Summary of 'This is a Story'
'This is a Story' by Armstrong is an anti-colonialist story.
It reflects how the arrival of the Swallow people has ruined and killed the
culture of the Okanagan people. Hegemony plays a large role in this story.
Swallows are whites (western) and Okanagan people are
colonized ones. The story reveals that people become what a community wants
them to be. People of the Okanagan changed their culture, customs and life
style to fit-into, and imitated the colonials who they would be able to live
together in peace.
But as a result, their willingness to change gives the
Swallows the chance to oppress them. Kyoti, a native of the Okanagan, was
offended by the way the Swallows treated him. The main plot is focused around a
dam that they created.
This dam drastically affects the famous migration of salmon
that Kyoti feeds to the people of Okanagan. With no Salmon migration, Kyoti and
the people hunger so Kyoti destroys the dam to re-establish the salmon
migration and saves the people of Okanagan.
About the writer Jeannette Christine Armstrong
Jeannette Christine Armstrong (1948) was born on the Okanagan
Reserve in British Columbia. She is a Canadian author, educator, artist, and
activist. She received a diploma of Fine Arts from Okanagan College and a
Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria, British Columbia,
Canada. She is the director of the En'owkin School of International writing organization
operated by the Okanagan Nation since 1989.
Her main goal in writing is to educate young people about
Native Culture and history. Following in the footsteps of her great aunt, she
published the first novel by a First Nations woman in 1985. With the
Publication of the novel, Slash, she established a place for writing by
contemporary Native Canadian Women. Slash is an important novel that traces out
a young native Canadian Man's struggle, with colonialism, racism and a self
-identity. Her writing reflects political, cultural, and linguistic struggles
of Native Americans.
'This is a Story' [question answer]
What changes did Kyoti notice while
walking along upstream?
Ans: Kyoti noticed a lot of things changed while walking
along upstream. He noticed a lot of new things. He saw a lot of swallow people
and they had houses everywhere on his last trip there but while walking then he
couldn't find any people or even the village of the people. Things looked
strange.
Why did the old woman from an old
headman family cry when she recognized Kyoti?
Ans: Kyoti was a native of the Okanagan. He aimed to feed the
people re-establishing the Salman migration and destroying the dam made by the
colonialist. When the old woman recognized Kyoti, she cried for a long time as
she had never thought he was ever going to come back. She cried with joy that
she could narrate the situation that hadn't been good for quite a while then.
She told him that swallows came, did lots of things and worse stuff, and hoped
that he would change the situation. In other words, she cried with the hope
that Kyoti would break the dams to bring the Salmon up and feed the people of
Okanagan
What is the effect of swallow food in
the Okanagan?
Ans: The Swallow food was not good. It made all people sick.
Actually, Kyoti himself was getting pretty sick and gaunt from eating stuff
that didn't taste or look like food. Swallow food was not real food like fresh
Salmon.
Write the
critical appreciation of the story in your own words.
Ans. This is a Story by Armstrong is an anti-colonialist
story. It reflects how the arrival of the Swallow people has ruined and killed
the culture of the Okanagan people. Hegemony plays a large role in this story.
Swallows are whites (western) and Okanagan people are colonized ones.
The story reveals that people become what a community wants
them to be. People of the Okanagan changed their culture, customs, and
lifestyle to fit into, and imitated the colonials with who they would be able
to live together in peace. But as a result, their willingness to change gives
the Swallows the chance to oppress them. Kyoti, a native of the Okanagan, was
offended by the way the Swallows treated him. The main plot is focused on a dam
that they created. This dam drastically affects the Salmon migration that Kyoti
feeds to the people of Okanagan. With no Salmon migration, Kyoti and the people
hunger so Kyoti destroys the dam to re-establish the salmon migration and saves
the people of Okanagan.
What were changes that could be seen in
the Okanagan people after they imitated the Swallows? Did their willingness to
change give the Swallows the chance to oppress them? Give a reason for your
answer.
Ans. Many changes could be seen in the Okanagan people after
they imitated the Swallows. Lots of people were in bad shape. They walked
around with their minds hunting. They could not see or hear good anymore. They
couldn't seem to see how the Swallows stole anything they could pick up for
their houses.
They could not seem to see that the Swallows treated them
just as they pleased without any respect. People of Okanagan changed their
cultures, customs, and lifestyle to fit into and imitated the colonials who
would be able to live together in peace. However, their willingness to change
gave the Swallows the chance to oppress them. They controlled them completely
and taught them to be like Swallows.
Why did Kyoti describe the Swallows
people as monster people? What harm did they make to his people?
Ans: Kyoti described the Swallows people as monster people
because they were pretty tricky making themselves ask like they were people but
all the while, underneath, being really selfish Monsters that destroy people
and things like rivers and mountains. The Swallows hurt Okanagan people's minds
and poisoned their bodies. They oppressed them and treated them without any
respect. They gave them bad food which made them sick.
What was the reason for breaking the
dam? What does the ending of the story 'All my children will eat salmon
again" tell us?
Ans. The reason for breaking the dam was to re-establish the
Salmons migration and saves the people of Okanagan. Swallows created a dam and
it drastically affected the migration of salmons that Kyoti would food to the
people of Okanagan. The ending of the story -all my children will eat salmons
again- indicates an optimistic note that Kyoti would change the situation from
the earlier one so that the people would be free from the chain of colonialism.
They would again get fresh Salmons to eat after Kyoti broke the dam.
This is a story by Jeannette Christine Armstrong [original story]
It came to me one morning early, when the morning star was up
shining so big and bright, the way she does in the summers. It was during the
women's gathering at Owl Rock. It was the same year that the Red Star came so
close to the earth that it was mentioned in the papers.
I had been sitting up with the fire. One woman had to sit up
with it at all times during the gathering. One friend had stayed up with me to
help keep me awake. It had been cold and I was wrapped up in a Pendleton
blanket. It was the second to last night of the gathering. I was getting very
sleepy when George said, “Tell me a story." "Okay," I said.
“This story happened a long time ago. It's real.”
Kyoti was coming up the river, from the great Columbia River
up to the Okanagan River. Kyoti had come up through there before. One time
before that I know of. That time Kyoti came up the Okanagan River which runs
into the Columbia River. That was the time when Kyoti brought salmon to the
Okanagan. Everywhere Kyoti stopped at the People's villages, salmon was left.
It made everyone happy. It was a great gift. Kyoti did that a long time ago.
Now, after waking up from an unusually short nap, Kyoti was
walking along upstream, wanting to visit with the People in the Okanagan. These
were Kyoti's favourite people. Visiting them always meant a real feast with
salmon. Kyoti was partial to salmon.
While walking along, Kyoti noticed a lot of new things. A lot
of things changed since that last trip through here. There sure were a lot of
Swallow people, and they had houses everywhere, but Kyoti couldn't find any
People, or even the villages of the People. Things looked very strange.
Eventually, Kyoti came to a huge thing across the river at
Grand Coulee. It was so high it stretched all the way across the water and
blocked it off. Kyoti stopped and looked at it for a while not having any idea
what it might be. It didn't look good, whatever it was. Something was worrisome
about it. Kyoti had thought of going up to the Kettle Falls to where the Salmon
Chief stayed, but there didn't seem to be any way salmon could get past that
thing, no matter how high they jumped. Kyoti was pretty hungry by then, not
having seen any People. Just to make sure,
Kyoti decided to go up the Okanagan River to where the People
had been real happy to get the salmon brought to them.
It was a good thing Kyoti didn't go up to Kettle Falls
anyway. Kyoti didn't know, yet, that all the People had moved away when the
Falls had disappeared under the new lake behind Grand Coulee.
So Kyoti went back down the river and started up the
Okanagan. Kyoti kept going along the river and, sure enough, what Kyoti was
afraid of came true. There was another one of those things right there at Chief
Joseph. But this time there were a couple of People fishing there. They were
the first People Kyoti had seen anywhere along the river. They were directly
below that huge thing that stretched way up and across the river.
So Kyoti went up to them and waited for a greeting and some
show of respect. Like an invite to eat. After all, Kyoti was respected in these
parts. Kyoti had brought the salmon to these people.
Kyoti waited for a while but neither of the young men said
anything. They just kept on fishing. Kyoti got tired waiting for them to speak
first and said, “How is the fishing?"
They both just looked at Kyoti, like they didn't understand.
Kyoti again spoke, slower and louder this time, “Is the
fishing good? I bet there are some big ones this time of year.”
One of them shrugged and tried to say in Swallow talk that
they didn't know the language. That was how Kyoti found out that they couldn't
understand the language of the Okanagan People!
Kyoti couldn't figure that one out, but since Kyoti knew all
the languages, Kyoti talked to them in Swallow talk. Kyoti asked them again how
the fishing was. They looked at Kyoti and one of them answered,
"We been here two days, nothing yet." Well Kyoti
was pretty disappointed. Kyoti was hoping to eat a couple of salmon for lunch.
Kyoti thought that maybe it wasn't a lost cause after all.
People in their village might have food, maybe even salmon, since this was
fishing season. Kyoti waited around for a while and finally asked, "Where
are all the People?”
One of them answered by asking what Kyoti meant.
"Well, I would like to talk to your headman," Kyoti
said very seriously. Actually Kyoti just wanted to eat. Kyoti was starving.
They both laughed. “What headman. Hey, man, where'd you come
from?” one of them asked.
Kyoti kinda got mad then and answered, “I came walking up the
river. I never saw any People. All I been seeing is those Swallows and they
sure got lots of houses. Now you talk to me in their talk and laugh at me. I'm
hungry and you don't even offer me anything to eat."
Well that shamed them guys out. Even though they weren't
quite sure of what Kyoti was talking about. One of them said, “Cheeze, you
coulda just said that in the first place. We're Indians. Come on, we'll go over
to the house and feed you up."
So that was how Kyoti got to Nespelum. Kyoti got to meet one
old person there that talked right. All the rest of the People just kept
talking Swallow talk. They used words in Swallow that didn't have a meaning
that Kyoti could figure out.
What was the most surprising was that all the people lived in
Swallow houses and ate Swallow food. A whole lot of things were pretty strange.
Kyoti had looked and looked for somebody who could talk in
the People's language. Kyoti asked the one person who could talk proper, how
this had all happened.
The person was a very old woman. Kyoti recognized her name
and knew which family and village her People were from. She was from an old
headman family.
She looked at Kyoti for quite a while and recognized Kyoti.
Then she cried and cried for a long time. “Kyoti,” she said, “I never thought
you was ever going to come back. Things haven't been good for quite a while
now. I kept hoping you would show up. Then Swallows came. We don't know what
happened. They did lots of things. They built that thing across the river
again, like when they were Monster people and you broke their dams to bring the
salmon up. I don't think it's made out of spit and clay like that other time,
but it's made of something like that. They did lots of other worse stuff. How
come you never came back for a long time? Now look what happened.”
Kyoti was quiet for a while. “Well I guess I went to sleep
for a while. You know sometimes I oversleep a little," Kyoti joked, trying
to make her feel better.
Actually, Kyoti was well known for oversleeping all the time.
And actually, Kyoti always used that as an excuse for being too late for
something important.
But the old woman just kept crying. She kept on talking,
saying, “Nobody listens to me. Nobody knows you anymore. You better go up to
Vernon, up there in the North Okanagan. Go see Tommy, he keeps telling people
about you. Maybe he can tell you something about what happened."
So Kyoti continued on up the river, stopping at each village.
This time they were easy to find, now that Kyoti knew that the People had moved
into Swallow homes. They were easy to find because they looked different than
the way Swallows kept their houses. The People didn't seem to care to keep up
the houses the way the Swallows worked at it, day in day out, non-stop until
they dropped dead. That was no surprise. They weren't Swallows.
Kyoti tried to talk to some of the headmen. Kyoti would
suggest something like, “You should break them Swallow dams, and let the salmon
come back. They know where to come, they never forget. I told them not to. You
shouldn't eat that Swallow food. Look at all the sick People."
Actually Kyoti himself was getting pretty sick and gaunt from
eating stuff that didn't taste or look like food. Especially real food like
fresh salmon.
But the headman would just shake his head and say, “Get out
of here, Kyoti. Your kind of talk is just bullshit. If you say them things,
People will get riled up and they might start to raise hell. They might even
try to do something stupid like break the dams. Them Swallows get mad real
easy. Besides, we'll just end up looking stupid. We gotta work with them now
even if we don't exactly like what they do. We gotta survive. We gotta get
money to buy food and other things. We gotta have jobs to live. That's how it
is now, we can't go back to old times. We need them Swallows, they're smart.
They know lots that we don't know about. They know how to live right. We just
got to try harder to be like them. So get outta here. You're not real anyway.
You're just a dream of the old People." They would say things like that
even while they talked right face-to-face to Kyoti. Even when Kyoti was right
there in front of them.
Kyoti would walk on feeling real bad. Kyoti had seen lots of
People in really bad shape. They walked around with their minds hurt. They
couldn't see or hear good anymore. Their bodies were poisoned. They didn't care
much for living anymore. They thought they were Swallows, but couldn't figure
out why the Swallows taunted and laughed at them. They couldn't seem to see how
the Swallows stole anything they could pick up for their houses, how they took
over any place and shitted all over it, not caring because they could just fly
away to another place. They couldn't seem to see that the Swallows treated them
just as they pleased, without any respect.
Kyoti could see that Swallows were still a Monster people.
They were pretty tricky making themselves act like they were People but all the
while, underneath, being really selfish Monsters that destroy People and things
like rivers and mountains. Now Kyoti could see the reason for being awakened
early. There was work to be done. It was time to change the Swallows from
Monsters into something that didn't destroy things. Kyoti was Kyoti and that
was the work Kyoti had to do.
Eventually Kyoti came to a place where a young one was
sitting by the river. This young one greeted Kyoti properly in People talk. He
looked at Kyoti's staff and asked politely, “Who are you, old one? I know all
the old People in the Okanagan. I haven't seen you before, but you look like
somebody I must have known before."
Kyoti sat down and then said, “You look like somebody I once
knew. An old chief. He was really a big important chief. He was so important
that he took care of People all up and down the whole Okanagan. He never kept a
single salmon for himself if somebody needed it. Me, I'm just a traveller. I
move around a lot when I'm not sleeping. Never know where I'll be tomorrow. I'm
looking for Tommy, I guess."
The young man said, “Tommy? The old man? Yeah you must mean
him. Some of us call him our chief now. It was Tommy told my mom to make sure
that I was to sit here and watch the river, every day during salmon-run time.
"You see he knows that I'm a chief of the Kettle Falls. I'm a Salmon
Chief, but no salmon come up here now, and there is no falls there anymore. My
great grandfather was the last Salmon Chief to see the salmon come up the
river. The Swallows came after that. Now I wait here and watch the river, like
my father and his father before him did. They died without seeing one salmon
come up the river.
“I guess I will keep on waiting. I believe Tommy when he says
that we got to not give up. Sometimes I think I will see them coming. Shining
and in clean water. I close my eyes during salmon-run time, and I see them.
Millions of salmon coming up the river. I see my People singing, all coming
down to the river to be with me, to eat again what we were given to eat. But
then I open my eyes and nothing is ever there. I'm so tired and so all alone
here. Nobody else cares."
So that was when Kyoti took out the shining rainbow ribbons
and hung them on his staff.
Kyoti walked up to Tommy's door and said, "Tommy, open
the door. I have come to talk to you. I'm going to ask you to get the People together.
The ones who can hear. Tell them that I am back. You know all of them. I am
going to break the dams. I'm hungry and that young one at the river has waited
long enough. All my children will eat salmon again."
This is a Story [word meaning]
|
bullshit (n.) |
non-sense |
|
disappointed (adj.) |
upset, felt
bad |
|
feast (n.) |
a large special meal |
|
get riled up (idm.) |
to be very annoyed |
|
gotta (v.) |
have
got to |
|
Grand coulee (n.) |
the location of a large dam |
|
Kyoti (n.) |
a native of the Okanagan |
|
monster (n.) |
cruel and
evil nature |
|
ribbon (n.) |
a narrow strip of material used to tie things |
|
Salmon (n.) |
fish |
|
shrug (v.) |
to
raise shoulder to show lack of knowledge |
|
starve (v.) |
to suffer due to the lack of food |
|
stuff (n.) |
substance
or materials |
|
swallow people (n.) |
those who are not from the culture of the Okanagan people |
|
taunt (v.) |
to
try to make somebody angry or upset |