source:
http://knopfdoubleday.com/guide/9780385350730/the-orenda/
The Orenda
About This Guide
The questions, discussion topics, and reading list that follow are
intended to enhance your reading group’s discussion of The Orenda,
Joseph Boyden’s masterful and harrowing epic about the first encounters
between Jesuit missionaries and the native tribes of Canada, and the
tremendous cultural and social shifts that result from these
interactions.
About This Book
Ambitious in scope yet deeply intimate in its execution, The Orenda is
award-winning author Joseph Boyden’s riveting saga of the first
encounters between the native populations of New France and the Jesuit
missionaries who attempt to convert them. This defining moment of human
history is rendered in exquisite detail, told through the alternating
perspectives of a young Iroquois girl, a Huron warrior, and a French
missionary. In prose as luminous as it is brutal, their stories
illuminate the great moral complexities that arise when these cultures
are forced to co-exist.
Jesuit missionary Christophe arrives to
the New World in the seventeenth century with dreams of spreading the
word of God to the “sauvages” of this unknown wilderness. One year into
his mission, the native guides with whom he has traveled are ambushed by
the Iroquois, forcing Christophe to flee for his life. Weakened and
injured, Christophe and a young Iroquois girl, Snow Falls, barely escape
the violence before they are captured by Bird, a Huron warrior. Bird
takes Christophe and Snow Falls to his village as prisoners, ultimately
deciding to use Chrostophe as an emissary in trade negotiations between
the Huron and Champlain’s Iron People, and Snow Falls as a surrogate
daughter following the tragic deaths of his own. As time passes, their
relationships evolve and become more complex, often in reaction to the
intense social upheaval of the time. From bloody battles that rage
between tribes to illnesses that cripple populations in the most
devastating ways, Christophe, Bird, and Snow Falls face tremendous
challenges as they navigate this new society. And as the Huron hurtle
toward an all-out war with the Iroquois, conditions worsen, ultimately
leading Bird, Christophe, and Snow Falls to re-evaluate themselves and
their cultural assumptions entirely.
With unwavering
perceptiveness, The Orenda is a tale for the ages—an epic journey of
bloodshed and triumph, of misery and defeat and, ultimately, the
extremes of humanity.
Question & Answer
1. The Orenda is told from the alternating perspective of three
narrators, but is periodically punctuated by the voice of an omniscient
narrator. Discuss the significance of this voice. Who or what does this
represent? Compare the passage that begins the book with the one at the
end of the novel. What do these passages assert about the legacy of the
Huron people? The influence of the Jesuits?
2. Discuss the
Jesuit’s mission to bring Christianity to the New World. Are
Christophe’s intentions pure? Would you classify his attempts at
converting the Hurons as successful? What tensions arose in the
community because of his efforts?
3. How does the Jesuit’s mission
to bring Christianity to the New World coincide with Champlain’s vision
for conquering the area? How does it conflict?
4. The
relationship between Bird and Snow Falls fully evolves over the course
of The Orenda. When it begins, Snow Falls’s hatred of Bird is unabashed,
yet by the end of the novel she thinks of him as her father. How does
this change occur? What challenges did their relationship face before
Snow Falls came to terms with her role as daughter?
5. The Orenda
takes place over the course of several years, showcasing Snow Falls’s
development from pre-pubescence to motherhood. How is womanhood marked
in the Huron culture? How do other women in the village help to guide
her?
6. How does the relationship between Bird and Christophe
evolve over time? Do you think the men respect each other, despite their
differences?
7. On page 123, Christophe admits that he wrestles
with “the grave worry that our work is being exploited by those who wish
not for the souls of the sauvages but for the riches of the land.”
Relate this statement to the scene in which Christophe and the Huron
journey to Champlain’s settlement. How do Champlain and his people take
advantage of the Huron?
8. Death is a constant theme throughout
The Orenda. How does the Huron culture approach death? How do they honor
their deceased relatives? Compare their attitudes toward death as
opposed to that of the “charcoal.” How do their differing attitudes
about spirituality affect the way they perceive the afterlife?
9.
The acquisition of power is a central theme throughout The Orenda, and
it manifests itself in various ways throughout the plot. How does
Christophe try to obtain power over the natives? How does Bird try to
maintain a position of power over his enemies? How is rape and torture
used as a means of obtaining power?
10. Discuss the concept of the
“oki.” How does this belief differ from the tenets of Christianity? How
are these differences in beliefs reflected in both cultures’ approach
to living, dying, nature, and family?
11. Though undeniably
brutal, the process of torturing one’s enemies in the native cultures
serves an almost ritualistic function. Discuss the various means in
which captives are “caressed,” and the spiritual element to this
process. Why do you think the torturers provide food and water to their
captives? What is the expectation of captives in facing their fate?
Explore the natives’ approach to death by torture in comparison to the
Christian idea of martyrdom.
12. As the novel progresses,
illnesses play an increasingly significant role, wreaking havoc on the
social structure of the villages. How do illnesses affect how the
community functions? Explore the role of “healers” in the Huron
community.
13. What are the expected roles of males compared to
females in the Huron community? In what respects do women have power?
Explore the relationship between Bird and Gosling. How would you
characterize their coupling?
14. Throughout the novel, Christophe
oscillates between being shocked and appalled about the natives’ way of
living and showing curiosity about their traditions. What does he admire
about their culture? And does he participate in it? Would you say that
his participation comes out of respect or out of obligation?
15. Did it shock you when Isaac murdered Snow Falls? Why do you think he chose to take others’ lives in addition to his own?
16.
As a reader, what did you find most revealing about The Orenda? Did the
novel challenge any of your opinions about colonization of North
America? About the native populations?
About This Author
Joseph Boyden’s first novel, Three Day Road, was selected for the Today
Show Book Club, and it won the Roger’s Writers Trust Prize, the
Amazon/Canada First Novel Award, as well as numerous others prizes. His
second novel, Through Black Spruce, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and
the Canadian Booksellers Association’s Libris Book of the Year Award; it
also earned him the Libris Author of the Year Award. Boyden, of Ojibwe,
Irish, and Scottish roots, is a member of the creative writing faculty
at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and the Institute of
American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He divides his time
between Northern Ontario and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Suggested Reading
Fools Crow by James Welch; Tracks by Louise Erdrich; Caleb’s Crossing by
Geraldine Brooks; The Jesuit Relations: Natives and Missionaries in
Seventeenth-Century North America by Allan Greer (ed.); The Spirit
Keeper by K. B. Laugheed
