The Lost Salt Gift of Blood

498 Words2 Pages
Are there many ways to describe Canadian literature? Some say that it is sociologically oriented while others say that it has been strongly influenced by international immigration and still others have the opinion that Canada’s ethnic and cultural diversity are reflected in its literature. Some people say that to describe Canadian literature you must first describe the authors behind the writing such as Canadian famous author Margaret Atwood. One excellent example of Canadian literature is Alistair McLeod’s short story, “ The Lost Salt Gift of Blood ”. Canadian Literature often shows Canadian perspective on nature, frontier life, and Canada’s position in the world. In this passage from Alistair McLeod’s short story, the author shows his perspective on nature. “ Overhead the ivory gulls wheel and cry flashing also in the purity of the sun and the clean, freshly washed air”(McLeod page The author gives his perspective of nature as if it were the gulls pure and clean and the fresh cool air. He writes as if his perspective is that nature is all clean and new and preserved. A common theme used in Canadian literature is failure. An example would be failure as a father. In Alistair McLeod’s short story the man who is the main character has been a failure as a father. In fact, his son has no idea who he is. The following are passages from the short story that prove this point. “Here sir”, says John, “ have a go.” “ Just a flick of the wrist sir”. John, the mans son, uses the word sir twice as if he is meeting a stranger and he wants to be polite. “I hesitate to touch the latch for I fear I may waken him and disturb his dreams.” “And if I did what would I say?” The father wants to tell his son everything but he can’t bring himself to do so. He has been a failure as a father but his son is happy with the way things are and he doesn’t want to change that for the boy.

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