Author Origin: Grew up in Toronto, lives in Vancouver.
Page Count: 120
Genre: Non-Fiction
Difficulty: Medium
Grade Level: 11+
Key Talking Points: the responsibilities of parenthood, the creation of identity, the history of discrimination, segregation, and racism towards immigrants, indigenous peoples, and people of colour.
Sensitive Subject Matter: references to various histories of oppression.
I had the pleasure of having a one-on-one book club with a close friend for this book. This blog entry was partially written before our discussion, and partly after, and is therefore reflective of our joint ideas. Thank you to Catherine for suggesting we share the reading of this text, for as much as reading is an individual and intensely personal experience, it also benefits so much from being opened to the agreement and disagreement of community.
Summary: In a letter addressed to his daughter, Chariandy explains all the moments he wished he had chosen to take a more difficult road in conversations with her. Moments when he wishes he had tackled heavy or complex issues, such a the historical discrimination of their ancestors, the shaping of his identity as a man of colour in Canada, and how these, in turn, have impacted her identity. It is both tenderly personal, and passionately professorial. The mix of memoir and history lesson at moments is almost seamless, and at other moments is very clearly delineated.
Personally, I enjoyed the parts of the text that leaned more heavily on memoir, as they were very relatable and were easily able to evoke emotions: meeting his wife's extended family for the first time, seeing his daughter perform in a school play, reading a poem his son was proud of. Not to mention the concept of passing along important and difficult information to a child. As a new mother myself, this instinct to both protect and expose your child hits home. Chariandy is honest an open about his moments of success and failure as a parent, as well as moments of success and failure in navigating his own life and identity creation. He seems to balance his privilege in parts of his life (published author, successful professor, financially stable) with his lack of privilege in others (his mixed-race background, discriminatory treatment because of his skin colour and appearance, the difficulty of navigating race divisions). He also situates his own personal and familial experiences with racism alongside the racism and discrimination experienced by other groups, such as Aboriginal Peoples in Canada and Jewish people during the Holocaust. This complex dance of privilege emphasizes the fluidity of an individual's identity within the bigger picture of our social history, and that assigning privilege or a lack-thereof is not always as simple as it seems.
Teacher Note: While this book is short and seems to have a straightforward voice, there are a lot of references to histories that a student may not be fully aware of. Some of the language connected to these histories is more complex, such as indentured workers and unceded traditional territories, so a student would have to be willing to keep their google search at the ready (in lieu of an old fashioned dictionary). They would need to do considerable research to really grasp the allusions that support the main message of the text, as they would most likely not have the background knowledge to otherwise understand everything being referenced. As my friend stated in our book club, it isn't clear as to whether this is a book suitable for teenagers, or that it is an easier adult read.
Some of the parts that I enjoyed the most, especially relating to parenting, may be difficult for a student to connect to in the same way, as they lack those lived experiences or a deeper understanding of the significance behind them.
The storytelling in the text is not a traditional narrative format, it is more conversational and created through a collection of vignette memories. As most students will not have been exposed to anything other than a conventional plot, they may struggle to maintain interest. There are also moments where both my friend and I found the transition from one idea to the next jarring, and we reflected on the fact that, as experienced readers, we could recognize a fault in the text itself, and now ourselves. A student, however, might not have that confidence and might feel discouraged when they are struggling to make connections that aren't really there, blaming themselves.
That all being said, the text is covering issues that are of high importance in navigating the creation of our own identities, as well as our interactions with others in diverse communities. Any student would benefit from a greater understanding of the shadings and intricacies of our world.
As it is a short text, it could be done as a core text so that the teacher could guide the learning and build in structured research time to support understanding of the text. It would work well in a course exploring themes relating to identity, social justice, or power dynamics (e.g. Marxism).
Final Thought: Chariandy at one point states that "the future [he yearns] for is not one in which we will all be clothed in sameness, but one in which we will finally learn to both read and respectfully discuss our differences" (108). That is exactly what he is doing in this text, both teaching and discussing, both respectfully.
📚 Ms. CAN Lit
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