Paragraph #2: White Buffalo by Natasha Gauthier
Characters
Plot
Context
Theme
Mood
Self-Reflection
Growth
Conflict
Anne
White Buffalo
Light, yet serious.
Reflecting & Building Understanding
Written in 1st person perspective
Written in 3rd person perspective
Person v.s. Self
Literary Devices
Repetition
"Have ya ever contemplated suicide? Sure, I said. Who hasn't?"
"Do ya... Do ya... Have ya...?"
He does something, and produces a "strange breeze that felt like it was a billion years old".
Main character of the story.
Anne is struggling with accepting
cultural heritage and
finding a direction to go in her life.
"I'm only one-eighth."
Only implies denial of her cultural heritage
The White Buffalo is an ancient sacred symbol to Native American culture, and is a teacher to them
Reflected in the story when
they teach Anne about her culture.
The White Buffalo asks questions such as "Do ya live with honour and intention?" in order to help Anne reflect on herself and build understanding of her culture.
Person v.s. Society
"Do ya feel resentful of yer skin?"
The stigmas and discriminatory bias formed against Indigenous people have existed for a long time, and promote self-hate and abhorrence towards one's own culture.
Symbolism
The White Buffalo asks if Anne is affected by prejudices, and if the negative soicetal view on Indigenous culture is keeping her from realizing her heritage.
This discusses Anne's own struggles, and how she has thought to harm herself for relief.
White Buffalo
Mirrors
The White Buffalo is a sacred animal representing hope, rebirth, peace, and harmony.
Mirrors represent reflection on one's inner self.
It comes from an ancient folktale discussing how the White Buffalo acted as both a savour and a teacher.
The use of repitition reinforces the casual yet interogatory nature of the passage.
"Do ya dream of fallin' inside mirrors..."
The White Buffalo asks serous questions to drive Anne's reflection.
The White Buffalo uses casual speech, shortening his words (findin') and including terms such as "ya" and "yer", creating a lighter mood despite the graveness of it all.
White Buffalo
The somewhat interogatory questions that the White Buffalo asks helps Anne reflect on her heritage, as well as the state of her current life.
By making Anne think upon and respond to his questions, the White Buffalo helps Anne grow through developing self-understanding, self-love, and her knowledge.
They are the person asking Anne the questions, and helping her to begin building some level of understanding about herself.
Anne finds it easier to be hoenst aboout herself to strangers, most likely due to the fact that they will never meet again, and therefore allows the White Buffalo to talk as he pleases.
The questions about her skin and ancestors.
The White Buffalo asks her questions about her skin tone, ancestors, and etc.
This is because prior to the passage, they conversed about culture and land heritage, which built trust between them, but also gave the White Buffalo the knowledge for asking such questions.