage, whoever they may be (all British empire) : the savage was the prisoner of a primitive nature that his habitat, his environment determined his character.

You live in wilderness = you’re a savage, a primitive ; if european arrive you’ll make a way for civilisation ⇒ from the idea of forest as a prison to the idea of the vanishing indian. Because natural environment has to be transformed by European intervention so the savages that live in the wilderness have to disappear.