The scene of the massacre stands in stark contrast with the opening chapter in which Ruth Small remembers the traditional whale hunting. Ruth recalls moments of whale hunting as moments suspended in time. “No one laboured. No one bought or sold. No one laughed or kissed. It was the unspoken rule. All they did was to wait, the women singing, eerily, at the ocean’s edge. They were solemn and spoke softly”. As long as the hunt would go, the people strived to be “pure in heart and mind”.
It is this purity that characterizes Ruth and that opposes her to Dwight, one of the leaders and whalers of the tribe. Nevertheless, both Dwight and Ruth are “new and different kinds of warriors” seeking authenticity. Both opponents highlight that the whaling “tradition” has been restored after generations of inactivity. In this controversial debate, authenticity is a crucial factor. Ruth wants a return towards tradition that advances harmony with the environment. A spiritual tradition that understands human beings as pertaining to a community where all living creatures are equal.
However, Dwight advances treaty rights and return to tradition as well. He is the figure of the “new warrior” in a capitalist, economic sense while Ruth is a “new warrior” in a traditional sense. Though the controversy could be formulated as a denial of “the possibility for and a reality of tradition actually incorporating cultural change yet remaining a legitimate tradition”. But Hogan rules out any debate, “Dwight wanted desperately to believe the old ways, to be a part of them, but he had become a soldier and a businessman and he had not retained the old way of being in the world.
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4.7 (348)
“ Amazing as always, gave her a week to finish a big assignment and came through way ahead of time. ”
” So, Linda Hogan criticizes the cultural alibi as misunderstanding and self-delusion. Later in People of the Whale, Ruth even repudiates the authenticity of the whale hunt: Who here has the kind of relationship to the whales that our ancestors had? Who among us knows the songs and the correct way to bring in he whale? Who will prepare by fasting? Who will sew its mouth shut so it doesn’t sink to the bottom of the ocean? Which of you knows what our grandparents knew? We can’t jump into this because someone has made an under-the-table offer of money.
For Ruth environmental and cultural integrity are inseparable: rituals and ceremonies are based on respect for more-than-human nature. Although whale hunting could restore a traditional Native American practice, the narrative focuses on the rhetoric of spiritual traditions and respect. In that vein, Hogan’s novel makes itself a place among ecological justice literature as a way to protest against cultural alienation and ecological protection. By emphasizing an emotional bound and reciprocal recognition between the realm of the more-than-human and the realm of A’atsika tribe, Hogan endeavors to reconcile the well-being of both which is a necessary condition for the Rain Priest to retrieve a balance long lost in Dark River. As Murphy reflects, such writings as People of the Whale “tap into historical cultural formations that give greater credence to forms of human perception other than the rationally conscious.” The seeking for greater recognition and perception of the natural world as a way to do justice to nature has been discussed by many ecocritics.
David Schlosberg has focused on creating a broader and more comprehensive theory of ecological justice by bringing together the notions of recognition and capabilities. Schlosberg dwells on theories of recognition and capabilities as an attempt to resolve the inequitable distribution and application of environmental regulations among other issues. Further, in his writing, Schlosberg examines the idea of extending justice to the more-than-human world. This idea was first explored by Aldo Leopold’s “land ethics” who argues that the moral community should include the nature we stand on and live with. Leopold implies that “it is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to the land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land and a high regard for its value.” In the light of Leopold’s words and Schlosberg’s extended justice theory, the reader of People and the Whale is better prepared to understand Ruth’s claim for greater respect for the rituals and the “elders” but also for nature.
CONCLUSION
Linda Hogan’s People of the Whale introduces the reader to an essential issue of the environmental and ecological matter. The novel denounces the alienation and the spoliation of Native cultural and spiritual traditions and advocates for including nonanthropocentric environmental ethics in the controversy of whale hunting. Thus, by binding the local environment of Dark River and the tribe’s responsibility, the story engages the interconnectedness of environment and ethics. Thereby, Linda Hogan advances the reconciliation of the A’atsika’s ancestral tradition with contemporary generations. People of the Whale can be read as an urge for abandoning the whale hunting tradition to replace it to a return of basic traditions of respect for the more-than-human.
The narrative of the A’atsika is bound to the fate of the Makah tribe and their complex story of forced assimilation, of corruption and of conflict between traditionalists and business leaders. It is the story of intricate fights between voices that urge for a return to ancestral values against others that claim the importance of the economy for maintaining the tribe’s existence. People of the Whale is in line with other ecocritics literary texts that contribute to better understand environmental ethics and the implications of culture, traditions and customs. As Rob Nixon articulates this argument “In a world drowning in data, stories can play a vital role.” (Nixon, “The Great Acceleration”) The importance of fictional literature can make a difference to raise awareness towards a deeper understanding of ecological and environmental literature by narrating stories of individuals (Thomas, Ruth, Dwight) and groups (the A’atsika).
The Traditional Whale Hunting. (2022, Feb 27). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/the-traditional-whale-hunting/
