Farley Mowat's 'Never Cry Wolf'
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This 5 page essay discusses Farley Mowat's book, published in 1963, and based on an official survey by the Canadian Wildlife Service that was designed to study the impact of on the caribou population through a close study of their lives. The book underscores the fact that humans can only gain knowledge and awareness of nature by living as an intimate part of the environment. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Filename: Dontwolf.wps

Farley Mowat/Lost in the Barrens
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A 5 page book review that summarizes and analyzes the action in this "coming of age" novel about two boys who survive the Canadian wilderness due to their own resourcefulness. No additional sources cited.
Filename: khmowat.rtf

Guy Vanderhaeghe's Short Story, "Dancing Bear"
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A 5 page paper which examines the theme of Canadian author Guy Vanderhaeghe's short story, "Dancing Bear." No additional sources are used.
Filename: TGgvbear.wps

Hodgins' After The Season
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This 5 page essay provides a tutorial on the relationship between the use of setting, character and theme, relating it to a discussion of Jack Hodgins' After The Season.
Filename: KThodgin.wps

Howard O'Hagan/Tay John
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A 5 page essay that analyzes Canadian writer Howard O'Hagan's novel Tay John, which is a deeply psychological novel that brilliantly blends elements of Native American legend with narrative that encompasses virtually all of the myriad factors that make up the cultural background of the Canadian West. This examination of the rich symbolism that O'Hagan incorporates into this novel focuses specifically on the function and significance of Tay John's shadow, which serves to both bind him to the human race, while also setting him apart. No additional sources cited.
Filename: khtayj.rtf

Imagination in Montgomery's 'Anne of Green Gables'
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An eight page paper looking at this well-loved children's classic by Lucy Maud Montgomery in terms of its emphasis on the power of the imagination. The paper asserts that young children actually feel things more deeply than adults believe them to, and their imaginations can help them come to terms with a confusing and difficult world. Bibliography lists five sources.
Filename: KBanne.wps

Initiation in King’s “The Border” and Laurence’s “The Loons”
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A 6 page paper which compares the theme of initiation in Thomas King’s “The Borders” and Margaret Laurence’s “The Loons.” No additional sources cited.
Filename: RAlalo.rtf

Interpreting Sagard’s Journey to the Countries of the Huron
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This 7 page paper takes the work of Father Gabriel Sagard, who travelled to Canada from France in 1624, entitled The Long Journey to The Countries of the Huron, and examines it to show the student how to ‘read between the lines’ to gain an insight to the lives of the natives and real situation rather than only the position from the perspective of Sagard. The bibliography cites 1 source.
Filename: TEhuron1.rtf

Intranation -- Patricia Grace’s “Potiki” and Eden Robinson’s “Monkey Beach”
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This 10 page report discusses novels written by Patricia Grace (“Potiki”) and Eden Robinson (“Monkey Beach”). In “Potiki,” the reader is able to see one community's response to attacks on their ancestral values and symbols. In the process, the relationship between people and the land they live on is shown to have greater ties than can be imagined by the “typical” urbanite. Likewise, “Monkey Beach” demonstrates that there are people whose greater loyalties are more directly related to the mystical connections that exist for some people in what are most often dismissed as the ordinary occurrences of daily life. Both novels explore the idea of the existence of intranations in the modern world and the ideologies of the residents of those intranations. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Filename: BWintran.wps

Jane Urquhart/The Stone Carvers
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A 9 page essay that examines the role of art in Urquhart's best-selling Canadian novel The Stone Carvers. The writer argues that art is what motivates personal experience and expression for the principal characters. Art is their refuge and, then finally, art provides a means to heal the awful trauma of war and loss. While this theme (or theory) of art is prevalent, Urquhart also uses the medium of her novel to present art as intrinsic to what it means to be human, a medium by which the human soul endeavors to achieve the transcendental.
Filename: khurstca.rtf

Learning to Live in Coady's "Strange Heaven"
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A five page paper looking at Canadian author Lynn Coady's novel in terms of the learning experiences its protagonist undergoes, both in the mental hospital and afterwards. The paper suggests that up to now Bridget has tended to think of events as cyclical, and she needs to readjust her thinking to perceive them as linear. No additional sources.
Filename: KBcoady.wps

Lori Lansens’ Novel “Rush Home Road”
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This is a 6 page paper reviewing and discussing elements of Lori Lansens’ Canadian novel “Rush Home Road”. Lori Lansens’ first novel, “Rush Home Road” is about the story of Adelaide (Addy) Shadd, a seventy-year old black women living in a trailer park, Lakeview, about twenty miles south of Chatham, Ontario near Lake Erie. Addy however did not live there all of her life but was born and raised in nearby Rusholme (“Rush Home”) which was a predominantly black community settled by former slaves smuggled into Ontario through the Underground Railroad. The novel is split into two stories which eventually come together in the end. The primary story is about Addy’s life growing up through hard circumstances in Rusholme, Detroit and Chatham while the secondary, or present day story, tells of Addy’s life in the trailer park while she takes care of a five-year old girl, Sharla Cody, who was abandoned by her “white trash” mother. Sharla is of mixed parentage which is how the two storylines come together in the end with Addy ending up again in Rusholme and inadvertently finding Sharla’s father. The novel fulfills several purposes. Firstly, from a Canadian perspective, Lansens has including many historical elements which add to the experiences of Addy while at the same time educating readers. Second, readers from Southwestern Ontario and especially those who grew up along the St. Clair River will enjoy many of the same childhood stories as did the author and Addy. Finally, from an international perspective, the story of Addy is appealing to all as it involves the story of a “hero” who has to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to finally return home. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: TJCanfc1.rtf