Animal Imagery In Thomas King's A Short History Of Indians In Canada

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Thomas king’s A Short History of Indians in Canada describes conversations between a group of white people about birds that symbolizes the Natives. This conversation allegorizes the power imbalance between dominate white society and the colonized Natives who are treated as animals. When people have power, sometimes they think it is their responsibility to help the others to get better. However, King criticizes how white society helps Natives because there are misconceptions that come with the help. He satirizes the white paternalism through animal imagery. Through the conversations between Bob, Rudy and Bill, it is clear that King uses animal imagery to describe Native people. Bob, Rudy and Bill, three white men in Toronto are describing Natives as animals. For example, Bob’s description of Natives is similar to how one would describe birds: “Look out! Bob shouts. There are Indians flying into the skyscrapers and falling on the sidewalk” (2). Humans cannot fly, but the description of “flying Indians” defines Natives as birds. In addition, skyscrapers are tall buildings with glass walls, and birds do not realize that they cannot fly…show more content…
They treat the Natives as animals in the story with no caring. Bill said, “The dead ones we bag” and Rudy said, “The lives one we tag” (3). The key words “bag” and “tag” convey the idea that the white men are just doing a regular cleaning job which is cleaning up the Natives before other people see them. It does not show any respect from whites toward to the Natives. However, Bob made a comment about the job that Bill and Rudy did, “Amazing” (4). This comment has strong irony meaning. White society treated the Natives badly, but they thought they were doing a great job and felt good about themselves. Kings uses satire in describing how the white people helping the
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