Critical Analysis Assignment

In the poem "A Letter to Sir John A. MacDonald", Marilyn Dumont discusses the mistreatment of her Métis ancestry by the Canadian prime minister. She expresses pride in the resilience of Métis people in facing discrimination and suppression. The poem uses pronouns to transition from the individual "I" perspective to the collective "we", representing Dumont speaking for the whole Métis community. It references historical figures like Riel to convey how the Métis' history continues into the present and their survival against attempts to erase their culture and seize their lands.

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Critical Analysis Assignment

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Harsh Gosalia

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In Marilyn Dumont`s poem, "A Letter to Sir John A.

MacDonald", she discusses about the

flexibility of Metis people who faced discrimination and cultural suppression. She coveys her
attitude towards the mistreatment of her Metis ancestry due to biased political decision made
by Sir John A. Macdonald. The first poem in The Pemmican Eaters, i.e, Otipemisiwak,,
establishes a sense of cultural pride by speaking about the Metis as “Free People” who are
“ascending” (Dumont 2015), which is also mentioned again in “Notre Frères” right after “A
Letter to Sir John A. MacDonald”, where she mentions rising up from “beneath the water”
(Dumont 2015). The last poem in the book, “Louis’ Last Vision” also refers to Louis Riel’s
death in the fight for rights of people of Metis.

Dumont uses different genres like autoethnography, epistolary poetry, and allusions to
discuss the resilience of Metis people in Canada. The peritextual materials have shifted my
focus from epistolary poetry to survivor narratives, as they focus on how the Metis have
survived their dire circumstances, which adds more significance to this theme in “A Letter to
Sir John A. MacDonald”. An example of allusion is observed in the lines "Riel... just keeps
coming back” (lines 22 to 23) is a historical allusion that the Metis are "still here” (lines 1,
12, 13, 29). It recognizes that history is in the past and ongoing present. Dumont also noted
this by using a contemporary allusion in line 24: Bill Wilson. Much like Riel, he "keeps
coming back” (line 23), reminding modern Canada of the Metis presence. Dumont transitions
from a singular pronoun ‘I’ to a collective pronoun ‘we’(Dumont 1996) throughout the poem,
which is characteristic of an autoethnography, as she is speaking as a representative of the
Metis community (Smith and Watson, 2010). By doing this, she speaks about the strength of
the Metis in general, as exemplified by the line "we're still here" (Dumont 1996).

As per my analysis of the poem, it is all about overcoming adverse racism and problems as
the Dumont`s ancestors` had to fight to keep their land from being taken over by Sir John A.
Macdonald and his Canadian lieutenant governor of the North-West Territories William
McDougall. Throughout the poem, the author connects herself to her ancestral past and tends
to refer to them as one. She connects her stories and experiences as a form of self-reflection
in the efforts to show the upbringing of the Metis Nation. The transition of pronouns here
from ‘I’ to ‘we’ change from singular form to plural form which indicates that Dumont is not
only talking for herself but for the whole community. She expressed this in lines 12,13,26 and
29 (Dumont,2013). Sir John A. Macdonald got rid of the Métis so that he could be able to
build a functioning railway that he wanted so badly (mentioned in 4th line of poem) to
complete his dream of having all of Canada connected. Although he achieved his goal in
having the railway functional, it was still shut down which shows how ineffectual Sir John A.
Macdonald was in trying to connect Canada closer together although all he really did was
drive it apart as the Métis did not appreciate their land being taken over and their rights being
abused. While fighting against it the leader of the Métis resistance Louis Riel mentioned in
the poem in line 22 was hanged for his actions. This poem allows us to know more of the
impact that he had and why he is such a notable figure to be mentioned within the letter style
poem. Marilyn Dumont employ “half breed” in their texts in an ironic fashion to reclaim the
word for themselves. They successfully reverse the negative stereotypes associated with it by
including “half breed” in poems that stress their survival as a strong and distinctive
population. Dumont’s “Letter to Sir John A. Macdonald,” for example, begins and ends with
the positive effect of the speaker’s Métis identity: “Dear John: I’m still here and half
breed,/....we’re still here and calling ourselves half breed” (52).

Dumont`s poem “A Letter to Sir John A. Macdonald” is linked to three poems that are the
same versions of stories connected with history of Metis`s cultural and political adversities
expressed in three different ways using ironical statements, autoethnography, and allusion.
When reading these poems with the context of one another, it allows us as the reader to see
that histories and stories can be intertwined, that history can be told in many different forms
in order to express the emotions and views of those involved. The past and present are also
deeply connected, as events that have occurred decades or even centuries in the past can still
have implications or impacts on the present and the future.