Douglas Glover is a known Canadian writer of various fiction works that has take readers of different nationalities, notion and personal preferences. While there have been a great many other works of Glover such as records Home from a Prodigal Son, The Enamored Knight, and novels like the Life and Times of Captain N and 16 Types of Desire, Elle, a novel based on a genuine or rather historical figure, Marguerite de Roberval, on her way to finding Canada with her uncle, Jean-Franois de la Rocque de Roberval. With this novel, he seemed to present Canada is a satiric language with explicit and implicit intentions of ridiculing religion, faith and aboriginals.
It identified the occasions of first contact and the discovery of Canada by the European adventurers. We were holding during the times of Jacques Cartier's previous and rather tragic try to colonize Canada. This first contact was described with techniques in what have Canada designed to European adventurers and what did Europeans meant to the country's original habitants and the clash between these two groups; neither of these recognized one another as individual. Nevertheless, he associated faith, love-making, and revenge in building an image of this newly discovered country or the "New World. " While excerpts of the story are loosely predicated on facts, the author's terms of conviction has somehow made the storyline more brilliant and appears like more true to life. The author applied his freedom of expression by choosing to portray such part of record by having a work of fiction.
In the span of the storyline, he also used a great deal of latitude as a way to portray Canada. This is to spell it out the geographical location of the newly uncovered country also to create a view of seasonal encounters of the heroes such as winter in portrayal of sadness and will for revenge. Furthermore, use of latitude appeared to be used to express distance from the European roots of the characters. This latitudinal distance implicates ethnic, traditional and civil dissimilarities. This further implies the width of territorial growth attempts of European countries before and may be not so many years before modern times.
For me, as a audience of the novel, these equipment of literature employed by the author afflicted my understanding of colonization, first contact, trust and faith as associated with lust, making love and may be, love. Using the claim that the novel was predicated on facts, it has some effect for me to suppose many happenings in the storyplot to be true. In some sense I have a tendency to forget it being truly a fiction and not a primary narration of history (perhaps except Elle turning virtually or elsewhere into a carry). This may be attributed to the loose restrictions set between imagination and simple fact. This confusion applies to the personalities used and the real events narrated. In general, it'll be safe to believe that most the accounts in the storyplot were based on the author's imagination and not a straightforward re telling of written history.
Nonetheless, this also gave me some sense of contempt to inhumane activities on both get-togethers no matter which side I may choose to provide sympathy. If this will be the only book talking about the first contact of Canada and its history, I am facing realizations of the violent, lustful, and inhumane elements of history or the truths that perhaps will never be talked about on ordinary history books.
I believe that then, that the bigger reason for the book is to portray themes not brought up in the usual history catalogs. Hypocrisy and modesty away, we can really assume that such themes like sex, assault, lust and other worldly human nature are inclusive of our history. While other critics of Glover say that he didn't include human aspect to sympathize with in his novel Elle, I assume that these themes can be viewed as not less than parts of our figure and human nature no matter civilization, religion and nationality.
Moreover, this is also to portray colonization not simply as growth of territory. It means penetration in an existing culture or alternatively an intentional or unintentional exchange of culture between the two gatherings: the colony and colonizers. That is to stress that colonization is not really a one of the ways process or a transformation from the colonizers to the colony. Somewhat, it is an exchange or mixture of tradition, belief, education and psychological strings.
Other inspirations in the story would be the apparent extension of trade and wealth in the early times. Colonization and territorial enlargement were oftentimes related to be serves of European explorers. These expeditions have made huge histories and stories worth showing and retelling until these modern times of 21st century. Many of these stories were explanations of social contacts such as Elle and other books such as Gulliver's Travel.
The Designs of the Story
To be specific, the topics that I have observed in the book include: aboriginals, religion, first contact, issues of gender, family, and intimacy. Among these styles, I see particular focus on religion and beliefs, issues of gender, and making love as individual principles. On the other hand, aboriginals and first contact may refer to the author's portrayal of Canada at times of European's try out for colonization.
Aboriginals
In terms of aboriginals, the writer may have been inspired by the recent finding of traditional pagan culture. Portrayal of general public execution and getting rid of were brought up in the reports a large number of times. Rituals of local people of the brand new World were also portrayed. This is expected as some aspects of the book were influenced by the recent rediscovery of historical pagan classics. They were understated critic in the practice of religious beliefs and its impacts to individuals thinking.
Religion
Excessive practice of religious rituals may cause unfavorable effects on the believers exactly like Elle's mother who got consumed to spiritual rituals and forgot her other responsibilities and may be, even lost her sanity and sense of certainty. The novel seemed to portray religion as one of the triggers why her mother did not look after her as a kid. Her mom was dependent on religious rituals which were explained in absurd way such as "licking the feet" of the statue of saints in church. Her father, busy with his own wishes for expanding electric power, didn't pay fatherly focus on her too. As a result, or may be because of other notable causes too, Elle was not a good mother and did not grow nearer to her children too.
The Protestant and Catholic religions were explicitly ridiculed using direct and yet satiric terms. Elle possessed a priest fan. That is scandalous because of chastity and vow of celibacy enforced and thought to be practiced by the priests. Furthermore, the book also described brutal consequence of Protestants because of simple rule breaking and activities not in accordance to its scriptures. Elle were keen on these and even said, " I thought the world to be a more exciting place for all your conflict and never missed a public getting rid of or decapitation. This is a portrayal in both implicit and explicit way that religious beliefs, love-making and brutality are related.
Family
Moreover, we were holding the days when faith, greed for power and prosperity and all other arbitrary pleasures such as love-making and money were preferred more than one's own family. Parenting is a loose responsibility rather than a highly considered one. This is true regarding Elle to her children and her from her parents. Her mother did not look after her because of her evident addiction or obsession to religious rituals. She was also not able to care for her children for reasons not explicitly mentioned in the storyplot. I assume that it's an impact of her exceptional same from her parents and her own experiences of assault and brutality in her exile.
Inequality against Women
Gender issues were also resolved in the book. It portrayed how Europeans and Canadians treated women. Regardless of membership to respectable and respected households and aristocratic upbringing, women have problems with violent and unequal treatment. They were vulnerable not only to sexual assaults but also to inequality to opportunities. In those times, women were not expected to participate to exhibitions, voyages and other privileges entitled only to male counter parts.
But then again, "headstrong female" as that of Elle strived to get some good treatment. That is regardless of her aristocratic upbringing; she was raised uniquely as a headstrong gal. While women were viewed as sex items, she in turn treated his enthusiasts, her sex companions as well. In turn he also used men to fulfill her "desire for good gender. " She measure manhood in terms of size of manhood and ability in love making. Furthermore, Catherine or Comes Winter, the native girl also experienced the same fate just like Elle. It had been far much easier to punish a female with her life, including seeing her loved ones to die.
Sex and Lust
Sex, on the other palm, seemed to serve as a getaway for the heroes. The main persona seemed to meet her frustrations through having lustful gender. She seemed to find equality in gender where she actually is within beauty and men make want to her just how she needed to be loved. That is to say that sex, in one way or another, is not simply a language of the body. It could also be looked at as psychological, a remedy or rather means of psychological stress.
Other themes I see in the book include revenge and karma. The novel revealed some sense of the themes when the General, to whom all sufferings of Elle were related to, was killed with a bear (that was apparently been shown to be her other personality later on). The general was killed by a carry with a "woman's center. "
The desire for revenge that was explained in the last part of the story was satisfied when the overall thought of Elle while achieving his fatality. He was stabbed and acquired fatal blows- an uncomfortable loss of life that Elle once desired to give him. Although it is uncertain if Elle is actually the bear or elsewhere, the finish indeed justified the means because she appeared to be delighted with the news. Whether random Karma or intentional revenge, Elle would have thought the same: gratified and dependable.
Emphases of the Novel
With these themes or templates, the emphasis of the storyplot relied on human autonomy. Elle, in spite of being a female with limited physical and may be emotional durability and opportunities, have means to do aberrations with liberty and autonomy as the justifications. Moreover, this is associated with one's freedom of appearance. Although this may not be easy and could even cause one's own life, fear of the consequences was the only hurdle for independence of expression. Also, there is also a thrust on individual nature to understand worldly pleasures: power, territory, intimacy and lust and beauty.
The Personality of Elle
Elle is a French gal who was brought up by an aristocratic family. Her mom, addicted to spiritual and religious activities, didn't serve to be a good mom to her. The same was true to his daddy who was paying more attention to reading literature and extension of electricity. Hence, she was raised as a "headstrong girl" with means to get what she wishes. See and respond to things she just wanted to. She used gender and catalogs as her escape to reality and therefore offering her dreams uniquely hers. She enumerated her desires to be: "mild intoxicants, good love-making, witty discussion, cheap printed literature, and front seat at general public executions. "
Sex outside matrimony was known as a sin but offering to lust and earthly desire, they still do it with assurances of penance, confessions and indulgence. Yet, regardless of not having wedded, Elle had many lovers through out the story. It can even be observed it had not been really sex she was fond to. It could also be the desire to truly have a man on her behalf feet because of her beauty. Or, in another perspective, she may also want to be the reason for men's weakness.
Some of her fans mentioned in the storyplot were Richard, a tennis games player. He was weakened and easy to seduce. He has been around love with Elle since she was 13 but Elle made the first move and seduce him until the two have given in their lustful dreams. A different one was the priest and a messenger of his daddy. He was way too old for Elle but she considered him best for having a male organ a size of a "sparrow" as well as for loving her well during intercourse. She also was related to the hunter in the remote control island she required refuge into. He trained him some things about bears which may be the means of Elle of acquiring the violent potential of bears or even changing into a keep.
Elle's discovery of faith was not as a result of promising experiences but rather experiences that may be seen better off. However, her trust and epiphany might have been different, perhaps, narrower if experienced in another way. Her finding of faith when you are in between the clash or "exchange of corpses" of Old and New World, through her exile and witnessing the same fate to another female, and knowing the brutal fate of M. Cartier, triggered her the deepest knowledge of colonization and both party's resistance of treating each other human.
The Vision of Canada
These experience of the character brought the viewers, including me, to have significantly more sympathy and deeper perspective on Canada. The violence, deaths and degradation experienced by the indigenous people in the hands of the Western colonists. Alternatively, however, the colonizers such as Cartier also experienced a brutal fate. Hence, this book, I think is contempt of the inhumane results of colonization. Canada is only one of the many countries which have experienced this eyesight.
Perhaps all countries that have been attemptedto be colonized launched some resistance pushes. Each paid their part of assault and brutality in old record. However, these incidents served a deeper goal to increase sociable contacts, expansion of trade and success, and maximization of use of natural resources. Yet, as we can see it the present day times, such prices, events, and styles may be applicable. There is still an evident gender inequality, assault, scandals of religion until this period. Hence, such conflicts may also be tackled through rediscovering trust and understanding and paying esteem with one another.
