Our world is full stereotypes for everything from what foods you should eat to what your sexuality should be to what you should look like based on your race. These stereotypes are engraved into our brain from a young age so when thing are different you don’t understand it and things seem unbalanced. Growing up I never knew much about Indigenous peoples. I grew up in a very white household my mother is Irish and my dad is from Montreal. We are not a diverse family so I never learned much about other cultures or the people who lived in Canada before us. I stared understanding Indigenous people in middle school but even then a lot of things we studied were based on stereotypes. Everything you saw like movies or tv shows or books all have this same image of what these people should be like. Even in grade 10 I still didn’t understand much about first nations people so when they were discovering bodies at residential schools I decided it was time to do my own research. After doing more and more research and learning more about it this year, I have learned a lot more about why they did the things they did and why everyone is so angry about everything. When you care to learn about these things, you quickly learn that all of these stereotypes are from middle aged white men who took one look at these people and their situation and lives and made assumptions.I had this book when i was little that some random person gave to me. It was from the point of view of an Indigenous person. It was filled with stereotypes and incorrect information. Luckily I didn’t read it till I was in high school because i’m not sure how that would have changed my image of these people. I would like to think it wouldn’t but kids are very impressionable. who knows how this can affect a child’s mind. However I now know much more about aboriginal people and am continuing to learn.
There is a lot of stigma around the words feminine and masculine. Dolls and the colour pink are feminine while guns, trucks and blue are masculine. Why is that? Obviously this can be compared to a long time ago when women took care of the family and men went to work but what defines something as a product for women or men.This idea can also be tied into sexuality. If there is a girl with short hair, tattoos, piercings, or rings, she is seen as a lesbian. If a guy likes pink, fruity smells, flowers, or iced coffee, they are gay. Actions and likes or dislikes don’t define a person’s sexuality or anything for that matter. There is a preconceived notion of what a gay man looks and acts like. This is often paired with comments like “oh you are too pretty to be gay” or “you are too manly to be gay”. These stereotypes can cause many issues. All presumptions can change a person causing them to conform to societies stereotypes.
Response to the poem, “Siren Song,” by Margaret Atwood
My poem: Melody of Wisdom
They all hear the intricate song that we have
Composed; a song that they
They cannot comprehend, yet
They are still drawn to it,
Like a leprechaun drawn to its gold.
The song that puts them at our mercy,
Lures them into a state of
Submission, and entices them until
They cross the plank; the thick line
Between life and death.
It is laughable how our intelligence
And wits are superior to them
In every way. Their expressions lie in awe
As they are astounded by our mere presence.
Our wondrous wisdom and voices hold more power Than their masculine physiques, defying their might in Every way and causing them to
Succumb to our vocal and enchanting magnetism.
They say a male is the most dangerous and Undefeated creature on earth,
Yet all it takes for us to be
Victorious is for our melody to reach their ears.
Our song is designed for men as they are
Foolish in pride and stature; our melodious
Song serenades the air and can have them begging
Before us within seconds,
Proving, once again, that our wisdom and
Knowledge exceeds theirs in every way.
We sing the same song repeatedly,
Yet those unsuspecting mortals never realize it;
Everyone falls under our control and crosses
The plank of death with such ease once they catch a Glimpse of our voice.
The ideas and intelligence within our eyes
Cause them to shimmer as the sun
Reflects those sparkles into the water,
Which makes it so easy to portray
Ourselves as mythical beauties in the eyes
Of those males.
They don’t even know that under this beautiful
Melody lies nothing but
Deception and power,
Proving, once again, that our wisdom and knowledge
Exceeds theirs in every way.
I wrote a poem for my personal response to Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Siren Song.” My poem revolves around the theme of feminism and the ultimate power that women possess. Through the elements of repetition, allusions, and alliterations, my poem primarily emphasizes that knowledge and wisdom are the sources of a woman’s true power. Margaret Atwood allows her perspectives and views on feminism to be reflected through her writing, mirroring an ode to women’s power. Atwood’s poem, “Siren Song,” conveys the ability that a woman possesses to exert her control or power over every single man that she encounters, which indicates that Margaret Atwood was not content or satisfied with the patriarchal element that remains to be present within our modern society. Within Atwood’s poem, the ideology of male control and dominance is constantly challenged by the feministic perspective and empowering theme of a woman’s distinguished and potent abilities. While Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Siren Song,” focuses more on the potent force of sexuality and physical appearances, I chose to explore a different approach towards feminism within my poem by emphasizing that a woman’s knowledge and wisdom is the source of her true power. This is a more relatable approach in our modernizing society. The ideology of power is commonly associated with the mental capacity and cognitive abilities of an individual, which is why I chose to direct the theme within my poem to revolve around the weaponization of knowledge and wisdom that all women possess. I chose to do this because the elements of knowledge and insightfulness are present throughout Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Siren Song.” I also chose to use the allusion of a siren within my poem, which I decided to title “Melody of Wisdom.” The siren is a mythical creature of greek mythology, designed to lure sailors to their deaths using her sexual beauty and the song of her voice. It is evident that the siren is a very intuitive and insightful creature who can distinguish the insecurities and vulnerabilities of all men through her wits and unmeasurable cognitive abilities. By using her extensive mental capacity, a siren is able to exploit her victim’s weaknesses in a matter of seconds, thereby resulting in the ultimate submission of the man at the mercy of the siren. This also represents how a man is easily manipulated and deceived because, ultimately, a woman’s intelligence is superior to a man’s. I attempted to mirror this idea within my poem through the use of the lines “They don’t even know that under this beautiful melody lies nothing but deception and power, proving, once again, that our wisdom and knowledge exceed theirs in every way” (40 – 44) and “It is laughable how our intelligence and wits are superior to them in every way” (11-13). This shows the self-confidence of a woman in the sense that she is completely aware of her self-worth and that she is easily able to entice men by exploiting their vulnerabilities and insecurities through her knowledge and intuitive cognitive abilities. In addition to that, I chose to further emphasize the power of knowledge for women through the line, “Our wondrous wisdom and voices hold more power than their masculine physiques, defying their might in every way and causing them to succumb to our vocal and enchanting magnetism” (Stanza 4). This line is intended to assert the elements that make up a woman’s self-confidence and self-worth, which, in turn, emphasizes the weaponization of knowledge as a potent force. This is also mirrored in the line, “our melodious song serenades the air and can have them begging before us within seconds” (25-26). This reinforces the theme of feminism by emphasizing the control and precedence that a woman has over a man.
Response to the poem, “Passive Voice,” by Laura Da’
Ancestral Memories
As younger generations grow older, they are told stories and realistic tales about the recollected events and memories of their past ancestors, which allows them to understand the circumstances and consequences that their ancestors experienced as a result of past events, thereby resulting in the revitalization of culture, the inheritance of generational knowledge that may have been lost in the midst of past events or crises, and the avoidance of repeating history. The continuation of ancestral knowledge allows individuals to revitalize what they know about their culture and ways of life and learn from occurrences that were faced by those that came before them. In addition to that, the sharing of the past assists in ensuring that previous events of discrimination and marginalization that have occurred throughout history are not repeated at any cost.
Laura Da’s poem, “Passive Voice,” revolves around the themes of ancestral events and the significance of understanding those events. Da’ accomplishes this by primarily focusing on the merciless events and occurrences that many Indigenous communities were forced to endure throughout history. Particularly, she does this by utilizing the allusion of the residential school system. The residential school system was comprised of numerous inhumane schools that were established under the pretext of “learning institutions.” They were operated and controlled by the Canadian government and several churches. Their main purpose was to assimilate the children of Indigenous communities into Canadian society. They accomplished this by stripping the children of their heritage and culture and distancing them from every element and aspect of their individual and collective identity. As a result, a robust amount of generational, ancestral, and cultural knowledge was lost throughout this cultural genocide. These schools left a profound inter-generational impact on several Aboriginal and Indigenous communities by disrupting their way of life, which resulted in the disturbance and division of their cultural values, traditions, ceremonies, and communities. The slogan of the residential school system was “Kill the Indian and save the man,” which models every form of discrimination, marginalization, and genocide. However, many programs have been established by the government and elders of Indigenous communities for the purpose of working to reverse the horrendous effects of cultural genocide and cultural revitalization.
Within the 6th stanza of her poem, Laura Da’ emphasizes the harsh realities of the residential school system through the use of the line “breaking up from the dry ground to pinch the meat of their young red tongues” (25-27). This line is a reference to one of the many corporal punishments that were used within several residential schools. When children would intentionally or unintentionally speak their native language, they would be exposed to numerous physical punishments, which included, but were not limited to, holding their tongue for a minimum of thirty minutes and washing their mouth with soap. These horrific discipline techniques were used to instill fear within the children so that they would not dare to expose themselves to their culture and collective identity, which resulted in the occurrence of an inter-generational impact. The teachers and elders within residential schools would resort to methods of torcher. As a result, many languages of Aboriginal and Indigenous culture and heritage were lost, which is why, to this day, many elders of Aboriginal and Indigenous communities strive to continue the tradition of orally sharing cultural values, such as their native languages, traditions, and ceremonies, through the establishment of several programs that primarily focus on cultural revitalization. Although many of these cultural aspects were lost during the establishment and progression of the residential school system, many survivors of those schools continue to fill the generational and ancestral gap in traditional knowledge, which originated as a result of cultural genocide, in an effort to gain every element and aspect of their traditional way of life that they lost due to the assimilative tactics of the government. Elders educate younger generations on the tragedies of the past so that they can maintain their cultural identity, which will ensure that another tragedy that is similar to the residential school system will not occur in the present or the foreseeable future. They do this to guarantee that assimilation will be abolished. In order to maintain the pleasant memories of cultural revitalization, individuals must be educated about the tragic memories and events of the residential schools. Although the Canadian government is attempting to compensate for the countless decades of cultural and ancestral knowledge that was lost, it is not possible to make up for the terrible and egregious acts that they have committed at the expense of several generations of Indigenous and Aboriginal communities.
Our world is full stereotypes for everything from what foods you should eat to what your sexuality should be to what you should look like based on your race. These stereotypes are engraved into our brain from a young age so when thing are different you don’t understand it and things seem unbalanced. Growing up I never knew much about Indigenous peoples. I grew up in a very white household my mother is Irish and my dad is from Montreal. We are not a diverse family so I never learned much about other cultures or the people who lived in Canada before us. I stared understanding Indigenous people in middle school but even then a lot of things we studied were based on stereotypes. Everything you saw like movies or tv shows or books all have this same image of what these people should be like. Even in grade 10 I still didn’t understand much about first nations people so when they were discovering bodies at residential schools I decided it was time to do my own research. After doing more and more research and learning more about it this year, I have learned a lot more about why they did the things they did and why everyone is so angry about everything. When you care to learn about these things, you quickly learn that all of these stereotypes are from middle aged white men who took one look at these people and their situation and lives and made assumptions. I had this book when i was little that some random person gave to me. It was from the point of view of an Indigenous person. It was filled with stereotypes and incorrect information. Luckily I didn’t read it till I was in high school because i’m not sure how that would have changed my image of these people. I would like to think it wouldn’t but kids are very impressionable. who knows how this can affect a child’s mind. However I now know much more about aboriginal people and am continuing to learn. 
flowers, or iced coffee, they are gay. Actions and likes or dislikes don’t define a person’s sexuality or anything for that matter. There is a preconceived notion of what a gay man looks and acts like. This is often paired with comments like “oh you are too pretty to be gay” or “you are too manly to be gay”. These stereotypes can cause many issues. All presumptions can change a person causing them to conform to societies stereotypes. 
