Department of English and American Studies Indigenous Spirituality In

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Bc. Tomáš Kovanda

Indigenous Spirituality in Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson and The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louse Erdrich Master’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Mgr. Martina Horáková, Ph. D.

2018

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

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Author’s signature

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Martina Horáková, Ph. D. for her help, valuable feedback, and most of all for her patience. I would also like to thank my

mother for financial support, and my girlfriend for emotional support.

Table of contents Introduction ...... 5 Monkey Beach ...... 8 The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse ...... 9 Haisla ...... 11 Anishinabe ...... 11 Indigenous Spirituality ...... 12 Interactions between Western and Indigenous cultures ...... 13 Features of Indigenous Spirituality ...... 16 The Clash of Two Faiths ...... 21 The Crows and the Dead in Both Novels ...... 31 The Figure of Trickster in Both Novels ...... 35 The Gothic in Monkey Beach ...... 40 Spectrality as a Mental Disorder ...... 45 Things Visible Only to the Indigenous Eyes ...... 46 Rites of Passage ...... 48 Two-spirited people ...... 49 Sweat Lodges in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse ...... 51 Indigenous Spirituality and Holotropic States ...... 54 Entering the Spirit World ...... 57 Conclusion ...... 63 Bibliography ...... 66 English Resumé ...... 69 Czech Resumé ...... 70

Introduction

The main focus of this diploma thesis is the topic of spirituality of North

America’s Indigenous inhabitants . This topic will be examined in relation to two novels, Monkey Beach (2000) by Eden Robinson, and The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (2001) by Louise Erdrich. Both authors are descendants of

Indigenous people of North America, Robinson is of Haisla origin, while Erdrich identifies herself as Ojibwe. Both authors constructed characters from the environment that is familiar to them; in Monkey Beach, young Lisamarie is a member of Haisla community, while in The Last Report on the Miracles of Little No Horse, the woman

Agnes poses as a priest whose job is to convert Ojibwe people. This thesis compares the perception of Indigenous spirituality through the lens of descendants of the Indigenous people and from the perspective of descendants of colonizers. Through textual analysis of both primary texts, the thesis attempts to show that in many Western cultures based on Christian tradition, Indigenous spirituality is considered either a curiosity, or something no longer desirable, or it is treated as something strange,. The usage of the term “Western culture” in the thesis refers mainly to the culture predominant in the

United States of America, and Canada, but also in a large part of Europe.

The thesis presents different scholarly views regarding this issue in order to examine various phenomena connected to Indigenous spirituality that can be found in both novels. One such phenomenon are, for instance, the questions whether Indigenous spirituality has its place in Western cultures based on Christian tradition, or whether

Indigenous spirituality can co-exist side by side with Christianity withouth any grave clashing. It can be argued that a multitude of examples from the novels show that

Indigenous religions and Christian religion can indeed co-exist. Furthermore, the fact that many ideas stemming from Indigenous spirituality are becoming attractive again

thanks to movements such as New Age proves that Indigenous spirituality can still find its place in the modern world.

It should be noted that Indigenous spirituality is to be perceived as a very important part of Indigenous worldview, therefore anytime Indigenous worldviews are discussed here, they should be regarded in relation to Indigenous spirituality. In most

Western cultures, spirituality or religion is one of the parts of one’s life, often an institutionalized part, but as Owen states, Indigenous peoples “refuse to separate religion from everything else” (4). There even was no equivalent word for “religion” in most Indigenous languages became they came into contact with settlers (Arnold qtd. in

Owen 3). This shows how spirituality was an inseparable and genuine part of

Indigenous lives.

The thesis tackles the issue of Indigenous spirituality from several points of view; it attempts to see it from the Indigenous perspective, which might be useful to avoid unnecessary appropriation, even though it might be difficult for people with the

Western cultural background. Several views shaped by Western environment are also provided in the thesis since both Robinson and Erdrich, although they have Indigenous roots, have been shaped by the Western culture, at least to some extent. One of the biggest issues when exploring and describing Indigenous spirituality seems to be the way it is discussed through Eurocentric lens, while, at the same time, not realizing that this way of looking at things drastically distorts everything. In terms of Indigenous spirituality, there hardly seems to be any distinction between natural and supernatural.

As Deloria and Salisbury argue, this distinction was imported from Christian metaphysics, and many of Christian metaphysical ideas distort some of the uniqueness of Indigenous religions (Deloria and Salisbury 113). In other words, Western cultures only acknowledge certain phenomena that cannot be perceived through ordinary senses

(therefore they could be considered supernatural) based on what Christians consider appropriate. For example, the existence of the Christian God is recognized, but some of the supernatural phenomena rooted in other cultures, such as Indigenous spirits and ghosts, are usually dismissed as nonsensical by the Christian standards.

It is worth noting that the difference between Christian and Indigenous religions is not only in content, but in form as well. For Indigenous people, oral tradition and oral histories are very important, but from the Eurocentric perspective, they always suffered the danger of fading or even disappearing (Deloria and Salisbury 16). Deloria and

Salisbury ask the question whether these oral histories should be heard as literal and realistic depictions of historical events, or whether they simply function as metaphorical

“pseudo-histories” (16) containing “renditions of cultural circumstances rather than precise historical events” (Deloria and Salisbury 16). Apparently, some genres are more suitable to be transferred through oral means, for instance myths are more suitable for this than histories. It could also be argued that one of the reasons why Indigenous cultures were perceived as less developed by the colonizers was the fact that oral means of transfering histories and traditions were predominant in Indigenous communities.

The center of religious practice within Indigenous communities does not lie within any written text, or an explicit creed, nor is it usually based in a dogmatic set of beliefs

(Deloria and Salisbury 103). In general, Indigenous religions are rather flexible, put emphasis on nuanced interpretations based in personal experience, and revolve around leadership of those regarded as knowledgeable through years of training and specialized experience (Deloria and Salisbury 103).

Monkey Beach

In Monkey Beach, the story is told by Lisamarie, who wakes up as her parents are leaving to search for Lisamarie’s brother Jimmy who went missing while working on a fishing boat. At first, Lisa decides to stay at home, but soon she changes her mind and decides to join her parents in the search. Because she is unable to come up with a better means of transports, she uses their family motorboat. She makes a stop at

Monkey Beach, which is where she was taken for trips as a child, but something horrible happens to Lisa when she stops there. It is not particularly clear what exactly happens to her, and miscellaneous possibilities will be discussed at the end of the thesis.

Intertwined with the main story are countless Lisamarie’s memories that provide information about Lisa’s life up to the moment when the novel begins. These memories introduce many characters that are important to Lisa, but they also describe Lisa’s spiritual journey, and present issues she has to face because of her origin and her spiritual affinity.

In Monkey Beach, Robinson creates a world where her characters can experiment with phenomena related to nature, ghosts, monsters, etc. (Andrews 9). As it will be explained later on, Monkey Beach can be read as a Gothic novel because of these phenomena. Apart from the supernatural, there is another aspect that makes Monkey

Beach a Gothic novel, and that is the character of Lisa (163). Lane argues that “one of the most powerful factors on the Gothic novel in general is the representation of women” (163), and adds that Monkey Beach “has a female protagonist who is involved in the recovery of matriarchal power and knowledge, in the main through her relationship with Ma-ma-oo, her Haisla grandmother” (Lane 163). In Monkey Beach, female power is accentuated by the fact that mostly women are those with high spiritual affinity – Lisamarie, her mother Gladys, and her grandmother Ma-ma-oo are all said to

have special powers, even though some of them (Ma-ma-oo) embrace the powers as a gift, and some of them (Gladys) refuse them (Robinson 154). Regarding the role of females, Lane also claims that the Gothic genre “has always enabled discussion and representation at varying levels of female sexuality, transgression, and gender-based boundary-blurring” (163). Lisamarie breaches stereotypical gender categories and is more of a “tomboy”, largely thanks to the influence of her uncle Mick. Mick is a fighter for Indigenous rights, and encourages Lisa to do activities traditionally considered more suitable for males, for instance fishing (Lane 164). Another approach to Monkey Beach is to treat it as a “response to cultural disorder” (Andrews 10), or what could be also perceived as a spiritual or cultural clash, and this is the approach mainly used in this thesis. In Monkey Beach, Haisla viewpoint appears to be more dominant, and characters often need to deal with juxtapositions of Indigenous and non-Indigenous worldviews.

Furthermore, many characters need to deal with some form of evil as well, often because of the impact of certain Western practices that influenced their lives, e.g. residential schools (Andrews 10).

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse tells the story of Agnes, a nun who left her convent. After leaving the convent, she was wondering around the plains of North Dakota until Berndt, a farmer, took her in. One day, Agnes is kidnapped by a bank robber, and Berndt sets out to save her, but during the chase, both Berndt and the bank robber are killed. After Berndt’s death, Agnes sets off on a journey without any particular destination in mind. She meets Father Damien, who is on his way to an

Ojibwe reservation where his job is to convert the Indigenous people into Christians.

But Father Damien drowns during a flood, so Agnes decides to don his cassock and assume his identity. On the Ojibwe reservation, Agnes/Father Damien comes to know

many Ojibwe, and her/his close friend Nanapush introduces many Indigenous traditions to her/him, so Agnes/Father Damien eventually comes up with an amalgamation of

Indigenous spirituality and the Christian faith.

Throughout the novel, readers are presented countless letters written by

Agnes/Father Damien to the Pope. The devil in the form of a black dog visits

Agnes/Father Damien from time to time, and during one such visit she/he realizes that she/he will die soon because she/he is already over a hundred years old. After this realization, Agnes/Father Damien travels to a deserted island where she/he dies. After

Agnes/Father Damien’s death, the Pope finally answers one of the letters sent to him, praising Agnes/Father Damien for all the good things she/he has done on the reservation

(Erdrich 355). As suggested above, this thesis refers to the main character of The Last

Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse as “Agnes/Father Damien”, unless an event that happens to Agnes before she “becomes” Father Damien is discussed. To reflect this, the combination of both feminine and masculine pronouns will also be used when talking about Agnes/Father Damien, for instance “she/he” or “her/his,” even though

Erdrich usually only uses either name Agnes or Father Damien, and only a feminine or a masculine pronoun. In the novel, some of the more sensitive members of the Ojibwe community actually figure out that Father Damien is a woman, but they keep it a secret.

Fleur, an Ojibwe woman, thinks that “he stank. Or she stank.” (Erdrich 82). Erdrich herself uses the term “transfiguration” (9) for the process of Agnes turning into Father

Damien, which suggests that it is more complicated than just Agnes pretending to be

Father Damien. There are possibly even certain biological changes, it is mentioned that

Agnes prayed to stop menstruating and her “requests were heeded” (Erdrich 78).

Haisla

Haisla are the Indigenous people living on the reserve in Monkey Beach. The word

“Haisla” means “dwellers downriver”, and Haisla have dwelled the land and lived off the resources of the Douglas channel for more than 9000 years (“About the Haisla”).

Todays’s Haisla nation counts roughly 1700 people, and most of them inhabit Kitamaat village. Haisla social system is based on matrilineal clans (“About the Haisla”). Haisla people still continue with their tradition of fishing, hunting, gathering, and picking berries. One of the most distinctive Haisla features is the usage of oolichan fish (“About the Haisla”). They use it for virtually anything, from medicine to food. Oolichan is often turned into grease, which is quite a desirable trade commodity (“About the Haisla”).

The process of turning oolichan into grease is described in Monkey Beach in a lot of detail. In 1918, a massive part of Haisla population was killed during influenza epidemic, and two whole clans were wiped out (“About the Haisla”).

Anishinabe

Agnes, the main character of The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse loses everything, and she has a chance to pose as a priest whose job is to convert

Indigenous Anishinabe people into Christians. The term “Anishinabe” means simply

“people” (Johansen and Pritzker 1238). The Anishinabes are also known by the band names Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Ojibway, Chippewa, Mississauga, and Salteaux. The name

Ojibwa means “puckered up”, which is probably a reference to a style of sewn moccasins. In the early seventeenth century, it is estimated that at least 35,000, and maybe even double that number, of Anishinabes lived north of Lake Huron and northeast of Lake Superior (Johanse and Pritzker). The miscellaneous Anishinabe groups spoke dialects of Algonquin languages. Some groups quite likely believed in the existence of an overarching supreme creative power, and according to their belief, all

animate and inanimate objects had spirits that could be good or evil in essence. The latter, for example the cannibalistic Windigo, were greatly feared by people, there people attempted to keep the spirits content through prayer, with the intervention of shamans, and also by the ritual use of tobacco. Tobacco played a significant role in countless Anishinabe rituals (Johansen and Pritzker 1238). This, however, extends to many Indigenous groups - it can be also observed on Haisla in Monkey Beach when Ma- ma-oo offers tobacco to forest spirits as a sort of compensation for plants and timber she had gathered in the woods. (Robinson 152) Anishinabes eventually suffered a significant culture loss as a result of government policies that encouraged forced assimilation, e.g. residential schools (Johansen and Pritzker 1239).

Indigenous Spirituality

For Indigenous people, spirituality often means something different than it does for people from Western cultures. Indigenous spirituality in the sense discussed in this thesis is an everyday part of life and transcends into many different aspects of life.

Cornille supports this by claiming that Indigenous “religions” or “spiritualities” have been presented not as belief systems but as a “lifeway” that embraces all things (347).

Deloria and Salisbury argue that there is not only one single unifying concept when talking about Indigenous spirituality since both Native Americans and the First Nations enjoy a variety of miscellaneous worldviews, spiritual concepts, values, mythologies, philosophies, and ceremonies, both as individuals and as tribes or nations (102). In reality, there are a couple of hundreds of Indigenous communities at minimum, each of these practising their own spiritual and other traditions that are bound to local landscapes, seasonal rites, rites of passage, their unique language, and a variety of special ceremonies or other practices that are generally not easily accessible to outsiders. Therefore it is quite obvious that there are only fragmentary, unsystematical

historical records of Indigenous religions (Deloria and Salisbury 102). Also the presentation of the Indigenous spiritual experience does not appear to be unanimous. As

Cornille explains, some Indigenous practitioners avoid using the term “religion” because it suggests some form of institutional system, while other Indigenous people do not like the term “spirituality” because for them it evokes the connection with New Age

(347). In relation to New Age, it should be noted that for Indigenous people, ethnicity is not such a problem when partictipating in Indigenous traditions. In theory, non-

Indigenous people can take part in Indigenous traditions and rituals, many Indigenous people share their ceremonies and rituals with outsiders of their own volition. The main issue is that non-Indigenous practitioners usually do not properly follow or even ignore protocol (Owen 4). In other words, rituals and other practices often have many steps and rules that need to be closely followed and should not be adjusted in any way.

Interactions between Western and Indigenous cultures

Boyd explains that the scholarship of the last decades has shown that the

Indigenous and colonial societies have interacted in miscellaneous ways since their first contact (xx). The result of this often were hybrid identities, cultures, customs, and practices. Agnes/Father Damien, the main protagonist of The Last Report on the

Miracles at Little No Horse, could be considered to have such hybrid identity.

Nonetheless, sometimes mixing of the cultures was not desirable, and attempts to create boundaries between different societies have often had terrible impact on those who did not posess enough political and social power, for instance Indigenous cultures (Boyd xx). Many issues caused by the assimilation of Indigenous people are also mentioned in the thesis, for instance residential schools. These are still a delicate topic, in Monkey

Beach, family members argue because of residential schools on several occasions. One such occasion is when one of Lisa’s aunts, aunt Edith, prays, and Mick starts to yell at

her that she is “buying into a religion that thought the best way to make us1 white was to fucking torture children” (Robinson 110). This clearly refers to residential schools, and

Mick is very angry because he was sent to one when he was a child.

Throughout the twentieth century, the study of Indigenous religions was dominated by three primary ethnographic vectors – firstly, the studies of individual religious leaders and other practitioners, secondly, intensive “cultural” studies of the role of rites, ceremonies, and beliefs in a specific Indigenous community, and thirdly, comparative theorizing which attempts to cut across religious practices in search of common unifying themes (Deloria and Salisbury 103). These studies have been based heavily on the perceptions, observations, and theories of non-Indigenous observers.

These written, non-Indigenous, observations have often been used as a primary source for the subsequent study of Indigenous religions (Deloria and Salisbury 103).

The fact that the appropriated observations have served as a very important source of information is quite problematic since no early description of Indigenous religions escapes a certain paradigm of comparison. Indigenous religions are almost always described as “pagan” or “savage”, later on as “primitive”, in contrast to

Christian beliefs. Therefore, they were hardly considered to be worth of detailed recording or studying, and such records are often seen as “curiosities” of exotic “savage customs” (Deloria and Salisbury 105). Deloria and Salisbury further claim that the significance certain Indigenous spiritual practices had for Indigenous practitioners was often dismissed or misunderstood, and while curiosity and genuine interest often could be a motivating factor for non-Indigenous observers, these observers usually tended to portray Indigenous religious activities as “childlike” or “superstitious” (Deloria and

Salisbury 105). This early scholarly attitudes is reflected in both novels. In The Last

1 by the word “us”, Mick means Indigenous people 14

Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, it can be observed when the alleged magical powers of Anishinabe people are discussed. When Hildegarde, one of the sisters whose job is to convert the Anishinabe, is asked by Agnes/Father Damien whether she believes in Anishinabe magic power, Hildegarde utters: “Believe, why yes, just as I believe it is possible to hide coins and pebbles behind ears of small children and draw these objects forth to delight them. It is easy to mystify children. Their conjurers employ just such means to prey upon gullible. That is all” (Erdrich 73). Apart from ridiculing certain beliefs of Indigenous people, this also shows the typical Eurocentric worldview in which anything that cannot be explained rationally, and/or could be even remotely considered supernatural is usually dismissed as nonsensical or as a trick. Hildegarde’s words seem to stem from the mindset outlined by Deloria and Salisbury since

Hildegarde describes the magic powers as a curiosity, while also making the connection to children, suggesting they prey on “childlike” naivety.

As mentioned above, Deloria and Salisbury also mention that “savage” was often another term used to describe Indigenous practices and way of life (105). In The

Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, when Agnes is having a conversation with the real Father Damien (before his death), she presents several notions that might portray the Anishinabe as savage. “And what grave difficulties such a pious man will face when confronted with their shamans and hocus-pocus! I am sure they indulge in séances!” (Erdrich 37). This is what Agnes tells the priest to scare him, and she goes even further by mentioning that “they have, some of them, a tradition of devouring strangers” (Erdrich 37). Agnes communicates this information rather jokingly, trying to see if she can scare Father Damien, and it seems that she succeeds. Even though Agnes was not entirely serious, these statements still present prejudices many people have when discussing Indigenous people.

Sister Hildegarde who does not believe in supernatural powers of the Anishinabe is non-Indigenous, but in Monkey Beach, the dismissal of supernatural Indigenous phenomena can be observed even on people of Indigenous descent who have, however, assimilated into the mainstream Western culture. One such example is Lisamarie’s father, who claims that “Sasquatches are make-believe, like fairies. They don’t really exist” (Robinson 10). Jimmy, Lisamarie’s younger brother, does not agree with this statement and argues that Ma-ma-oo, his grandmother, says that Sasquatches are real.

To this, the father replies that “your grandmother thinks the people on TV are real”, and rolls his eyes (Robinson 10). This not only shows that the father does not believe in certain supernatural Indigenous beings, but the fact that he also rolls his eyes suggests that he considers the whole conversation rather absurd.

Features of Indigenous Spirituality

Perhaps the most obvious feature that can be found in almost all Indigenous worldviews is a strong sense of relatedness to others and to nature. Forbes claims that

Indigenous people “tend to see this living world as a fantastic and beautiful creation engendering extremely powerful feelings of gratitude and indebtedness, obliging us to behave as if we are related to one another” (284). The idea of interconnectedness does not, however relate only to people, this interconnectedness spans to animals, rocks, rivers, people, lands, and virtually all animate as well as non-animate things. This provides quite a lot of insight into the values, ways of thinking, as well as the perception of existence in the world that is typical for Indigenous worldviews (Four Arrows qtd. in

Johansen and Pritzker 487). Consequently, the sense of interconnectedness leads to prevention of a dualistic way of thinking, in other words looking at the world as a detached observer, without actually perceiving the connection to the world (Four

Arrows qtd. in Johansen and Pritzker 487). Indigenous way of thinking emphasizes

cooperative engagement over competition, it focuses on living in harmony with the nature rather than attempting to conquer or exploit it, and it also does not present humans as some superior creatures that are destined to rule all, but rather as a part of the interconnected world (Four Arrows qtd. in Johansen and Pritzker 487). Many of these principles are also valued in other cultures, therefore it cannot be claimed that these are exclusively unique to Indigenous cultures.

Apart from everything being interconnected, Indigenous cultures also perceive everything as having a living spirit, which is quite likely again connected to the interconnectedness since if one thing has a spirit and is connected to everything, the spirit might be perceived as “seeping through” into other things, animate or not. In The

Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, Erdrich writes: “For the Anishinaabeg, the quality of animation from within, or harboring spirit, is not limited to animals and plants. Stones, asiniig, are animate, and kettles, akikoog, alive as well” (Erdrich 257).

What is quite interesting here is that not only living being and things that were created by natural forces, such as animals or stones, supposedly have a living spirit, but man- made objects, such as kettles, have this spirit as well. This could mean not only that animate objects can somehow perceive what is happening around them, but also that they have a will of their own and an ability to act of their own volition. This is suggested when Erdrich mentions how “Nanapush had sometimes chastised his baggy trousers” (258). Here, it seems that the trousers were not disobedient because they were baggy, and this “bagginess” causes issues, but because they simply decided to be disobedient, thus Nanapush felt the urge to chastise them. The reason why even objects manufactured by people supposedly have a spirit might be some ubiquitous power that permeates everything, and is responsible for everything being intertwined as well.

Another explanation to this might be that humans are possibly perceived as an an

“extended hand” of the creator, thus they are the ones responsible for breathing the living spirit into their products. In Monkey Beach, this phenomenon of all things having a spirit can be observed for instance in the situation when Ma-ma-oo repays the wood spirits with tobacco for allowing her to gather wood and herbs (Robinson 152). Forbes also points out that each community or nation has their unique lore, traditions, etc., but he claims that most of them have three similar characteristics regarding creation and existence (283). Firstly, creative process in universe is commonly pictured as a “thought or mental process” (Forbes 283). Secondly, it is thought that there is multitude of sources of creation, either because multiple entities took part in the creation process, or because said process encompasses more entities originating from a First Principle.

(Forbes 283). Thirdly, the entities involved in the creation process are almost never portrayed as human, instead, they are portrayed “as “wakan” (holy), or animal-like

(coyote, raven, great white hare, etc.), or as forces of nature (such as wind/breath)”

(Forbes 283). Especially the first notion sheds some light as to why even objects created by humans supposedly have spirit – creation is perceived as a thought process, and before objects are made, there must be a thought, thus it could be said that the thoughts breath a spirit into the objects.

It is worth mentioning that today, all these Indigenous values, even though somehow generalized, along with the way of seeing and experiencing the world, might offer positive alternatives to the contemporary Western worldviews and values. Four

Arrows claims that many of the Indigenous concepts discussed above deserve serious study since they might become an opportunity to restore the health and balance in all living systems (qtd. Johansen and Pritzker 488). Because of these qualities, certain ideas and concepts are present in contemporary philosophical-religious movements, for example New Age. It could also be argued that environmentalists, e.g. Greenpeace,

share a similar worldview, at least regarding the nature, which suggests that many

Indigenous ideas and values are timeless.

The whole Indigenous philosophy seems to be quite selfless, therefore in most

Indigenous cultures, taking care of others and not just one’s self guides most actions.

Living in the present is more important than preparing for the future, as long as present actions do not cause any harm to future generations – in Indigenous cultures, these future generations are usually refered to as “the seventh generation” (Four Arrows qtd. in Johansen and Pritzker 488). Four Arrows, also known as Don Trent Jacobs, is an

American college professor, as well as activist for Indigenous rights, and he wrote over

20 books. He is of Cherokee/Irish descent (Four Arrows). Four Arrows presents many other aspects of Indigenous worldview, for instance that the notion of place appears to be more important than that of time, that age is supposed to be honored for its wisdom, while the virtue of patience is more beneficial than aggression (Four Arrows qtd. in

Johansen and Pritzker 258).

In Indigenous cultures, women are seen as equal to or even superior in their ability to contribute to society than men, and, finally, Four Arrows argues that the

Indigenous worldview includes an approach to conflict resolution that may explain why

American Indian people were and are often perceived as less warlike than those with more Euro-centric worldviews (qtd. in Johansen and Pritzker 487). Indigenous philosophy has peacemaking rooted in it instead of what Four Arrows describes as

“retributive, hierarchical, adversarial, punitive, or codified assumptions” (qtd. in

Johansen and Pritzker 487). According to Four Arrows,“responsibility is emphasized over rights, and, when parties reach consensus for restoration and accountability, opposing parties are seen as being back in good relationship with one another” (qtd. in

Johansen and Pritzker 487).

Nonetheless, it should be stated that this description is somewhat general, and it does not apply to every single Indigenous tribe or nation, some of the claims seem to be a little romanticizing. Many Indigenous cultures were quite warlike, it is a fact that there were countless wars between different tribes. This seems to somehow undermine some of Four Arrow’s arguments where he almost paints the dichotomy of peaceful

Indigenous tribes on one side, and evil violent colonizers on the other. In reality, this is not particularly a black-or-white issue, and even though the spiritual aspect of

Indigenous worldview emphasizes peaceful solutions, not all individuals or groups necessarily follow these instructions at all times.

Four Arrows also talks about other values typical for the Indigenous people are

“the acceptance of mystery, the honoring of alternative paths, an authentic sense of humility, and a belief that the highest form of courage is in the expression of generosity“ (qtd. in Johansen and Pritzker 488). He explains that “these four concepts underlie American Indian spirituality, which might be defined as a life that gives sacred significance to all things. Perhaps an understanding that everything is related and significant, coupled with a learning style that emphasizes keen observation, has led to cultures that maintained a close relationship with the earth toward realizing that humans cannot possibly have all of the answers to the complex mysteries regarding life.“ (Four

Arrows qtd. In Johansen and Pritzker 488) This shows yet another aspect of the

Eurocentric worldview that is different in comparison to the Indigenous worldview, and that is the acceptance of not having the answer to every question. Both of the worldviews seem to put emphasis on “keen observation,” but the Eurocentric worldview is based on empirical evidence to a large extent, so it seems that there is a different reaction to the “not knowing the answer to every question” bit. Based on Four Arrow’s words, it appears that the Indigenous people are more at peace with this, while people

with the Euro-centric worldview tend to defy this, and attempt to find all the answers nonetheless.

The Clash of Two Faiths

In The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, spirituality is a very strong theme, however, it is inspected from a different perspective than in Monkey

Beach. Both Robinson and Erdrich presents sort of a spiritual clash; in Monkey Beach, two worldviews are presented, the Indigenous one considers spirituality an important part of everyday life, while the Western worldview seems to prefer institutionalized religion, the type of spirituality that is quite separated from everyday life. Through western lenses, certain aspects of Indigenous spirituality, such as seeing spirits, are perceived as something which might complicate one’s life or even be seen as a symptom of mental illness. Seemingly, this only applies to Indigenous spirituality, while Christian spirituality is institutionalized, accepted as part of the Western worldview, and usually perceived as some sort of “rational” spirituality.

Erdrich in her novel presents a clash between Western/Christian culture and the

Indigenous one, and it should be noted that this clash is not necessarily only spiritual, but compared to Monkey Beach, the clash seems to be more out in the open because of constant interaction between the priest and members of the Anishinabe community.

Thanks to these interactions, the clash is shown from both sides as well, whereas in

Monkey Beach, only Lisamarie’s view is presented.

The one side of the spiritual clash in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little

No Horse is represented by the Christians who desire to convert Indigenous people, and

Hildegarde, one of the sisters converting the Anishinabe presents this attitude rather well by saying: “The poor Indians are dying out. Now is a good time to convert them!

They live like wretches anyway, and then the sweating fever takes them. … They just

sit patiently, singing, drumming, and prepare to get sick. You could easily baptize them while they’re tranced” (Erdrich 71). This rather emotional argument unveils the true motivation behind converting the Anishinabe, it shows that missionaries do not actually care about the people that much, instead they want to get them under their God’s influence which would make him more powerful.

The other side is represented by Indigenous people, who also very soon present their stance through the lips of Fleur, an Indigenous woman, who wonders what was the reason that “made the black robes desperate to gather up the spirits of the Anishinaabeg for their god” (Erdrich 81). She then describes Christian God as greedy and goes on to explain that it “made sense as all the people she had seen of their kind certainly were, grabbing up Anishinaabeg land, hunting down every last animal and wasting half the meat, swiping all they could” (Erdrich 81). Here, it is apparent that Indigenous people are not happy with Christians trying to impose their ways on them, and as mentioned, this is not only related to spiritual issues, but also to very practical and everyday issues like wasting animal meat. Mashkiigikwe, another Anishinabe woman, also demands to know why the chimookomanag, which is their name for Christian God, wants them.

“They take all that makes us Anishinabeg. Everything about us. First our land, then our trees. Now husbands, our wives, our children, our souls. Why do they want to capture every bit?” (Erdrich 101). She hates that the Christian settlers did not only take their land, but now they also want to convert them, and she does not seem to understand why it is so important for the Christians that everyone believes in the same God they do.

Even though there seems to be a sort of conflict of the two faiths, it is also mentioned on several occasions that both types of faith can actually co-exist. For example, in one of the letters Agnes/Father Damien writes to the Pope, she/he writes: “I have discovered an unlikely truth that may interest Your Holiness. The ordinary as well

as esoteric forms of worship engaged in by the Ojibwe are sound, even compatible with the teachings of Christ” (Erdrich 52). Throughout the entire novel, Agnes/Father

Damien actually gradually comes up with this amalgamation of both faiths and she/he, for example, uses some Ojibwe words in Christian context, e.g. the Ojibwe word for praying, anama’ay because it also has a connotation or a sense of a great motion upward (Erdrich 182). This actually seems rather fitting for Christians because Christian heaven is supposedly located in the sky, therefore the general belief is that if Christians are good, and get into heaven, they will experience this motion upwards.

This Agnes’/Father Damien’s conception of faith is not related only to terminology, but it extends to seeing similarities in both religions and mixing practices of both religions. But also, the usage of Anishinabe words was not at all limited only to spiritual terms. It is explained that “early on, Ojibwe words and phrases had crept in

Damien’s waking speech and now sometimes he lapsed into the tongue” (Erdrich 51).

Agnes/Father Damien utters things such as: “Well then, look, neshke…” (Erdrich 51).

Another example of intertwining the Indigenous and the Christian faith is the fact that Agnes/Father Damien expands the Trinity to four aspects so that she/he can pray to the spirit of each direction – every one of these four spirits sat at one of the four corners of Earth, (Erdrich 182) which are supposedly what is called points of the compass in most Western cultures. Later in the novel, it is even stated that “Father

Damien had been converted by the good Nanapush,” that Agnes/Damien “now practiced a mixture of faiths, kept the pipe, translated hymns or brought in the drum”

(Erdrich 276). Erdrich made an interesting choice of words here since she explains that he “had been converted,” nevertheless, the conversion quite likely is not complete, since she/he “practiced a mixture of faiths”. (Erdrich 276) Therefore, this does not seem like a

typical religious conversion, possibly because it had not been intended, but simply a product of interaction between Nanapush and Agnes/Father Damien.

As explained, Agnes/Father Damien attempts to understand the culture of the

Indigenous people, and even appropriates some of the Indigenous practices. She/he integrates them into her/his way of worhsipping God. Nonethless, not all people in The

Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse share this approach. For instance,

Hildegarde, one of the sisters whose job is to convert Anishinabe, says to Agnes that the

Anishinabe will “lose all the land, of course, being unused to the owning of land.

Incredibly, it makes no sense to them. They avow, in their own peculiar way, that the earth is only on loan” (Erdrich 72). This shows a massive difference between the

Indigenous and the Western notion of land owning, and also suggests that Indigenous people tend to feel more interconnected with land and nature in general. It is stated that

Agnes/Father Damien had little understanding of “how the ownership of land related to the soul“ (Erdrich 76) which suggests that this is rather difficult to grasp for outsiders, i.e. non-Indigenous people, and suggests some sort of connection of soul and land in

Indigenous philosophy, while in most Western cultures, land is just a place to occupy or used to grow food. Mary Kashpaw in The Last Report explains that “we live on earth and we are created of earth” (Erdrich 134). In the novel, this non-capitalized variant of the word “earth” is used since it most likely refers to land than the entire planet. She then also explains that Ojibwe word for vagina is deduced from the word for “earth”

(Erdrich 134) This apparently presents the connection between the two in the sense of both of them being able to give birth to people, plants, etc., in both literal and more abstract, almost spiritual manner, thus being essential for life.

Another significant part of this phenomenon is the notion of being part of nature instead of feeling like masters of the whole planet, which is a concept often present in

minds of people with Western background. Besides that, it also shows a sort of contempt on Sister Hildegarde’s part regarding this philosophy. It seems that this is not the only aspect of the Indigenous way of life Hildegarde despises which is shown when she talks about Nanapush. She describes him as “a stubborn, talkative sort, much resistant to conversion” and mentions that “he is too tricky to die” (Erdrich 73) along with Fleur, who also supposedly is too tricky to die and who is even described as “the daughter of Satan” (Erdrich 73). Sister Hildegarde then goes on to explain that both

Nanapush and Fleur are “almost the only ones to survive from their respective families“ and that they are also “rumored to have special powers” (Erdrich 73). When asked about these powers, Hildegarde describes them as “the usual. Drumming their drums. Singing until it breaks your ears. Shaking stuffed skins, rattles, and bones” (Erdrich 73). What is very important here is her evaluation of these practices which says “all ineffective agains the slightest of colds“ (Erdrich 73). This is basically another instance of

Hildegarde despising Indigenous practices, but not only that, she questions effectiveness of such practices and suggests the lack of medicinal knowledge. Hildegarde also ventures into the topic of Indigenous magic: “There are magicians among them, of course, cheap tricksters. They throw their voices and levitate. They scare gullible to death and are said to wing balls of fire toward their enemies at night. We’ve seen a few, you know, whiz by us up here! Unimpressive!” (Erdrich 73). Agnes/Father Damien sees this as a confirmation of Hildegarde believing in these sort of phenomena and points out that it seems as if Hildegarde actually believed in them. To this, Hildegarde replies:

“Believe, why yes, just as I believe it is possible to hide coins and pebbles behind the ears of small children and draw these objects forth to delight them. It is easy to mystify children. Their conjurers employ just such means to prey upon gullible. That is all.”

(Erdrich 73) With this reaction, not only does she state that she does not, in fact, believe

that the discussed Indigenous practices have some real healing or other effects, but she also calls anyone who would believe in them naive.

As mentioned above, in both novels examined in this thesis Indigenous spirituality somehow co-exists with Christianity. It should be noted that assimilation of

Indigenous people within Christianity is in no way a repression of Indigenous identity.

In fact, Indigenous people often continued to value Indigeneity in ways that might enhance and give new meanings to the Christian experience (Four Arrows qtd. in

Johansen and Pritzker 117).

In Monkey Beach, the clash of two faiths seems less apparent at first. However, the fact that spirituality plays a very important role throughout Monkey Beach is hinted at the very beginning of the novel which opens with a Haisla proverb: “It is possible to retaliate against an enemy, but impossible to retaliate against storm” (Robinson I). The storm here supposedly refers to something powerful which cannot be grasped or controlled, and it is known that in earlier days, storms were perceived as a manifestation of certain supernatural entities. A couple of pages later, Lisa mentions that “at any given moment, there are two thousand storms at sea” (Robinson 4). This is uttered in relation to Lisa’s brother being lost at sea, therefore it is most likely supposed to evoke a certain connotation of storms as powerful entities that can even take lives, even though this is not necessarily unique only to Indigenous spirituality. Apart from this symbolism, the proverb is very important for the novel because it foreshadows the ending – Lisa’s brother wants to retaliate against his enemy, but after he does so, he drowns, in other words he is killed by a natural force against which it is impossible to retaliate.

In Monkey Beach, the clash between two views of spirituality is established through the main character; Lisa seems to have a strong spiritual affinity, and even though she is struggling with certain phenomena that are related to this affinity, she

eventually comes to terms with it mainly due to her grandmother, Ma-ma-oo, who becomes Lisas mentor, and helps her understand the gift she was given. On the other hand, most of the other characters in the novel do not have such a strong relationship with the spiritual aspect of their lives, and some even consider it a mental health issue.

One character worth mentioning here is Lisa’s mother, Gladys, who used to have a strong spiritual affinity same as Lisa, but it seems that she no longer has it (Robinson

154). It is possible that she lost her powers or that she suppressed them, both of these possibilities probably have something to do with her assimilating – it was easier not to have these powers.

Compared to The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, Monkey Beach presents a significant shift concerning storytelling, as well as the way the issue of spirituality is treated. In Monkey Beach, the main character, Lisamarie, is an Indigenous descendant, and she comes into contact with Indigenous spirituality because of visions she experiences. If it were not for these visions, she would quite likely have no interest in this sort of spirituality because her parents were not interested in it either, and it is only Ma-ma-oo, Lisamarie’s grandmother, who realizes that her granddaughter has this spiritual affinity and she helps her understand it and control it in a society where most people no longer find this phenomenon relevant. On the other hand, in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, the main character, Agnes, is a former Christian nun, disguised as a Catholic priest, who arrives to an Anishinabe reservation where the

Indigenous religion is still very much alive, and as she gets to know the people and their spiritual life, she eventually creates sort of an amalgamation of Christian and

Indigenous faiths.

Interestingly enough, even though the authors of both novels have Indigenous roots, they each comment in entirely different way on the Indigenous spirituality and its

place in the world. It could be argued that Robinson presents a more bleak representation of the topic, as she basically portrays Indigenous spirituality as something that only survives through a limited number of individuals and that might soon be exterminated since it has been to a large extent supplanted by the Western way of life. Erdrich seemingly shows a more optimistic view when she describes how

Agnes/Father Damien gradually enriches her Christian faith with certain Indigenous aspects, and even claims that teachings of the two faiths are not exclusive, on the contrary, they complement each other. Both Robinson and Erdrich are of Indigenous descent, however, one of them chooses an Indigenous main character, while the other one works with a character with the background based on the Christian tradition, and this character comes to know the Indigenous culture due to random circumstances.

B’gwus

One of the supernatural phenomena mentioned very early on in Monkey Beach is

B’gwus or Saquatch, an Indigenous name for what is usually called “Yeti” in various

Western cultures, which appears in stories Lisa was told by her father when she was a child. The fact that the figure of B’gwus is perceived differently by different people is quite apparent when Lisa’s father says that B’gwus are make-believe and they don’t really exist (Robinson 10). This, however, is not an opinion his mother, Lisa’s grandmother, shares; she is actually quite mad when they discuss this and her son says that the stories about B’gwus are just stories (Robinson 8). She does not get mad only because her son believes something else than she does but because this emphasizes generational gap between her and her son as well. Ma-ma-oo is a member of the last generation that embraced the spiritual aspect of Indigenous life, while her son comes from the generation that disregarded this and started to live more according to Western values. The reason why this made her quite mad could also have a different cause – Ma-

ma-oo sent two of her three children to residential school where they were assimilated.

This alone is not a pleasant topic for Ma-ma-oo since the kids she sent there do not talk to her. The only child who keeps in touch with her is Lisa’s father, who was not sent to a residential school. But now, Ma-ma-oo sees that despite not sending him there, he assimilated as well, and he does not share many of her worldviews.

Contrary to what Lisa’s father says, in Haisla culture, there seems to be more to

B’gwus than it being just a large furry humanoid. According to Halpin, the word b’gwus, which apart from Haisla can be also found in Gitkasan or Kwakw’ala languages, has evolved from either pa’gwus or pi’kis, which can be defined at least in four different ways: “monkey,” “monkey woman,” “wealth woman,” or “land otter woman” and each of these words might have a different being (qtd in Appleford 5). The words usually refer to an animal or a hybrid between an animal and a human, and it is worth pointing out that when they have a specific gender, it is always female. Halpin further explains that the “wealth woman“ can only be encountered by people who do not want or do not expect to meet her, and even though she is usually a compassionate figure, there are also stories of her describing her as a “scourge who destroys entire villages” in case “proper marriages are not taking place” (qtd. In Appleford 5). She is seen as a guardian of moral purity, and hypothetically offers rewards if this purity is kept intact. A contrast to the “wealth woman” might be the “land otter woman” who is often seen by those who sin or are somehow guilty. Therefore while the “wealth woman” might give rewards who behave well, the “land otter woman” is more of a figure of punishment (Appleford 5).

In Western cultures, the word Yeti usually describes one particular creature, whereas in Indigenous cultures, the word b’gwus seems to describe more of a state of crossing the boundary between human and animal, Halpin argues that “when [b'gwus]

animals imitate humans, they transgress the boundary onto the human side. ...Persons who have already diminished their humanity or not yet achieved it—children, the drowning, men and woman who break sexual taboos—are subject to the dangerous contagion of their resemblance to animals” (qtd. in Appleford 9). The usage of the word

“b’gwus” here again suggests that it is a Haisla word for many kinds of human-animal

“hybrids.” Noticeably, however, Halpin’s argument goes quite strongly against the

Indigenous notion of interconnectedness since she draws on what appears to be a strict boundary between what is human and what is animalistic. This might be so because

Halpin was not Indigenous, but it is also possible that certain animal qualities in

Indigenous culture are simply portrayed as bad, and function as a sort of moral compass. In other words, this is supposed to ensure that people behave in a certain way, and do not break taboos otherwise they might lose their humanity, and turn into b’gwus or other animal-like creatures (b’gwus seems to be connected mainly to sexual taboos).

Halpin mentions that animals are in some aspects similar to humans which creates “openings in the separation between their realms” (qtd. in Appleford 9) – the realms being a human realm, and animal realm, and these openings might cause certain supernatural powers to erupt into the order that was created by humans, where the powers might “overwhelm those who released them” (qtd in Appleford 9). The arguments used above explain both supernatural features of b’gwus since b’gwus can be considered a product of transgressing boundaries, as well as the connection of b’gwus to sex and moral purity have been mentioned in relation to the wealth woman and the land otter woman. People who are losing their humanity in a sense of transgressing into the animal realm are, among others, those who break sexual taboos, such as infidelity. In

Monkey Beach, one of the Indigenous myths told by Ma-ma-oo to Lisa is about the origin of B’gwus – a woman was cheating on her husband with his brother and when he

found out, they murdered him and later came to bury his body. However, they did not find the body, there were only huge footprints in sand instead. The myth says that the husband transformed into B’gwus and killed both his wife and his brother (Robinson

211). This is a great example of what Halpin (qtd. in Appleford 6) refers to as the openings between miscellaneous realms which could unleash powers that overwhelm those who are responsible for releasing them. Olson also notes that Haisla culture apparently has a certain tradition of connecting marriage desecration with supernatural phenomena which is again reflected in the figure of B’gwus – the man transformed into this supernatural creature after his wife desecrated their marriage (qtd. in Appleford 6).

The story of B’gwus origin is an interesting prelude to what happens to uncle Mick since Lisamarie is a witness to a situation when Mick attempts to seduce Lisa’s mother, who is a wife to his brother (Robinson 103). Mick subsequently dies when he is eaten by seals on one of his fishing trips, which could be considered as a punishment for wanting to have an affair with his brother’s wife (Appleford 10). The possibility of this being a punishment for breaking a sexual taboo can be supported by the fact that this death was rather unusual and caused by animals and, as explained above, animals are connected to losing humanity because of breach of taboos.

The Crows and the Dead in Both Novels

There is another animal-related phenomenon which appears in Monkey Beach quite frequently, and also seems important in regards to Lisamarie’s spiritual journey.

These are the crows that are introduced very early on in the novel. Contrary to B’gwus, crows are very tangible, however, their spiritual importance could be compared to that of Bgwus. Lisa explains that she hears crows to talk to her in Haisla (Robinson 1) and tells her mother that the crows say la’es which means “go down to the bottom of the ocean” in Haisla language (Robinson 17). This phrase is quite important because

eventually it turns out that Lisa’s brother drowned, therefore the crows seem to be rather prophetic. Nevertheless, when Lisa confesses this to her mother, saying it might be a sign, her mother completely disregards any value this could have by sarcastically saying it is a sign of Lisa needing a Prozac. therefore attributing the event to Lisa being mentally exhausted or unwell (Robinson 3). At this moment, she is not saying that Lisa is saying that Lisa is insane and should get professional help, she is rather suggesting that what Lisa is saying is utter nonsense. This is quite interesting because it is mentioned that Gladys, Lisa’s mother, also had the affinity for communication with the spirit world. Ma-ma-oo mentions that “she used was going to die next” (Robinson 153), but that this was the sort of gift that made people nervous, (Robinson 154) thus she possibly decided to suppress these abilities. Nevertheless, Ma-ma-oo is not quite so sure about this and says that maybe she forgot how to use this gift, maybe she ignores it, or maybe Gladys simply does not mention to Lisamarie when she sees things (Robinson

154). Ma-ma-oo does not have the answers and says to Lisa “You’ll have to ask her”

(Robinson 154).

Crows are considered a very powerful spirit animal in Indigenous culture, they are often considered to be able to be at several places at once. They allegedly have many powers, they are believed to see the past, present, and future simultaneously, and are also responsible for bridging the world of spirits and the world of the living (Harmer

57). They have great intelligence and can warn other animals before intruders or other dangers. The piercing voice of a crow is believed to be able to carry messages, and therefore crows are also the messengers of change and are able to tell people from which direction the change is coming (Harmer 57). They can also show people that there is magic in their ordinary everyday lives and that it is possible to learn seeing events happening around them in a different way (Harmer 57). Of all these features of

crows as spirit animals, their most important aspect in Monkey Beach seems to be the communication with the spirit world since they warn Lisa about her brother being dead

(Robinson 17). Nevertheless, this knowledge might be also attributed to their ability to travel through time and space since they also refer to the way Lisa’s brother died when they tell her to go to the bottom of the ocean, suggesting they know where the corpse is, possibly also knowing the cause of death on account of being able to travel back through time.

Lisa’s attitude to crows is much more ambivalent, perhaps even negative, compared to that of her brother since she seems to connect crows mainly with death sendings and other quite serious and possibly frightening phenomena. On the other hand, Lisa’s brother is always feeding the crows and even treats them as pets on ocassions. This might suggest that he does not have the same gift as his sister since he only perceives them as animals or pets, and does not attribute any special mystical or spiritual properties to them. As mentioned above, Lisa’s mother is also rather dismissive when Lisa tells her about the crows, but it is later revealed by Ma-ma-oo, Lisa’s grandmother, that Lisa’s mother experienced similar visions and supposedly had a strong spiritual affinity as well. Therefore it seems that this gift runs mostly in the women in this family which might the reason why Lisa perceives these phenomena while her brother does not. Lisa herself comments on talking to the crows and dreaming about her brother by saying that it might be a death sending even though these usually happen when people are awake (Robinson 17). In The Last Report on the Miracles at

Little No Horse, owls are said to have similar function as crows. “Sometimes owls came near to warn of death. Sometimes they just asked people to be careful. Sometimes they were just owls” (Erdrich 303). This suggests that even though owls might predict death, it is not necessary to be automatically scared of them.

When Lisa comments on the dead trying to communicate with her, she mentions that she wishes “the dead would just come out and say what they mean instead of being so passive-aggressive about the whole thing” (Robinson 17). The function of this humorous remark is supposedly to make serious things, such as death, less serious since

Lisa deals with phenomena she does not fully understand and is perhaps afraid of. It also suggests that spirits and the dead have what seems to be certain normal human qualities. Throughout Monkey Beach, Lisa actually gives a couple of lessons on communicating with the dead, step by step (Robinson 179). An interesting notion regarding the dead having very human qualities is presented in The Last Report on the

Miracles at Little No Horse as well, this one being about the colour red. It is said that

“you never wore that color near the dead, as it confused their spirits, attracted them back to the living” (Erdrich 164). This shows that the Indigenous notion of the dead presents them as rather similar to the living, the dead can be confused, but they can also be attracted to certain things or colours. Therefore, they are not only confused spirits that cannot find peace or vicious spirits seeking vengeance, which is very often the case of perceiving spirits in Western cultures, that is if the possibility of the existence of ghosts is even acknowledged. Same as Lisamarie, Father Damien apparently also had strong affinity for communicating with the dead. He likes to spend time at “the cemetery where he greeted and sometimes reminisced with the dead – for Father Damien was more connected with them than with the living, and even sensed their changing moods”

(Erdrich 47). Both Lisa and Father Damien have the ability to communicate with the dead, but Father Damien presumably mastered this skill better than Lisa did, and he enjoys it more than Lisa does since it is even stated that he was connected with the dead more than with the living. ¨

The Figure of Trickster in Both Novels

The figure of trickster has a very important role in folklore of the First Nations, it is a central character in many stories that are a large part of Indigenous mythology which is strongly intertwined with spirituality as well. Highway defines trickster as

“pivotal and important a figure in the Native world as Christ is in the realm of Christian mythology. “Weesageechak” in Cree, “Nanabush” in Ojibway, “Raven” in others,

“Coyote” in still others, this Trickster goes by many names and many guises. In fact, he can assume any guise he chooses” (qtd. in Lane 164). The figure of trickster also has a very prominent role in both novels, Lane even argues that one of the genres of Monkey

Beach could be defined as trickster writing (163). In Monkey Beach, the crows could be considered tricksters, then there is also a trickster who acts a spiritual guide to Lisa as well. He is described as a little red-haired man and Lisa’s evolving relationship with him reflects her progress in her spiritual journey.

The little man does all sorts of things, depending on his mood. For instance, when he is in a bad mood, he does a jerky dance and pretends to poke at Lisa’s eyes

(Robinson 27). He can, however, also be sympathetic, and when Lisa is sad, he tries to comfort her (Robinson 132). When Lisa tells her mother about the little man, she responds that everyone has bad dreams and that because they are just dreams, they cannot hurt her (Robinson 21). At first, Lisa actually does not pay much attention to the little man visiting her, she explains that: “Now that I think back, the pattern of the little man’s visits seems unwelcomely obvious, but at the time, his arrivals and departures had no meaning. As I grew older, he became a variation of the monster under the bed or the thing in the closet, a nightmare that faded with morning” (Robinson 21). This suggests that even though in childhood she could not quite figure out why the little man appeared, after some years, however, she became aware of a certain pattern and realized

that the little man usually came to give her some news. Unfortunately, these were usually bad news. As mentioned above, the figure of a trickster is a very important aspect of myths, and in Indigenous culture in general, and that is likely the reason why there are several trickster in Monkey Beach. For the most part, it might seem that the trickster figure in Monkey Beach is portrayed by the red-haired man. The little man possibly does not want to play tricks on Lisamarie, he quite likely wants to help her, but

Lisa misinterprets his intentions. According to Ma-ma-oo, Lisa’s grandmother, the little man is a guide. She says that “he’s a guide, but not a reliable one. Never trust the spirit world too much. They think different from the living” (Robinson 153). This explains why Lisa does not understand the little man very well, and this explanation provided by

Ma-ma-oo might possibly be the reason why Andrews argues that the crows are actually the main trickster figures in Monkey Beach (17).

In The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, Nanapush could definitely be considered a representative figure of a trickster, he is even described as a trickster by Hildegarde (Erdrich 84). Nanapush, not being a Christian himself, insists on

Kashpaw complying with Christian principles when it is convenient for him. Nanapush does not have a wife, whereas Kashpaw has several wives, therefore Nanapush attempts to convince Agnes/Father Damien to force Kashpaw to get rid of at least one of his wives so that Nanapush could take her. When his plan does not go so well, Nanapush is not very happy. “But he will go to hell! I only fear for my friend, as the hell of the chimookomanag sounds extremely painful” (Erdrich 94). Nanapush very likely does not even believe in the Christian notion of hell, that, nevertheless, does not prevent him from using it in this tricky manner to try to achieve what he wants. Apart from this scheme of his, one of the most trickster-like actions perfromed by Nanapush seems to be when he comes back to life at his own funeral (Erdrich 294).

Schultz claims that the name “Nanapush” is derived from the name of an Ojibwe trickster called “Nanabozho” or “Nanapushu” (85). She further mentions that Erdrich presents the way children are named in the Ojibwe culture, characters do not inherit the surname as is customary in most Western cultures, but they are given the name consciously by an elder. In Love Medicine, Erdrich explains that “an elder, usually a grandparent of the infant, conferred the name at the request and invitation of the parents. . . . The name was especially cherished because it was in the nature of a gift of the people, bestowed through an elder and because it was in the nature of a reputation, unlike any other, and therefore unique” (qtd. in Schultz 86). Based on this interpretation of naming process in the Ojibwe culture, it seems as if the name, which is considered a gift, also shaped individual’s personality – those named Nanapush are in a way destined to be some sort of a trickster since they are named after a trickster, in other words, they are gifted a trickster-like personality.

At many times, trickster-like actions performed by Nanapush can be considered quite entertaining. Nevertheless, there is another figure that supposedly has qualities of a trickster and, but whose actions usually are not entertaining at all (Erdrich 190). This is the figure of a black dog with flames in its eyes (Erdrich 191). who appears to

Agnes/Father Damien on several occasions, usually to do some sort of business with her. On one ocassion, he appears to tell her that he wants to take Lulu, a little Ojibwe girl, but offers to Agnes/Father Damien that he will not take her if she comes with him instead of Lulu. The role of the devil as a trickster seems to be confirmed when Agnes is not sure whether her passion, music, was returned to her by God, or whether it was the doing of the “devil in its original tempter’s form” (Erdrich 221). Apparently, the figure of a trickster and the figure of a tempter are not the same thing, nonetheless,

Satan tricking Eve into eating the apple might be perceived as very trickster-like. It

should be noted that music was really important to Agnes, it is explained that she would not act “as priest and not as woman, not as confessor and not as the magnet of souls, consoler, professor of the faith. When it came right down to it, she acted as an artist”

(Erdrich 222). This establishes that music was more defining to Agnes’/Father

Damien’s identity than her faith, which supposedly is not necessarily all that surprising since she was not a priest in reality.

As mentioned above, the devil who visits Agnes/Father Damien takes a form of a black dog, and it is not entirely clear whether he fits typical Christian ideas about the devil. Nanapush says that they (Indigenous people) have their own devils, suggesting that there are more devils than just one (Erdrich 228). When Agnes/Father Damien confesses to Nanapush that she had encountered the devil in the form of a black dog, he rushes in with an advice explaining what should be done during the encounter (Erdrich

229). “And our devils are not all bad. Ours are sometimes capable of showing pity, that is, if you can think of the right thing to say” (Erdrich 229). This does not describe a devil who is intrinsically evil, but rather a devil who fits the trickster archetype – a devil who likes to play games, and can possibly show pity if the correct thing is uttered at the right time.

The above-mentioned description of the devil in the form of a black dog almost portrays this devil as a playful trickster who is not so evil after all. It is quite possible that this indigenous conception of the devil is less black-and-white, the devil is not portrayed as being absolutely evil, he can be very evil nonetheless. One occasion on which the black devil-dog is extremely evil is during an encounter with Agnes/Father

Damien. The devil tells Agnes/Father Damien that he cannot leave her/him even if she/he asks him to do so (Erdrich 309). Instead, the devil replies: “I am yours, and don’t think I enjoy my work! Watching over you has been infuriating, though it had its

moments. I did enjoy tickling Berndt with those bullets, and Gregory with the black knives of cancer“ (Erdrich 309). He brings out two events that were extremely traumatic for Agnes. The first event is the death of her husband Bernd who had been shot, which led to the series of events that made Agnes pose as a priest. The second event is then the death of Agnes’/Father Damien’s lover Gregory with whom she was having a romance when she was already posing as a priest, and who died of cancer. However, the devil not only brings up these two very traumatic events, he actually continues and gets very intimate in a not very pleasant manner by uttering: “Recall when you made love, how dutifully their hearts beat under your hand? How steady and warm? I stopped them. I shut their dear eyes” (Erdrich 309). This does not only forces Agnes/Father Damien to remember the tragic events, but also to remember the physical closeness with the men she loved, closeness she will never experience again. Therefore, these actions of the devil could be described as psychological torture on several levels, which proves that this rendition of the devil truly is not just a playful trickster.

Since the devil mostly uses people Agnes loved to torture her, it might be useful to look at the notion of love in Ojibwe culture, especially because it is very different from the Judeo-Christian notion. In the Ojibwe language, the word “love” does not even exist in the same sense as it does in most Western Christianity-based cultures, it is explained that “there is love out of pity, love out of kindness, love that is specific to situations or to the world of stones, which are alive and called our grandfathers. There is also the stingy and greedy love white people call romantic love” (Erdrich 99). This explanation is not provided by any of the characters, it is provided by the narrator. This narrator does not necessarily need to be identical with the author, nevertheless based on how detailed this information is, it is safe to assume that the narrator also have some

Indigenous background or at least some knowledge of it. It is therefore interesting that

the Western notion of romantic love is called “stingy and greedy” since this type of love is usually considered to be some sort of spiritual connection of between two persons, whereas the Indigenous notion of romantic love seems to debase its importance since it is seemingly described as one of the least important of all the different kinds of love.

The Gothic in Monkey Beach

Many Western scholars tend to interpret Monkey Beach as a Gothic text. Even

Robinson herself notes that she destroyed the second draft of the novel because it was

“too moody, too Gothic” and “the only ones who liked it were my German publishers”

(qtd. Andrews 9). Andrews explains that even the third published version has retained many features of a Gothic text, for example a world “populated by supernatural characters” (Andrews 9). Another reason for interpreting Monkey Beach as a Gothic text might be the fact that Robinson, apart from being Haisla, is also a Canadian, and Donna

Bennett argues that genres of Canadian literature are tied to “concepts of monsters, ghosts, and the Gothic” (Andrews 5). Even though this argument seems rather broad,

Andrews supports it by noting that this connection is logical since Canada is a country where creating one’s own identity involved settling savage and seemingly empty wilderness (Andrews 5). Andrews also argues that the dislocation experienced by the first Canadian settlers is replaced in Monkey Beach with Lisamarie’s uncertainty about the world reaching beyond the Haisla community which she is familiar with (6).

Furthermore, Andrews claims that instead of using the Gothic to examine how

Canadians might be haunted by the wilderness, Robinson uses it to create a world where her characters “can examine the possibilities inherent in connecting to the natural world, monsters, and all” (9). This juxtaposition of the natural world and monsters suggests that in Indigenous cultures monsters and ghosts are more integral part of the natural world, while in Western cultures, they are considered supernatural entities. Ma-ma-oo

seems to treat spirits of the woods and the spirit of her dead husband in the same way, as a regular part of her life, while in Western cultures, there are no forest spirits, and ghosts are usually considered terrifying.

The Gothic can be actually found in Monkey Beach even before the story starts since as mentioned above, the novel begins with a Haisla proverb about how “it is possible to retaliate against an enemy but impossible to retaliate against storms” which recognizes the power and dangers hidden in the natural world. According to Andrews, this is very fitting for a Gothic novel where stormy seas can be found quite often (10).

Castricano, however, argues that Monkey Beach does not only present and reiterates symbols and other features that are typical for the Gothic, such as spectres, stormy seas, etc., but that it also presents a new grasp of the Gothic genre in Western literature by asking readers to consider the importance of knowledge from sources that are usually disregarded in Western cultures. These sources are disrgarded because empirical evidence is a very very important factor in Western cultures, and the sources do not provide enough empricial evidence (Castricano 2). Castricano further explains that these disregarded sources are, for instance, legends, myths, half-understood stories, or “fears and anxieties about the past” (2).

As it was foreshadowed, interpreting Monkey Beach as a Gothic novel might be more convenient for the Western readers than Indigenous ones, not only because the supernatural seems to be a more integral aspect of Indigenous cultures, but also because of a certain feeling of guilt. In other words, Indigenous spirits should be much more terrifying to Western readers. Cameron argues that there is no reason why Indigenous writers and readers should be afraid of Indigenous ghosts or spirits, and this is so mainly because of two reasons (8). Firstly, not all Indigenous spiritual beings need to be evil, some of them mean no harm, and might be even good in their essence, for instance

some spirits that are part of healing processes or other important ceremonies (Cameron

8). Secondly, some of the ghosts might be even Indigenous ancestors, therefore they do not need to fear these ghosts. On the other hand, settlers and their offspring should probably fear the Indigenous ghosts due to the notion of transgenerational guilt which stems from being aware of colonial violence and mistreatment of Indigenous people.

Western colonizers harmed and disposessed Indigenous people, who now return, metaphorically speaking, as “ghosts” because during their lives, their land was taken from them, often violently, and some of them were even killed by the settlers. Lane then sums up other atrocities commited on Indigenous people by colonizers as “the

Residential School system, systematic sexual abuse, and juridicial destruction of cultural processes and rituals” (161), thus there are quite a few reasons why colonizers and settlers should fear the wrath of Indigenous ghosts. The arguments above in a way answer the question whether Lisamarie, the main protagonist of Monkey Beach, needs to be afraid of the ghosts or not. When she starts communicating with spirits and the dead, she seems to be scared, as most people would be. Nonetheless, she supposedly should not need feel scared since she is Indigenous, and her grandmother Ma-ma-oo even encourages Lisa to communicate with ghosts. For instance, Ma-ma-oo takes Lisa to her grandfather’s grave and explains to her how to communicate with the dead.

Furthermore, Lisas life has also been impacted by the Western influences, she is a victim of xenophobia at times, the same as many of her predecessors, and thanks to Ma- ma-oo, Lisa also seems to embrace, at least partly, her Indigenous identity, and not assimilate completely, which is what most of her family did.

Interestingly, there seem to be some contradictory opinions regarding the issue of ghosts in Canada. In 1947, Earle Birney claimed that Canada is only haunted by its lack of ghosts (qtd. in Cariou 2). On the other hand, Cameron argues that “it is assumed

that Aboriginal ghosts are all that remains of the disappearing Indian’ and that settler

Canadians have inherited this rich land from those who have now passed” (2) which suggests that there are some ghosts after all, and they have a rather important role at that. Burt then even claims that the ghosts of “red men” are everywhere, and this can be considered only natural since they inhabited the land for many generations, therefore they named geographic features, such as mountains, rivers, and lakes (qtd. in Cariou 1).

Some of the names were replaced by Canadian colonialists, but many of them were kept when they took over the land, and this could be also considered part of the haunting aspect. As mentioned above, if there is something that might be haunting the colonizers, then it is definitely them taking away land from the Indigenous people and disposessing them.

Using Freudian terms, the fear of Indigenous ghosts discussed here could be described as a kind of what Cariou calls “neocolonial uncanny” (1). Freud connects uncanny to the Gothic and he characterizes it as “something which ought to have remained hidden but has come to light” (Freud qtd. in Cariou 2). Cariou then describes neocolonial uncanny as a “lurking sense that the places settlers call home are not really theirs, and a sense that their current legitimacy as owners or renters in a capitalist land market might well be predicated upon theft, fraud, violence, and other injustices in the past” (qtd. in Castricano 1). The question asked by Cariou in this regard is then whether this uncanny fear can be somehow productive, in other words whether the colonizers and their descendants who experience this anxiety might somehow contribute to healing

Indigenous people who were dispossed by the colonizers, or whether this is simply what

Carious calls a “horrified sense of inevitability,” the fact the sins of colonialism shall be punished, and therefore it is useless and unnecessary to try to work towards righting the wrongs (Cariou 4). It should be, however, pointed out that this seems to presume that

the fear is the only force behind attempting to compensate for the wrongs done by colonizers, disregarding other forces which might fuel this, e.g. conscience or desire to help others feel better. Nonetheless, it is not only Indigenous ghosts haunting the settlers but also the ghosts of colonizers haunting the descendants of Indigenous people.

Castricano describes the situation in Monkey Beach as Kitimaat Village, Lisamarie’s home, being haunted by “the legacy of European contact,” for example by the influence of residential schools which still affect the lives of people in Monkey Beach, even though they no longer exist (2).

The previous paragraphs presented various approaches that somehow attempt to explain certain phenomena connected to Indigenous spirituality. Nevertheless, some of these spiritual phenomena themselves are actually often used to explain other phenomena that are difficult to explain rationally. In their introduction, Boyd and

Thrush claim that when something mysterious and/or sinister occurs, a very popular explanation, especially in North America, is that these events occur because the location which is quite likely haunted “was built on an Indian burial site.” (vii) This topic and the explanation going along with it became rather popular in the last decades of the last century, mostly in horror films and literature (Boyd and Thrush vii). One of the first films dealing with this topic was The Amityville Horror in the 1970s, Stephen King’s bestseller Pet Sematary could then be mentioned as a literary piece that tackles the

“Indian burial site” issue. This treatment of Indigenous spirituality might be seen as part of the Gothic since Boyd and Thrush argue that tales of Indigenous burial grounds are a

“subspecies” of Indigenous hauntings in the culture of North America (viii).

Nonetheless, the interest in the ghosts of Indigenous people is not a product of only a couple of last decades. As mentioned in the previous chapters, when British colonizers encountered Indigenous cultures, they considered them savage and evil.

(Boyd and Thrush even use the word “demonic” to describe them - ix) They also portrayed them as irrational and superstitious, which were the qualities they attributed to

Indigenous ghosts and spirits as well. In the nineteenth century, American writers then started using Indigenous spectral beings as a strong symbol of “terror and lament”

(Boyd and Thrush ix). Indigenous inhabitants were perceived as a threat by the colonizers, a threat that needed to be eliminated. Therefore, as Boyd and Thrush explain, this threat was removed by Indian Wars, as well as through forced relocations, and these events are remembered and perceived as “tragic and justified, fearsome and inevitable,” and one of the means of remembering these events is through the medium of Indigenous ghost stories (xiii). Scott claims that “anachronism might well be the defining feature of ghosts, now and in the past, because haunting, by its very structure, implies a deformation of linear temporality: there may be no proper time for ghosts“

(qtd. in Boyd and Thrush xviii). In other words, ghosts, Indigenous or not, live in a realm where time functions differently than it does in the realm of the living, and ghosts who come to haunt hardly ever come at a convenient time. Boyd and Thrush also claim that not only Indigenous ghosts, but also Indigenous peoples were quite likely expected not to survive modernity, but they both did (xviii).

Spectrality as a Mental Disorder

Quite a lot of space is dedicated to the Gothic here mainly because in the

Western culture, there seems to be no space which would allow to communicate with the dead or spirits, unless it is confined to the Gothic. Even literary critics and other scholars appear to be extremely wary when treating the issue since any “interest in the occult” might end their career (Castricano 5). The reason for this is the fact the if people from Western cultures treat ghosts and spirits seriously and not only within the realm of the Gothic, this tends to suggest some sort of mental ailment, thus this is why in the

past, the so called primitive cultures were considered, in the Eurocentric perspective, psychopathological and their belief in various spirits or magic was seen as related to mental health issues (Waldram qtd. In Castricano 805). Interestingly, Waldram literally states that belief in spirits and magic were “causative of mental disorder” (qtd. In

Castricano 805). Usually, seeing ghosts is perceived as being a product of a mental illness, but the way Waldram words the phrase, it is suggested that there might a certain reciprocity. In other words, not only that seeing the ghosts is a symptom of a mental ilness, but also when people see ghosts, it might also be a cause for a mental illness. In

Monkey Beach, this issue is tackled on several occasions, for instance when Lisamarie shares her spiritual experiences with her mother, she is told that she needs a Prozac. In this case, Lisa’s mother was rather ironic but on another occasion, Lisamarie is even taken to see a psychiatrist, and during the session, she sees a “thing” sitting on the psychiatrist’s shoulder which is likely supposed to represent the therapist’s own traumas and insecurities (Robinson 274). Then the thing moves on to Lisa, and while it is feeding, Lisa is seeing the corpse of her dead uncle Mick in fron of her (Robinson 274).

This makes Lisa feel bad, but she tells the therapist what she wants to hear, the therapist is glad to hear it and says that the session was a success, that they are making progress, and that with a little more work, Lisa will be back to normal very soon (Robinson 274).

The usage of the word “normal” here again emphasizes that the therapist thinks there is something wrong with Lisa and does not attribute any spiritual meaning to Lisa seeing things.

Things Visible Only to the Indigenous Eyes

The previous chapters commented on certain things being very different when perceived through the Indigenous optic, e.g. the perception of ghosts and spirits. There, however, appear to be phenomena that cannot be perceived at all unless one is

Indigenous. As Castricano points out, Lisamarie’s grandmother tells her that “to really understand the old stories ... you had to speak Haisla” (Robinson qtd. in Castricano 10). and readers also get a lesson from linguistics and learn that “even the Haisla word for

“Haisla” - Xa'isla - and 'the actual word for the Haisla language [which] is Xa'islak'ala' ] has many sounds that don't exist in English” (Robinson 193). Both of these claims not only suggest that some phenomena are hidden from the outsiders, but also that the outsiders do not even have the capacity to understand them since they do not speak the language. The remark about sounds then explains that outsiders are not even capable of reproducing the words since they contain sounds non-existent in English (and supposedly in other languages as well). Language in general is very important in relation to Indigenous spirituality because if one does not know the language of the rituals and ceremonies, it is difficult to perform them.

Apart from language, many other, more practical Indigenous activities are introduced. For instance, Lisa dedicates an entire page to explaining how to make oolichan grease (Robinson 86). The process is quite complicated, has many steps, and could be perceived as a ritual of sorts. Ma-ma-oo, Lisamarie’s grandmother, is then the greatest source of the things that are only accessible to Indigenous people. She cooks special salmonberry stew, and collects roots of a plant called oxasuli, which supposedly keeps away evil ghosts because they hate the smell (Robinson 151), but which can be deadly when one does not know how to use them. “You eat it, and you go to sleep and you don’t wake up,” explains Ma-ma-oo (Robinson 152). This again disqualifies outsiders from this practice since if they wanted to be protected from evil ghosts using oxasuli roots, they would risk poisoning themselves. This might be either seen as a knowledge that is kept from the outsiders, or knowledge that is passed on to the leader- like figures. It could be argued that Lisa is one of these figures since she has high

spiritual affinity which usually was typical for shamans or other important figures. On another occasion, Ma-ma-oo honors natural spirits with tobacco when she gathers plants in the forest. She takes what she needs, i.e. plants and wood, and gives tobacco to the natural spirits in return. Nonetheless, she supplements these traditional Haisla practices with her strong passion for soap operas (Andrews 14), which shows that even though she has kept many traditional aspects of Indigenous daily life, she does not hesitate to enrich her way of living with some Western “inventions,” such as watching TV, when she feels she might enjoy them, thus Ma-ma-oo could be perceived as having hybrid identity, even though her Indigenous aspect is likely a little more dominant.

Andrews also argues that the discussed phenomena regarding Haisla language and other cultural aspects are supposed to reinforce the feeling of detachment in non-

Indigenous readers, and that this might be an attempt to show non-Indigenous readers what it feels like to be at disadvantage since some of the non-Indigenous readers were privileged at the expense of the Indigenous people, e.g. they made use of land repossessed from the Indigenous inhabitants (15). Supposedly, those who understand both Haisla and English, while also being able to see ghosts (Lisamarie, Ma-ma-oo, and possibly also Lisa’s mother) can mediate between the Indigenous and the non-

Indigenous worlds, and “understand the limits of both” (Andrews 15). Ma-ma-oo acts as a mentor to Lisa since she tells her that she does not need to be scared of supernatural things she does not understand, that they are “just ghosts” (Robinson 265).

Rites of Passage

Depictions of rites of passage can be found in both novels on many occasions, they are present both as certain Indigenous practices, and symbolically in lives of the main protagonists. Agnes goes through the most apparent rite of passage when she

“becomes” Father Damien, and it could be argued that Lisamarie goes through a rite of

passage when she becomes attuned to the spiritual world, and also her growing up could be considered a rite of passage. In traditional Indigenous societies, the most important rites of passage were connected to becoming an adult. Young men usually fasted and dreamt since dreams were considered to be of extreme importance in a remote place, they usually spent four days in a forest in order to start having visions and summon a guardian spirit that was supposed to assist them through their lives (Johansen and

Pritzker 1239). As can be seen in Monkey Beach, girls are/were also able to have visions but they are/were not required to undergo the same quest as boys. It is quite likely that there was little religious ceremonialism until people began dying in massive amounts due to sicknesses that were brought in from Europe. In response to this, a healing society called Midewiwin, or Medicine Dance, arose amongst most Anishinabes.

(Johansen and Pritzker 1239).

Two-spirited people

The name of this chapter might suggest that it is entirely about one’s spirit, in this context, one’s spirit is, however, more related to one’s sexuality and/or gender.

Many anthropologists, historians, psychologists, sociologists, and other scholars dealing with the topic of sexuality and gender previously used the term “berdache” for what is now usually refered to as “two-spirit” or “two-spirited” individuals. Over the years, the term “berdache” has been used for many seemingly related phenomena, for instance for

Indigenous individuals who are gay or lesbian, Indigenous gender categories, the traditions in which sexualities and/or gender categories are systematized in Indigenous tribal cultures (Jacobs et al. 2). furthermore the term was also used for transvetites, transexuals, and transgender individuals, and even for certain phenomena in connection to gender in other, non-Indigenous, cultures (Jacobs et al. 2). “Berdache” is now

considered an inappropriate and derogatory term by many Indigenous people and also by most anthropologists (Jacobs et al. 3).

The term “two-spirit” was originally coined in 1990 by the Indigenous attendants of the third Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference in

Winnipeg. (Jacobs et al 2). This term is used as a generic term by many, but not all,

Indigenous individuals who identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or third gender, that is people who do not identify themselves as either male or female

(Jacobs et al. 3). Nevertheless, the translation of the term into some Indigenous languages is rather complicated, when translated into one of Athapaskan languages, for instance Navajo or Apache, it would mean a person who has two spirits – a living spirit and a dead one. (Jacobs et al. 3). This translation communicates something entirely different than the original term is supposed to. In Shoshone language, the term even translates literally as a “ghost” (Jacobs et al. 3), which is once again a totally different meaning.

According to Jacobs et al., the coining of the term “two-spirit” was a deliberate action that was supposed to separate or distance Indigenous homosexuals from non-

Indigenous gays and lesbians (3). As Jacobs also points out, it is rather interesting that this delibate separation happened around the time when governments started to deal with the issue of AIDS in gay community (Jacobs et al. 3). Many Indigenous men who lived in cities desired to come back home after they got infected with HIV virus and they wanted to spend the last few years of their lives with their families on the reservations before they died from complications caused by the HIV virus.

Nevertheless, these men usually did not receive a warm welcome since there was this stigma of them getting infected by a “white gay man’s disease” (Jacobs et al. 3). Jacobs explains that “gayness was not part of traditional culture“ (3), and the usage of term

“two-spirit” instead of gay or homosexual diminishes this “gayness” while also emphasizing the spiritual aspect of one’s identity (Jacobs et al. 3).

The importance of the spirit when talking about one’s identity, including one’s sexuality, is shown in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse in a story who tells the story about a race. One of the racers in said race is a “a woman-man called winkte” (Erdrich 153), further described as “a graceful sly boy who sighed, poised with grave nuance, combed his hair, and peered into the tortoiseshell hand mirror that hung around his neck by a rawhide thong“ (Erdrich 153). Some of the Ojibwe have an issue with this “woman-man” and they do not want him to participate in the race as a male runner “on account of his female spirit” (Erdrich 153). This again shows the importance and connection between Indigenous spiritual life and sexuality/gender since what would be usually described as female gender or something along those lines in Western cultures is refered to as “female spirit” here.

The situation with Agnes/Father Damien, the fact that the character is usually refered to here using both names and both feminine and masculine pronouns suggests that Agnes/Father Damien could be also considered a two-spirit person. It is possible that Agnes had a dominant female spirit, and only after becoming Father Damien, a male spirit started to grow inside her. On the other hand, the woman-man called winkte presumably hosted both male and female spirits since birth. The story of Agnes is possibly supposed to show that the spirits can be somehow cultivated, and one can even grow the other spirit inside them.

Sweat Lodges in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

Sweat lodges served and still serve as a ceremony by itself, and also as a ritual of purification used before or after other ceremonies. Sweat lodges are known amongst

most Indigenous people, and have its variants even from tribes as geographically diverse as the Aztecs, Mayans, and the Inuit (in Johansen and Pritzker 487).

In many cultures, this tradition also involves the use of tobacco ties, small bundles that are tied to the central part of the lodge. Some lodges have east and west doorways, while other have doorways facing east only (Ropollo qtd. in Johansen and

Pritzker 487). Before the sweat, a number of rocks which is varying from tribe to tribe is heated in a large pit, lodge is then sealed to prevent any light getting into it and inside, water may be poured on the heated rocks which creates steam and also temperatures which can achieve as high as 200 degrees Celsius. Prayers or ritual songs are often used during the ceremonies to help endure high temperatures, but only people properly trained to be able to perform these rituals should perform them since there might be health risks connected with the exposure to high temperatures. In certain cultures, only men sweat, in others men and women sweat separately, and in some they can even sweat together (Ropollo qtd. in Johansen and Pritzker 487).

Sweat lodges are mentioned several times in The Last Report on the Miracles at

Little No Horse and the mentions usually present different aspects of this practice, it is, however, apparent that the practice is an important and integral part of Anishinabe spiritual life. The importance of this ritual can be observed for example in the excerpt saying: “Leave us full-bloods alone, let us be with our Nanabozho, our sweat and shake tents, our grand medicine bundles. We don’t hurt nobody” (Erdrich 63). Here, sweat lodges are chosen as one of the things representing the faith of Indigenous people, and as far as order of the items is concerned, they are also mentioned as one of the first.

Therefore,it can be safely assumed that they are extremely important in Indigenous spiritual life. In the novel, Agnes/Father Damien is also invited to participate in sweating when she is not feeling well which suggests that this ritual tradition might be

accessible to outsiders. Not only that, but Nanapush even mentions that they put up the sweat lodge for Agnes/Father Damien (214, emphasis mine), therefore he was not only invited to the event, but the event was quite likely organized in order to help improve

Agnes/Father Damien’s condition.

“This is our church” (Erdrich 214), says Nanapush about one of the sweat lodges, this suggests that he did not accept Christian faith, but kept his traditional

Anishinabe faith. Nonetheless, he also appreciates what Agnes/Father Damien does for the Anishinabe community, thus he wants to help her/him. Erdrich describes the situation in detail, presenting the practical as well as spiritual aspect of “sweating” –

“the glowing rocks were splashed with water, then sprinkled with sharp medicines that gave off a healing smoke, once Nanapush started to pray, addressing the creator of things and all beings to every direction and every animal” (Erdrich 215). The first part does not need a lengthy commentary, it basically describes the practice in the way that was discussed in the anthropological segment above, nevertheless the second part deserves a couple of remarks. It could be argued whether Nanapush was addressing the creator of things, beings, and animals, or whether he was adressing the creator, as well as animals. If the first possibility is taken into consideration, it is quite similar to a typical Christian addressing of God, nevertheless, the absence of comma suggests that the second possibility is more likely, which shows that Indigenous religions tend to express the idea of everything being connected to everything, and more importantly put more emphasis on this idea than the Christian faith does. Therefore, animals are also addressed, as is the creator, possibly because their spiritual powers could be used and be of help in the healing process that the sweat is supposed to achieve.

Agnes/Father Damien’s experience with the sweat lodge was different than it was supposed to be, as she/he should not have been at ease with the whole situation, but

she/he is. It is explicitly stated that “according to Church doctrine, it was wrong for a priest to undertake God’s worship in so alien a place” (Erdrich 215). There is the question whether it is even more wrong that Agnes/Father Damien feels suddenly at peace – the suggested answer to this should be quite likely no since the argument provided explains that Agnes did not make the choice to be at peace, she simply found herself in this state (Erdrich 215).

Another argument why there should be nothing wrong with this is the fact that the Christian God is still discussed here, therefore the creator worshipped by the Ojibwe and Christian God are very likely automatically considered to be a single deity, which means that Agnes did not break the commandment commanding not to worship any false idols, only the manner of worship was rather unusual in this case. Nevertheless, the very next page presents another conflict by stating that Agnes experienced “the vast comfort of a God who comforted her in a language other than her own” (Erdrich 216).

This seems to contradict the idea that it is quite clear the God being worshipped was the

Christian God without doubt. The capitalization of the word “God” actually supports the idea, nevertheless the indefinite article preceding the word “God” actually suggests that this might be a different God. Nevertheless, this conflict might also lie solely within

Agnes and her not entirely understanding or even being confused about her Christian faith intertwining with the Indigenous one. Possibly, the God mentioned above could still be the Christian God, only talking to Agnes/Father Damien in a language other than her own simply because she gradually got used to the Ojibwe language and it possibly seemed natural and adequate given the nature of her sweating experience.

Indigenous Spirituality and Holotropic States

Stanislav Grof, the psychiatrist of Czech origin who now lives in the United

States of America, argues that contemporary psychiatry does not have a proper name for

the altered states of consciousness he deals with, therefore he has cointed the term

“holotropic” to describe these states (Grof 1). This composite word means literally

“oriented toward wholeness” or “moving in the direction of wholeness” (from the Greek holos = whole and trepein = moving toward or in the direction of something). Grof explains that: “Holotropic states are characterized by a specific transformation of consciousness associated with dramatic perceptual changes in all sensory areas, intense and often unusual emotions, and profound alterations in the thought processes. They are also usually accompanied by a variety of intense psychosomatic manifestations and unconventional forms of behaviour” (Grof 2).

Grof further describes these states as experiencing new dimensions of existence, or having each foot in a different reality, which can be rather overwhelming.

Nonetheless people experiencing these states do not lose touch with the everyday reality, at least not entirely (Grof 3). The content of these holotropic states can be often perceived as mystical or spiritual, people can, for instance, experience what could be treated as memories from their previous lives or incarnations, or they can come into contact with different entities from various mythologies. These experiences can often be used to help explain spiritual life of human race, along with phenomena such as shamanism or Indigenous ritual practices. To trigger these altered states of consciousness, different cultures used or still use miscellaneous substances, for instance different types of hemp, the Mexican cactus peyote, or Psilybe mushrooms. There are also techniques that do not require any sort of substance, but instead use meditation, special breathing techniques, or movement exercises — these are used, for instance, in different systems of yoga or Zen Buddhism (Grof 5). In early days, Grof himself experimented with LSD to achieve holotropic states, but eventually he and his wife

Christina invented a technique that achieves holotropic states using special breathing exercises and focused bodywork accompanied by evocative music (Grof 6).

According to Grof, the fact that quite a few cultures throughout history have found shamanism and other similar techniques useful proves the existence of a “primal mind” – a primordial part of human brain that apparently can transcend time, culture, or ethnicity (Grof 10). Holotropic states also served as one of the oldest forms of healing, and recently they found their use in Western psychotherapy as well. Nevertheless, most

Western psychologists and psychiatrists do not perceive holotropic states as a healing power, but rather as a pathological phenomena that need to be dealt with (Grof 10). It should be emphasized that these states are not necessarily only triggered by the means mentioned in the previous paragraph, but they can also be experienced involuntarily, and Grof refers to this happening as psychospiritual crisis or “spiritual emergency”

(Grof 7). In the cases of involuntary occurrence of holotropic states, people often assume that they suffer from some sort of mental illness since they often have visions, and conventional psychiatrists usually only confirm this assumption since they do not attribute any healing or transformative abilities to holotropic states, but they consider it a sign of psychosis instead. This seems to be exactly the case of Lisamarie in Monkey

Beach. Lisamarie is having visions which is the reason why she is taken by her parents to see a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist completely disregards the posibility of Lisa’s visions having some sort of spiritual meaning which might be somehow connected to

Lisamarie’s Indigenous heritage. In Grof’s perspective, Lisa’s visions would be perceived as a sign of psychospiritual crisis, and could be used to trigger hypothetical healing effect. As mentioned above, the psychiatrist treating Lisamarie decides to treat it as a psychotic condition, to pathologize the visions, and to medicate Lisamarie.

Visions are often a symptom of psychospiritual crisis. In Monkey Beach, visions of the past and the future (e.g. death sendings) seem to be one of the most important signs that Lisamarie is attuned to certain spiritual phenomena. Visions appear in The

Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse as well. Here, however, they do not seem complicate life to the person having them, which is what visions do to Lisamarie.

In The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No No Horse, Kashpaw is able to predict

Spanish influenza. He says: „Our daughter will dig our grave for us and then she will keep on digging. She will dig graves for two hundred Anishinaabeg who will die of this sickness that approaches from the east“ (Erdrich 113). As it later turns out, the prophecy was correct and Spanish flu starts to afflict people in the Anishinabe community

(Erdrich 120).

Grof’s view of the whole phenomenon seems to be quite valuable since he presents a new and unique take on the issue. Even though Grof is non-Indigenous, he does not present the typical Euro-centric view which disregards anything that might be considered spiritual but does not fit the Western spiritual frame, which, for instance,

Indigenous spirituality supposedly does not. On the other hand, neither does Grof reduce many aspects of Indigenous spirituality to some sort of Gothic symbolism as many scholars mentioned here in a way do. Instead, Grof presents some sort of fusion of the Indigenous and the Euro-centric view. He acknowledges that certain spiritual phenomena might exist, and they have their importace in many cultures, but he also attempts to come up with a scientific explanation supported by empirical evidence.

Entering the Spirit World

In both novels, the ending of the novel also means some sort of the end of main characters spiritual journey. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse presents a clearer and less confusing ending. Agnes/Father Damien makes a trip to an island,

quite conveniently called Spirit Island, and she plans to end her/his life there (Erdrich

346). This situation does not sound very cheerful, but it seems that Agnes/Father

Damien is quite satisfied with how things are. On the islands, she/he is surrounded by her/his friends spirits and spirits of all the people she/he had loved (Erdrich 346).

Another reason why Agnes/Father Damien makes a trip to the island is the fact that she/he hoped she/he would be safe from the devil – the black dog – on the island

(Erdrich 346). Agnes/Father Damien drinks wine, and she/he does not feel gloomy at all, Erdrich describes that she “said cheerfuly to the spirits in the sighing trees” (347) to make room, suggesting her/him being prepared for death. Erdrich further explains that

“her death would be simply another piece of the process, she would hardly notice it once the moment came. She’d be drunk of course, but more than that, she’d be spiritually resigned and prepared. She would accomplish her own end as smoothly as all else” (347). At this point, Agnes/Father Damien seems to be at peace with everything, however, “the end of the first bottle undid her” (Erdrich 347). At that point,

Agnes/Father Damien quickly loses her/his calm, and becomes quite angry, even though she/he realizes that “at her age, she was supposed to be at peace with the world, not filled with this darkling rage” (Erdrich 347). After Agnes/Father Damien manages to compose herself/himself, she/he starts reminiscing, many of her/his memories are described, and she/he also starts contemplating what would have happened if Agnes went to the bank at a different time (Erdrich 349) since this would have meant that

Agnes would not have been taken hostage, Berndt would not have been killed, and

Agnes would probably never have met Father Damien or had come to the Anishinabe reservation. As Agnes/Father Damien starts reminiscing, some pleasant memories come to her/his mind, and she/he starts laughing. Then, she/he thinks to herself/himself: “I’m going to laugh myself to death” (Erdrich 349), and this turns out to be somewhat true

because a blood vessel bursts above her/his left ear, which is supposedly a cause of

Agnes’/Father Damien’s death (Erdrich 349).

“Underneath her and before her, a wide plain of utter emptiness opened.

Trusting, yearning, she put her arms out into that emptiness. She reached as far as she could, farther than she was capable, held her hands out until at last a bigger, work- toughened hand grasped hold of hers. With a yank, she was pulled across” (Erdrich

350). This is how Erdrich describes the moment of Agnes’/Father Damien’s death, the transition from the world of the living into the world of spirits. At first, it might seem as if Agnes/Father Damien is only falling into darkness, which could suggest that there is no afterlife. Nonetheless, the fact she/he is very trusting towards this darkness, as well as the fact that she/he eventually touches another, larger hand, suggests that the hand belongs to some she/he knows very well, possibly to Nanapush. Apparently, this also suggests that there is life after death and Agnes/Father Damien comes into this world and meets her/his friends and other loved ones. In this aspect, the Indigenous notion of life after death seems quite similar to the Christian one – after one’s death, one goes and meets their friends and loved ones. Also, it appears that one’s faith or spiritual inclination is not important, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous meet in the realm beyond life.

Compared to The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, Monkey Beach does not provide such a clear ending. The title of the last chapter called The Land of the

Dead foreshadows that readers probably should not expect a happy ending either. In this chapter, fates of both Lisamarie and Jimmy, her brother, are discussed. Jimmy goes fishing with Josh, planning to murder Josh because Jimmy discovers that Josh raped

Jimmy’s girlfriend. After Jimmy finishes what he had planned, the boat is sinking, he is unable to find a life raft, so he decides to swim to the shore (Robinson 370). Even

though Jimmy used to be a competitive swimmer, thus he can swim long distance, the chances that he reaches the shore before he drowns still seem rather bleak. The scene describing the fate of Lisamarie starts with one crow cawing, any many other crows joining it, until it“ sounds as if hundreds of crows are on the beach” (Robinson 370). As mentioned above, the crows are a symbol that appears quite often throughout the novel.

Same as Jimmy, Lisa is not doing particularly well, she made a stop on the beach while travelling, and she is unfortunately quite clumsy while trying to get back into the speedboat so that she could resume her travels. In fact, she is so clumsy that the speedboat knocks her out and pushes her underwater (Robinson 370). The next thing

Lisa mentions is that the rain on her face is warm, which surprises her, and rightly so because she mentioned before that the water was very cold (Robinson 371).

Furthermore, the next thing mentioned very strongly suggests that Lisamarie actually stepped into the land of the dead since there is Ma-ma-oo, Lisa’s grandmother, frowning at Lisa. This would not be so strange, if Ma-ma-oo was not already dead at this point in the story. Ma-ma-oo shows a piece of oxasuli to Lisa, and explains to her that Lisa a dangerous gift (371). Oxasuli has been discussed in the thesis, it is a plant that can be poisonous if one does not know how to use it. According to Ma-ma-oo, Lisamarie’s gift is the same as oxasuli: “Unless you know how to use it, it will kill you” (Robinson 371), explains Ma-ma-oo to Lisa. By the term “gift”, Ma-ma-oo supposedly labels

Lisamarie’s spiritual affinity which seems to be dragging Lisa to the spirit world at that moment. Lisa does not seem to understand what Ma-ma-oo is trying to tell her, so Ma- ma-oo explains: “When it’s time to go, you go” (Robinson 371), and goes on by saying that “Nothing you can do or say will change it. We’re where we belong, but you have to go back. Do you hear me?” (Robinson 371). To this, Lisamarie’s does not reply, and instead notices asks about her brother Jimmy. Ma-ma-oo, however, does not seem to be

willing to share information about Jimmy and replies: “Never mind about him now. Go back. You’ve come too far into this world. Go back” (Robinson 371). At that moment, it seems that Lisa follows Ma-ma-oo instructions, she regains her consciousness for a brief while, but then the water pulls her back down, and she is drowning again

(Robinson 372). At this point, the crows are mentioned again, and it is stated that they are dancing (Robinson 372). It is not explained why the crows are dancing, humans usually dance when they are happy or celebrate, thus the same could be assumed about the crows. The exact reason could be arguably the fact the the crows, who acted as tricksters throughout the novel, desired to make Lisamarie cross into the spirit world, and now they seemingly achieve their goal, so they are celebrating. This hypothetical intention of the crows is not explicitly stated in the novel, but it would explain why the crows are dancing. At the beginning of Monkey Beach, the crows say la’es which means

“go down to the bottom of the ocean” in Haisla language (Robinson 17). Possibly, the crows actually did not advise Lisa where she can find her brother, but they wanted her to drown.

It becomes more and more difficult to keep track whether Lisa is in the world of the living, or the land of the dead. The next thing mentioned is Lisa seeing Jimmy, who holds his hand out for her (Robinson 372). After Lisa touches Jimmy’s hand, she feels warmth spreading through her (Robinson 372), which quite likely suggests that she was on the verge between the two worlds, and by touching Jimmy, she finally crossed the border into the land of the dead. Jimmy brings Lisamarie out of the water, and while they are swimming upward, there are seals around them (Robinson 373) . This mention is interesting because Lisamarie’s uncle Mick was eaten by seals, so it might again signal the process of dying or some other phenomena connected to death. As Lisa appears back at the beach, she see many familiar faces in fron of her. There is Ma-ma-

oo, who tells Lisa to go home and make her some grandchildren (Robinson, 373), there is Lisa’s uncle Mick, who used to be a fighter for the rights of Indigenous people, and he apparently retained this part of his character even in the afterlife since he tells Lisa to

“go out there and give em hell. Red power!” (Robinson 373) All the people there are singing a farewell song which is about “leaving and meeting” (Robinson 374), which possibly means that Lisa is not dead yet, that she should leave and meet them again later, which is again what Ma-ma-oo was talking about. Monkey Beach then ends with

Lisa lying on the sand, she notices that the crows have disappeared (Robinson 374), which might symbolize that Lisamarie actually survives, so the crows stop dancing and leave, or that she finds herself in the realm of the dead. The latter possibility seems moreliekyl because of two things – Lisa mentions that she was no longer cold, she was in fact so light that she could just drift away (Robinson 374), and this seems as if she was very light because she left her body behind. The second thing is then a mention of b’gwus. B’gwus is described here as “not quite human, not quite wolf, but something in between” (Robinson 374). As mentioned in the chapter about b’gwus, this creature is often considered a symbol for crossing between different realms, so it could very likely symbolize Lisa crossing into the realm of the dead.

Conclusion

This thesis examins and analyzes Indigenous spirituality in context of two novels, Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson and The Last Report on the Miracles at Little

No Horse by Lousie Erdrich. The findings show that Indigenous spirituality still has its place in contemporary modern world, many spiritual values that are embedded in

Indigenous worldview could be beneficial in rushed Western societies. For instance, the feeling of interconnectednedness with other living beings and the whole world is a very prominent aspect of Indigenous spirituality, and if this value was spreadmore through

Westenr societies, it might make people more sympathetic to one another, or even help reduce animal cruelty. Another issue in which certain Indigenous ideas might help is the treatment of land. In many cultures today, land is only used for profit without any regard as to what destructive consequences this treatment might have. On the other hand, the Indigenous notion of using land is to always use it with respect, so that the future generations also have some land they can use. Unfortunately, both Robinson and

Erdrich show in their novels that Indigenous spirituality became something limited only to a handful of people, and even though certain movements, such as New Age, draw inspiration from Indigenous spirituality, majority of people from Western cultures consider it either a curiosity, or something strange.

Three miscellaneous views on Indigenous spiritual phenomena are presented in the thesis. For most part, this thesis attempts to perceive the phenomena discussed in the novels through Indigenous optic, even though this might be difficult for people with

Western cultural background. The second presented view is the view many Western scholars share, and this is the interpretation of certain Indigenous spiritual phenomena, for instance supernatural beings, as Gothic symbolism. This view is certainly interesting and presents many valid points, even Robinson herself admits that Monkey Beach has

many features of a Gothic novel. Using this view, the thesis discusses, for instance, the mystical figure of b’gwus, or the connection between haunting and dispossession of

Indigenous people by the colonizers. Nonetheless, this view seems to suffer by attempting to view everything as symbols. It sees all the supernatural beings and entities purely as symbols, and completely disregards the possibility that they might actually exist, thus many Indigenous people who still live according to the traditional values would not agree with this view. The third view then attempts to explain some of the

Indigenous spiritual phenomena through psychiatrical means. The main representative of this view is Stanislav Grof. He claims that things which might happen to individuals with high spiritual affinity can be explained as “spiritual emergency”. According to

Grof, people experiencing this emergency often have visions which might complicate their everyday life. Lisamarie in Monkey Beach seems to be going through this emergency because she is experiencing visions, and because of that, Lisamarie is taken to a psychiatrist who wants to medicate her. Grof, however, suggests that these visions can be useful, and people can overcome spiritual emergency through achieving holotropic states. Grof’s view is valuable because he attempts to explain some of the

Indigenous spiritual phenomena, such as visions, using empricial evidence, which is preferable in Western societies.

The clash between Indigenous religion and Christianity is then a topic that is interwoven through the entire thesis. Countless examples from both novels show different interactions between the Indigenous cultures and cultures based in Christian tradition. These interactions create miscellaenous identities, some of the Indigenous people assimilate into the Western Christian culture completely, some of them only in part. In The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, there is also quite a unique

character of Agnes/Father Damien who is a Christian that enriches her/his Christian worship with plethora of Indigenous elements.

Both novels end with a very important spiritual experience, and that is entering the spirit world. However, each of the novels does so in a very different manner. In The

Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, Agnes/Father Damien ends her/his life on her/his conditions when she/he feels that the time has come, thus the transition into the spirit world is quite peaceful. On the other hand, Monkey Beach presents a rather chaotic ending when Lisamarie enters the spirit world, then she seems to come back into the world of the living, and seems to go back and forth. It is not very clear where she ends up, whether she lives or dies, and the whole process is not very peaceful since she has no intention of dying, she is going back and forth between the two realms because she is drowning. What both endings have in common is the portrayal of the spirit world, the characters entering this world meet their friends and relatives there, and in both cases, the experience of entering the spirit world is described as quite warm and pleasant. This suggests that even Agnes/Father Damien with a strong Christian background enters the Indigenous spirit realm.

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English Resumé

This thesis aims to present the issues which Indigenous spirituality has to face in today’s modern world. This is done in context of two novels, Monkey Beach by Eden

Robinson, and The Last Report on The Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich.

Both author are descendants of Indigenous people of North America. The thesis briefly introduces both novels, it explains core concepts related to spirituality, as well as

Indigenous worldview. This is important because with Indigenous cultures, spirituality is inseparably connected to normal everyday life. Some supernatural phenomena and supernatural beings are introduced using examples from both novels.

The analysis of both novels then uses three approaches. The first approach attempts to examine the issues using Indigenous perspective without unnecessary appropriation. The second approach presents a view that explains certain Indigenous spiritual phenomena using the symbolic of the Gothic novel. The third approach presents the opinions of Stanislav Grof who attempts to explain many spiritual phenomena using empirical evidence. One of the mains themes presented in both novels is the clash of the spirituality and culture of Indigenous people with the spirituality and culture of Western socieities based on the Christian tradition. This theme is also examined in this thesis, and the findings suggest that majority of Indigenous inhabitants of North America have been assimilated, and Indigenous spirituality survives only through a handful of individuals or groups, even though many values embedded in

Indigenous spirituality and worldview could be useful to Western societies. The final chapters of both novels are analyzed as well, and these show the ultimate spiritual experience of both main characters, and that is entering the land of the dead.

Czech Resumé

Cílem této práce je poukázat na problémy, kterým čelí spiritualita původních obyvatel Severní Ameriky v dnešním moderním světě. Je tak činěno v kontextu románu

Monkey Beach od autorky Eden Robinson a románu The Last Report on the Miracles at

Little No Horse od autorky Louise Erdrich. Obě autorky jsou potomky původních obyvatel Severní Ameriky. V práci jsou stručně představena obě díla, a jsou zde vysvětleny základní koncepty související se spiritualitou původních obyvatel, rovněž tak s jejich pohledem na svět. Toto je důležité, jelikož v kultuře původních obyvatel

Severní Ameriky je spiritualita neoddělitelně spojena s každodenním životem. Jsou zde také představeny některé nadpřirozené jevy a bytosti za použití příkladů z obou románů.

V rámci analýzy obou děl jsou potom použity tři postupy. První se snaží zkoumat danou problematiku optikou původních obyvatel. Druhý postup prezentuje pohled, který vysvětluje určité spirituální jevy objevující se ve zkoumaných dílech za pomoci symboliky žánru gotického románu. Třetí postup následně představuje názory

Stanislava Grofa, který se pokouší vysvětlit mnohé spirituální jevy pomocí empirických důkazů. Tématem, které se prolíná oběma díly, a je zde rovněž zkoumáno, je střet spirituality a kultury původních obyvatel se spiritualitou a kulturou západní společnosti založené na křesťanské tradici. Analýza obou děl vede k závěru, že většina původních obyvatel byla následkem kolonizace Severní Ameriky asimilována, a spiritualita původních obyvatel přežívá pouze prostřednictvím malého množství jedinců nebo skupin, i přesto, že by některé hodnoty uctívané původními obyvateli mohly být pro západní společnost přínosné. Na závěr jsou rovněz analyzovány poslední kapitoly obou románů, kde hlavní postavy vkročí do světa mrtvých.