85 pages • 2 hours read
The Birchbark House
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Themes
Anishinabe Culture and White Settlement
Anishinabe is the name for a group of culturally-related Indigenous peoples of the American Midwest and Canada, and it is the name most commonly used for Omakayas’s people in this book. Anishinabe culture features prominently throughout The Birchbark House, but it is most powerfully expressed through the language and the clothing of the book’s characters.
While the book is written in English, the characters often use Anishinabe words and phrases in conversation, and a glossary is provided at the end of the novel. Often, these words express concepts that English translations can’t adequately capture. For example, makazins are mentioned frequently but are never referred to as "shoes" or "moccasins." Makazins are a type of Anishinabe footwear, made of tanned leather and trimmed with beads or fur, and the author’s choice to use Anishinabe words for concepts such as this helps to illustrate the unique and endangered qualities of Anishinabe culture.
The characters often use Anishinabe language to express loving or respectful sentiments. When Old Tallow is first introduced, Omakayas says, “Ahneen [greetings], my auntie...mino aya sana [I wish you good health]” (23). In two powerful moments of bonding between Pinch and Omakayas near the end of the book, the two siblings surprise themselves by thanking each other, and their gratitude is written in Anishinabe. Pinch says “Megwetch [thank you]” when Omakayas heals his feet (215), and Omakayas says “Megwetch, little brother” when Pinch hands Andeg over to her (229). In creating an association between the Anishinabe language and moments of love and connection, the narrative purposefully illustrates the kind and altruistic foundations of Anishinabe society, even if the reader is otherwise unfamiliar with the culture.
The love that pervades Anishinabe culture is also expressed through the characters’ clothing. This association emerges in the Prologue when the fur traders discover a baby who is the sole survivor of her island’s smallpox epidemic: “Her tiny dress of good blue wool was embroidered with white beads and ribbons, and her new makazins were carefully sewn. It was clear she had been loved” (1). Characters often put special care into the clothing they prepare for others as a sign of love. Ten Snow, for example, gains praise for the exceptional bag she makes for her husband, Fishtail: “Ten Snow had finished something very impressive, much admired by the other women, including Grandma, who took it in her hands and blessed it one cold day” (124). When Ten Snow shares a small beading kit, Omakayas wonders what to make, yet she never considers making something for herself. Instead, Omakayas cycles through family members and dolls who may benefit from her work before settling on crafting moccasins for baby Neewo: “Suddenly she knew, as though the beads told her themselves, that they were meant for her little brother” (128-29).
Though the characters in this story are all Anishinabe, there is a growing awareness of white expansion impinging on their traditional way of life. The first overt indication of this comes when Fishtail, LaPautre, and Deydey discuss whether they will need to move west to Dakota territory. Later, when the family moves into town for the winter, Angeline expresses interest in learning to read at the missionary school, and she and Omakayas discover that Fishtail is already learning literacy. There is an inherent mistrust of the European ways. Deydey says that white people “are like greedy children. Nothing will ever please them for long” (79), while Fishtail explains his schooling by saying that “I went to the priest’s school. To learn to read the chimookoman’s tracks. That way they can’t cheat us with the treaties” (112).
Despite the threats that white settlements pose to Anishinabe culture, there are some indications that it is not completely negative. For example, Deydey, who is himself part-white, excels at the game of chess. He uses his skill in the white man’s game to win food for his starving family. Ultimately, the key for Anishinabe survival seems to hinge on the ability to use elements of white culture that are useful, without forgetting their roots. As Nokomis explains, “Take their ways if you need them...but don’t forget your own. You are Anishinabe […] My girl, don’t become like them” (110).
Anishinabe Spirituality
A facet of Anishinabe culture that pervades every aspect of the characters’ lives is their spirituality. Through their spiritual practices, the characters demonstrate humility and respect toward nature and their own cultural heritage. In turn, they are rewarded with a deep understanding of the natural world and wisdom in their interactions with it.
The characters in The Birchbark House,particularly Nokomis, are frequently praying to the spirits, or manitous. In our first introduction to Nokomis, the old woman delivers a prayer to a birch tree before taking its bark: “‘Old Sister,’ she said to the birchbark tree, ‘we need your skin for our shelter’” (7). Nokomis offers tobacco to the manitous whenever she prays.She even gives tobacco to the water before crossing the lake in a canoe to ensure a safe journey.
Proof of Nokomis’s connection to the spirits comes when the family is in danger of starvation, and the old woman dreams of the buck One Horn waiting to save them. Even though they must kill and eat the deer, the family shows humility and gratitude for the buck’s sacrifice. Deydey dresses in his best clothes and shows respect in the hunt: “Deydey lifted his gun, breathed his hopes. Then thanks. One shot” (183). Later, as Omakayas eats a venison stew, she imagines One Horn honored and wearing fine beadwork: “Opening her eyes again, she thanked the animal for saving her life […]” (185).
Omakayas shares her grandmother’s connection with the spirits, and Nokomis passes much wisdom down to the young girl. Nokomis’s wisdom helps Omakayas to understand her first encounter with the bears: “Nokomis had told her that the bear must be addressed with the utmost respect, as a treasured relative, that the bear had human qualities, and nobody quite understood the bear. But that bears understood humans well” (34-35). Nokomis guides her through the process as Omakayas grows more attuned to the bears and to her healing power. After asking the bears to share their medicine with her, Omakayas finds that the plants seem to be speaking to her. Nokomis offers her support and wisdom to Omakayas in light of this, saying, “Even now, today, I sometimes don’t know what they are saying. But then, I’m old and getting weak […]You are young and strong, Omakayas, and as I teach you about my medicines you’ll hear them more clearly” (206).
Despite their close connection with the spiritual world, Omakayas’s family is not immune to suffering. As they move into their winter cabin, Nokomis offers a prayer, asking for protection from the hardships of winter: “We’re very small…just human. Help us to live this winter through. Come to us, especially, during the harshest moon...when so often meat is scarce...when disease breaks us…” (101). Even this prayer fails to protect the family, which sends Omakayas into a crisis of faith: “The spirits, the manitous who lived in all things, why had they ignored her prayers, her mother’s prayers, and the powerful prayers of Nokomis?” (158).
As Omakayas grows in the powers shared by the bears and Nokomis over the winter and spring, her spiritual journey teaches her to make peace with her life. In the end, Omakayas listens to Neewo’s voice in the comforting songs of the white-throated sparrows: “Omakayas tucked her hands behind her head, lay back, closed her eyes, and smiled as the song of the white-throated sparrow sank again and again through the air like a shining needle, and sewed up her broken heart” (239). Although the spirits couldn’t spare her from grief, they lead her to her own recovery.
Community and Generosity
Throughout The Birchbark House, Omakayas’s family members share freely with their friends and neighbors, and they in turn receive kindness from the community. This spirit of generosity reinforces the Anishinabe culture's foundation of love and respect.
The character who most prominently embodies this generosity is the reclusive and enigmatic Old Tallow. Though the old woman surrounds herself with vicious dogs and always speaks in a growl, Old Tallow frequently shares the animals she’s hunted with the family in exchange for a cooked meal, and she often visits with the women of the household. She takes an interest in Omakayas, a trait that confuses the girl until Omakayas realizes that Old Tallow looks at her the way she looks at her dogs: “This was not a bad thing. In fact, it was good in a way, for in Old Tallow’s look there was true affection, something she didn’t feel for other humans. It made Omakayas feel both strange and safe inside” (115). This certainty is proven later when Old Tallow’s fierce yellow dog attacks Omakayas. The old woman does not hesitate to kill the dog: “Old Tallow’s justice was harsh. Her sentence was carried out in an instant, but that didn’t mean that her heart was hard or that she didn’t mourn for her friend. It just meant that Omakayas was more important” (181).
The extent of Old Tallow’s generosity becomes clear when the old woman reveals Omakayas’s true origin. Describing how Omakayas survived smallpox, she says, “Starvation nearly got you next, but I managed to cheat the old hungry skull. Fed you broth of rabbits. Brought you back with me” (233). Regarding Omakayas’s present family, Old Tallow further explains, “They took you as their daughter, loved you as their daughter, you are a daughter to them, and a sister to your brother, and to Angeline” (234). Omakayas’s entire life, then, can be traced back to the generosity of Old Tallow and her adoptive family, all of whom have acted altruistically toward her as well as each otherthroughout her entire life.
The generosity of this Anishinabe community brings them joy and life, but it also causes suffering. When a sick visitor arrives at the winter dance, the villagers take him in and care for him. Angeline’s kind friend Ten Snow brings the man a bowl from her own house for him to eat his soup, and a local family takes him into their home. Shortly afterwards, they fall ill: “Ten Snow was the first to fall into a fever, and then those in the lodge where the sick man had stayed fell ill, one after the next” (143). After the outbreak, as the townsfolk mourn their eighteen dead, the community share in their grief as much as they formerly shared in their prosperity:
At the burying ground, there were many new graves. The winter was hard. As [Mama] sat talking to her child’s spirit, someone else almost always came near, added their tobacco, said a few words of comfort, and passed on to their own grieving (155).
The sense of intimacy and affection that prevails in Omakayas’s own family therefore extends throughout her entire community and appears to be a key element of Anishinabe culture.
Women’s Work and Non-Conformity
Gender roles are clearly demarcated in Omakayas’s family and community, and important tasks are assigned to each gender. However, these social roles are not entirely set in stone, and some characters move freely between them.
As Omakayas develops and learns more about herself, she takes on womanly duties more regularly. At the beginning of the book, she dreads the chore of scraping the moose hide for leather, even though she recognizes its importance. She performs her task well and earns praise from her family, but Omakayas still despises the task. Often, being a child, she performs gender-neutral tasks that are also associated with her brother Pinch, such as gathering woodor chasing birds away from food. She also begins to embrace feminine duties like sewing, a task that alienates Pinch: “Pinch was sent out to bring wood. He made a face at Omakayas, for with her beadwork she was set apart, another of the women, and Pinch was left to fetch wood all by himself” (132). This moment helps Omakayas to integrate with the other women of her family. As they sit quietly together with their work, Nokomis tells a story that she clearly would not tell with men present, the story of her grandmother’s naked ghost.
Although the gendered division of labor is generally upheld within Omakayas’s community, characters who defy these roles are still treated with love. Omakayas’s cousin, Two Strike Girl, is primarily defined by her affinity for boys’ activities: “Her name was Two Strike Girl, and she was better than most boys at hunting and fighting. She had to be forced to do the things girls normally did, and her mother and grandma had finally given up on her” (95). Two Strike Girl even secures the honor of "dancing the rice,"the rite of stomping on the harvested wild rice to separate the grain from the husk, although it is considered a boy’s job. Omakayas and Two Strike Girl become very close during the rice harvest, and Two Strike Girl encourages Omakayas to help her dance the rice: “Jumping to help her cousin, Omakayas felt as proud and bold” (98). There is no condemnation of Two Strike Girl’s character, and she is admired for who she is.
Like Two Strike Girl, Old Tallow is a woman who prefers to perform men’s tasks: “Old Tallow could bring down a bear with her pack of dogs, her gun, or even the razor-sharp spear […] Also, Old Tallow, who loved to hunt and was very skilled, shared her catch with them when Deydey was gone” (20). While the rest of the women in the story work hard to create beautiful, intricately-decorated clothes, Old Tallow wears tattered clothing and is particularly known for her remarkable winter coat: “Discarded shreds of unidentifiable stuffs were sewed patch on patch, including some black beaded velvets and bright calicos. The coat fit across her in a great mound and flapped when she moved” (124). Though Old Tallow doesn’t behave like other women in the story, they still treat her with respect.She spends many evenings in conversation with Mama and Nokomis, and even though Omakayas is somewhat uncomfortable around the old woman, she calls her "Aunt" as a sign of respect. Fearless and strong, Old Tallow is an indispensable friend to the family precisely because of her "unfeminine" qualities.
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