Examples of Canadian Thinking in "The Whirlpool"
Examples of Canadian Thinking in "The Whirlpool"
To many people pride in one’s country is an important thing. The characters in the novel The Whirlpool show their pride in and love for Canada in different ways, many of the characters have their own way of seeing Canada. In an article on The Whirlpool and Canada, Dr. Kelly Hewson discusses the ways in which the characters see Canada and each other. The characters in The Whirlpool have different views and ideas about Canada and what it means to be and think Canadian.
In order to be a member of a group one must think like the group. Canadians have their own ideas and ways of thinking Canadian. Canadians feel that they have to keep Canada safe; they feel “the need to claim ownership and to protect something” (Hewson 380). Canadians act as if Canada is something that needs to be protected from the Americans that would come in and try to steal it or take over. The novel, written from a Canadian viewpoint, shows Americans in a different light than they would be viewed in an American novel. In David’s point of view all Americans are not only alike but they all want to take want ever they can from the Canadians. “Any American was bred to take over things – your water supply, your mineral deposits, your entire country, your wife” (205). According to David, Americans are savages that need to conquer and destroy. When Patrick can’t find the flower he’s looking for David accuses the Americans of taking all of them. “David said the Americans probably stole every example” (133). Even had the flowers been growing there in the first place it is still likely that some Canadians may have picked some if not all before an American even happened upon them. David feels that Canada needs a common enemy, namely the Americans, to unite Canada.
There are many ways of thinking Canadian, the biggest of which see Canada’s history as either an accomplishment or a process. David McDougal looks back on history as the accomplishment of establishing Canada as Canadian. He thinks that Canada needs “thinkers that think Canadian” (62). He wants the Canadian people to focus on Canada’s history, religion, and landscape. David wants to...