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Identity - Coggle Diagram
Identity
Freedom
Human Rights
"Healing Days. Biggest three days of the year in the Gutter... they'll have real doctors and dentists packing the lanes and doing free appointments..." (Richardson 305).
The fact that this character is so excited to have free health care is ironic because they were never told that health care is a basic Human Right that you must always have access to. The irony comes from the 'privilege' that Gutter folks to see these healers and that they only visit three times a year. It's sad because Gutter folks feel lucky to have them when they don't realize that Mainlanders never have to worry about when they get sick or how to treat it, they just can go because of their skin colour.
Family
"I think about this imaginary life and what it would be like, but when I look down at DJ, I wonder if I could ever enjoy a life that doesn’t include him now" (Richardson 301).
This relates to home a lot, where wherever family is, is where you are home. I feel this is because it is where you feel that you most belong and feel safe. Quality of life and motivation are rooted from family for Sossi people because it's all they have that Mainlanders cannot take away from them.
Debt
“But just know that you’re not really free if the Gutter system still exists. That debt they gave you at Livingstone, it isn’t yours to pay. You don’t owe them anything. They owe you. They owe all of us" (Richardson 338).
Gutter children are told that the have x around of debt as if they have done something themselves. When really, Mainlanders have generated random amounts and assigned them to random people to allow the poor to suffer and the rich to survive. It isn't their debt to pay, nor was it their ancestor's debt to pay. Their land was invaded, their livelihood was stolen, so who tells them what they must pay, who decides their fate?
Inclusion
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Racism
"One year later, those same people grabbed new signs and stood in front of Capedown Elementary to protest my enrolment in school that had always been exclusively for Mainlanders--in a town that prided itself on the same" (Richardson 57).
When Elimina was living on the Mainland in Capedown she would constantly experience racism as being one black person in a strictly white community. People were offended that she was given the same privileges as a Mainlander or a white person.
Support
“I don’t know that life’s worth living without family, without someone,” he says. “I can handle all of this, if it’s for someone or something. But what’s the point if it’s just me? I don’t know if I could do it that way" (Richardson 78).
Children who were separated from their families to attend academies for a chance at employment often didn't feel as though fighting only for themselves was enough to motivate them. As though it wasn't worth it if it meant they would have their own freedom. I find this very selfless and beautiful that it's worth it if it's for the greater good beyond themselves.
Relationships between Elimina and Friends, especially Ida and Rowan.
'Home'
Belonging
"I had never seen faces like mine before, and I decided they were my long-lost family" (Richardson 57).
All Gutter folk have ever wanted is to not be isolated from each other. To work at academies just so that one day they can work alongside Mainlanders and feel even more alone. They want to feel like they're not outsiders.
Friends are home
"I was supposed to go to the Hill to be with her and David, and I’m not sure what to think now that she’s here" (Richardson 299).
Elimina had planned on leaving the Gutter as soon as she could to reunite with Josephine and David at the Hill. Once she met Josephine in the Gutter, she realized she was home and that where her friends are is home.
Culture
History
"We grew fast In numbers after the Thaw because of the abundance of our love and the sturdy bellies of our women" (Richardson 139). "We were Sossi and we were strong". "We are guardians and farmers and shepherds" (Richardson 140).
The Sossi people were a friendly and sacred community before their culture was invaded and industrialized. This forced them to forget their history and turn against each other just to survive the brutality of Mainlanders.
Land
"They settled along the shade of the mountains, and plunged into the Earth with sharp machines, breaking rock and root to bring things out that could make light" (Richardson 139).
The land was once natural and beautiful and kindly used by Sossi people. It was sacred to them as they were farmers and their culture relied on their land. Their skin was the colour of the fertile soils. The land brought them together and created their culture.