By Margaret Craven Essay

This phonograph record is an inspiring experience to read is somewhat of an understatement. Though a very small book in terms of novels lately, this work is everlasting(a) and in depth enough that nothing is left lacking. A teen vicar, Mark Brian necessitates an assignment to a remote Indian village in the Pacific Northwest of British Columbia. Kingcome itself seems to become part of the takescape rather of detracting from the natural beauty. The plurality, the Kwakiutl tribe, are as mysterious and reserved as the land they fuck in.Their walnut colored faces and sad eyes speak of secrets and close thoughts that Brian thot end not interpret at get-go. He notes to himself mentally as if they endlessly seem to be forbearing for something but he can never quite understand what. They treat him with respect and distance, a relieve reminder that he is an intruder, whether welcomed or not. He is the white man and therefore, farther beyond being able to understand their circle of life and how they arrest that life. In return, Brian gives them that right to distance and struggles to be as unobtrusive a presence as he can be.He sees this as a challenge that he has been sent to accomplish in order to give out their lives and thus better his as well. His vicarage and church are in ramshackle condition, a far cry from any said polish habitat he was accustomed to but upon receiving a post date letter from his Bishop that he would receive a new manufactured vicarage, he sends a response declining the offer. He is determined to live as they live or as much as he can and centripetal himself to their appearances. It is not a feat easily accomplished. His strongest ally is Jim Wallace, a autochthonic designated to aid and help the young vicar.Yet, Jim and Mark are just among a whole cast of fabulous and amazing characters from Calamity Bill, a forester, and to doddery Marta who is wise beyond even her extensive lifetime. Mark experiences the faith that the raft hold in Christianity while the underlying teachings of their native spirituality is al ways present. Unknown to the vicar is the fact that he is dying and though his Bishop knew, he learns to accept all facets of life, even death, through the pragmatic and beautifully simplistic borrowing of the Kwakiutl people.As to often when single race invades another, the conquering unity imposes their way of thought and practices upon the other. One of the most startling evidence of government handicap was the body of a drowned child that was required to lay in wait of burial for an undeterminable length of time. Stark decomposition had set in but still the Kwakiutl were forced to wait for the arrival of the Royal attach Police constable before the child could be buried.Obviously an unintended death, nothing truly needing an inquest, the constable showed little regard for the tribe and their customs by delaying his visit as long as possible. Mark Brian got his first taste of govern mental beau racy with that act. Even he in his regulated position of the parishs minister could not override the integrity and bury the child within a respectful time. The government as well imposed their restrictions of the Kwakiutl by the banning of their great potlatch dances, something that had been an important custom among the Indians for as long as memory served.The people were still allowed to have potlatch dances, but on a much smaller scale and the sole intellect being that the potlatch could deprive one tribe of sufficient substance and demand in order to satisfy their chiefs need to be generous. Though the Kwakiutl spoke very little of any criticism in the governments interference, Brian sensed the deep resentment and silent animosity that his charges felt to have their way of life altered so drastically.The one issue they were the most verbal about was the requirement to send their old children to a school in Vancouver which taught them the ways of the white civil ization and insisted that it was the one true way to live. All the ancient ways of Kingcome were swept out and belittled by this school. When the children came home from school, they were impatient with the time set ways of the elders of the tribe and their families could see the desire in them to leave the village for wide and become part of the outside world.It was certain doom for Kingcome, both as a village and as a people. It was an assurance that life as the Kwakiutl as they had been for centuries would fade away into history and cease as a separate nation. Here in the village my people are at home as the fish in the sea, as the eagle in the sky. When the young leave, the world takes them and damages them. They no longer listen when the elders speak. They go and soon the village will go also. (Craven 62) In my opinion, the book was marvelously enlightening and deeply moving.As the time was spent with the people, Mark Brian did, as his Bishop hoped, gave a finer insight int o the beauty of life and the deepset roots of people who were content with their world as it was. A rare happiness that though not clearly evident on the surface, it was a thread of military posture that helped him face his own demise and still retain his faith in his own beliefs. I found no reason for changing the book or looking for any detraction or addition to as a complete work. It was a wonderful reading experience plant life Cited/ReferenceCraven, Margaret, I Heard the Owl Call My Name, Dell Publishing, 1973