International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature E-ISSN: 2200-3452 & P-ISSN: 2200-3592 www.ijalel.aiac.org.au Crossing Canadian Cultural Borders: A study of the Aboriginal/White Stereotypical Relations in George Ryga’s The Ecstasy of Rita Joe Maram M. Samman* Taibah University, Saudi Arabia Corresponding Author: Maram M. Samman, E-mail: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history This paper traces the intercultural journey of a young Aboriginal girl into the hegemonic white Received: August 14, 2017 society. Rita Joe crossed the imaginary border that separates her reserve from the other Canadian Accepted: October 20, 2017 society living in the urban developed city. Through this play, George Ryga aims at achieving liberation and social equality for the Aboriginals who are considered a colonized minority in Published: January 05, 2018 their land. The research illustrates how Ryga represented his personal version of the colonial Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Aboriginal history to provide an empowering body narrative that supports their identity in Advance access: December 2017 the present and resists the erosion of their culture and tradition. The play makes very strong statements to preserve the family, history and local heritage against this forced assimilation. It tells the truth as its playwright saw it. The play is about the trail of Rita Joe after she moved Conflicts of interest: None from her reserve in pursuit of the illusion of the city where she thought she would find freedom Funding: None and social equality. In fact the audience and the readers are all on trial. Ryga is pointing fingers at everyone who is responsible for the plights of the Aboriginals as it is clear in the play. He questions the Whites’ stereotypical stand against the Aboriginals. The play is a direct criticism of the political, social and cultural systems in Canada. The paper reveals Aboriginals’ acts of opposition to racism, assimilation and colonization as represented in The Ecstasy of Rita Joe. Key words: Aboriginals, Assimilation, Canadian, Crossing, Cultural borders, George Ryga Crossing Canadian Cultural Borders: A study of the Ab- da, which include Indians, Metis, Inuit, and Native peoples” original/White Stereotypical Relations in George Ryga’s The (Kirkness and Bowman 4). The Western colonizers have Ecstasy of Rita Joe. tried hard to subjugate the Aboriginals from the early days of As a direct result of the settler colonization in Cana- colonization. This paper aspires to draw the public attention da, many Aboriginals were simply forced to give up their to some of the culturally, socially, and politically inhumane identity, their language and their past life, and adapt to the results of these settlements, as represented in George Ry- Whites’ ways of living. The colonial Relocation Program ga’s The Ecstasy of Rita Joe. The Western newcomers have has helped to draw an imaginary line between the Aborig- launched a crusade-like campaign to assimilate the Indians inals in their reserves and the Whites in their newly built, and cure them from their problem i.e. Aboriginality. Howev- urban, and developed cities. In general, these border lines er, their colonial plans have always had a bigger fish to fry. In can be ethnic, racial as well as based on social class and/ Children of the Dragonfly: Native American Voices on Child or religion. In George Ryga’s The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, the Custody and Education, Robert Benson states that “the goal title character is a young Aboriginal girl who is treated as an of the Europeans has always been to gain absolute posses- outsider in her own country; she is stigmatized because of sion... To achieve that goal; they have worked, and still are her identity as an Aboriginal. During the play, she is judged trying by all possible means, to exterminate the native pop- and convicted more than eight times. Her offense is simply ulations... [simply because of] their inheritance—this part crossing from her reserve in pursuit of the illusion of the of the earth is wanted” (x). New tides of Anglo immigrants city where she thought she would find freedom and social moved to these new lands to exploit its native inhabitants equality. Shockingly, she ends up dead on the roads of the and form new communities. Consequently, the Natives were city with a “twisted, broken body” (124). She is the victim of dispossessed of the lands, on which they had lived for cen- the Whites’ prejudices against the Aboriginals. turies, in favour of the imperial expansion of the Whites to Historically, Canada has been inhabited by the Aborig- build highly developed cities for them. As a part of the Relo- inals long before the European settlers reached its shores. cation Program, the Aboriginals were forced to “movement Natives and Aboriginals are terms used in this paper inter- controls” and “surrender title to their land, [and] they were changeably, to embrace “a wide range of peoples in Cana- granted lands to live on which are known as reserves [but] Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.1p.92 Crossing Canadian Cultural Borders: A study of the Aboriginal/White Stereotypical Relations in George Ryga’s The Ecstasy of Rita Joe 93 are held directly under the Crown” (Douglas 9-71). Some contribute to acclaiming Ryga and his play with the credit of these new comers believed that these remnants of the dy- they deserve. Herein, it is anticipated that the interest of the ing, savage culture are better off being restrained in these re- study will stimulate more critical and academic readings of serves to die either literally or metaphorically through being George Ryga’s literary works. transformed by education and evangelization. In “Aboriginal To deliver his humane message, Ryga chooses a peculiar Public Policy in Urban Areas”, Evelyn Peters states that al- setting for his play. The backstage consists of “a mountain of most all these “resource-poor reserves” were “located at a cyclorama. In front of the cyclorama, there is a darker maze distance from urban centers” (13). curtain to suggest gloom and confusion, and a cityscape.” In the play, Rita Joe has crossed the border that sepa- The setting of the play “creates a sense of compression of rates her reserve from the Canadian society living in the stage into the auditorium.” Then, a clerk shouts: “This court urban, developed city. This intercultural journey of the Ab- is in session. All present will rise....” (16). All these propose original, Canadian, young girl into the hegemonic White that not only Rita, but the audience is also on trial. Ryga is society is reviewed by Ben Metcalfe, from the Vancouver pointing fingers at everyone who is responsible for the plight CBC, as “a human experience. an act of communion in of the Aboriginals. Another important aspect of the stage set- which our own participation is inescapable” (qtd. in Ryga, ting is the curtains. The stage direction clearly points out, Ecstasy 127). By the early 1970s, The Oxford Anthology of “No curtain is used during the play. At the opening, inter- Canadian Literature describes George Ryga (1932-1987) as mission and conclusion of the play, the curtain remains up.” “the most successful theatre dramatist in English Canada” This idea emphasises that the beginning of the story is not (qtd. in Hoffman, The Ecstasy 10). Ryga was born to poor, here. The real story about the Aboriginals’ suffering begins Ukrainian, immigrant parents. During his life, he faced a long ago, has many details, and is even more complicated dual dilemma – as a colonizer from the West as well as the than the immense suffering that is depicted in the play. What colonized who is regarded as a second-class citizen. Yet, it we are witnessing is only a piece from the bigger picture. is interesting to notice that his works “exemplify more than Instead of using the traditional curtains, “the onus for iso- anything else the difficulty of cultural production within the lating scenes from the past and present in RITA JOE’s life invader-settler colony” (Hoffman, The Ecstasy 13). Instead falls on highlight lighting” (15). All throughout the play, we of adapting to the Anglo-Canadian mainstream, he starts encounter frequent instances where “faint light on the MAG- representing the plight of the Natives living in Canada. Most ISTRATE brightens” (20) and “the light isolation between of his plays “address themes of human struggle; many tack- her and JAIMIE deepens, as the scene turns into courtroom le issues of Canadian identity” (Hoffman, George Ryga 9). again” (22). Through his works, Ryga has managed to secure a presti- In the trial, Rita is the accused Aboriginal female who gious place in Canadian literature, especially in drama. Un- stands alone without any legal representation, in an attempt deniably, “he is an enduring presence in the larger, ongoing to defend herself in front of an unsympathetic White Magis- construction of post-colonial Canadian culture” (Hoffman, trate. The incidents of the story are linked by Rita’s memory George Ryga 10). His identity as an immigrant has infl - and associations. She appears in front of the Magistrate more enced almost all his literary works, which are mostly relat- than eight times. In the beginning, he informs Rita that “the ed to the minorities and resistance. Lisa Grekul praises his charge against you this morning is vagrancy” (22). Howev- genius, saying that “we see in Ryga’s works a writer whose er, he later continues, “the charge against you this morning commitment to reclaiming and proclaiming [his] identity as is prostitution” (39).