The Night Wanderer Entry 1

I started reading this book called The Night Wanderer for my Independent Reading. It is by Drew Hayden Taylor, a member of the Curve Lake First Nations in Central Ontario. Chapter 1 and 2 is basically the introduction to the story. The novel starts by a man taking a plane going to Toronto. Then it introduced our main character Tiffany Hunter along with her grandmother Granny Ruth. Tony is Tiffany’s girlfriend, and apparently Tiffany’s father, Keith, is not happy about her having a white boyfriend, because Tiffany’s mother, Claudia, ran away with another white man over a year ago. After Tony drove Tiffany home, she found a note on the table that asks her to move her bedroom to the basement. When her father comes home, he explained they are going to rent her room to a man from Europe. Tiffany is very upset, and while she sits in her room, she starts thinking about the times she spends with Tony.

The novel is written in omniscient point of view. The point of view is switching form one person to another, so the reader knows what everyone is thinking. In the prologue, there is a metaphor of two wolves, each represents the good and evil side of human nature. They are fighting against each other until one of them wins. It reveals one of the themes of the novel. In the first chapter, the author created a mysterious atmosphere by describing the man’s unusual behavior. His seatmate thinks that: “But something about her seatmate disturbed her mood. The man in the aisle seat seemed…dark.”(2) The characterization is indirect presentation. For the exposition, the author clearly describes Tiffany’s situation. As the story goes on, the background might be a key for the characters’ reactions.

I think the story is interesting. The story is about a girl that is the same age as me, and I feel some connections to her. Her actions are just like a normal teenage girl around us. The characters all have their own personalities: the strange man from Europe; the very knowledgeable first nation granny; the father that is having trouble getting along with his daughter. The story gives us a sense of what it’s like in the reserves. The first nations seem just like normal people. The younger generation is starting to forget the old language and only the elders are trying to protect what is left. Some of the Anishinabe or Ojibwa appears in the text, and they make the novel more realistic. This is a good book to read to know about first nation lives in the 21^st century.