Literary Analysis of Big Water: Indigenous Resilience, Technology, and Environmental Change in Contemporary Canada
Overview
This essay analyzes Leanne Betasamosake Simpson's short story 'Big Water' from the collection Accident of Being Lost, examining how the author critiques contemporary Canadian colonialism and environmental destruction through the intersection of technology and nature. The analysis explores how Simpson uses poetic narrative style to present both the hopelessness of modern technological society and the resilience of indigenous peoples in facing environmental and social challenges.
What this essay covers
- Introduction establishing Big Water as a fictional account of real-life events within Simpson's collection criticizing Canadian colonialism
- Analysis of technology's role in the narrative, particularly smartphone dependency and how Niibish (Lake Ontario) communicates through modern means
- Examination of the author's use of lyrical style to balance despair with indigenous narratives of survival and resilience
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Literary Analysis On Big Water
Big Water is a fictional narration that give an account of a real-life event. The story is part of the collection in Accident of Being Lost, which was published by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. It is one of the collections that greatly criticizes the colonialism of contemporary Canada. This is through the exploration of the struggles that native people within the Canadian community are experiencing. Big Water is one of the most outstanding stories within the collection because it merges various pertinent issues that are important to the contemporary society. Notably, the narrative merges the modern challenges associated with text communication as well as the rapid changes in the environment that are greatly affecting the way people operate. In this essay, we will evaluate how the author criticizes the situation and tries to bring hope instead of succumbing into a spirit of pessimism.
Technology has changed the way people live and relate with each other. Like never before, individuals are more attracted to gadgets and possessions. Communication is aided by smartphones, which is a feature of every modernized society. Just as the author notes, every individual can attest that their phone is one of the most valuable possession. Lake Ontario is flooding and bursting its boundaries, which is represented as Niibish. Niibish is texting the narrator of the story in all caps, which signifies the importance of the message, and tells him how she is recreating the world.