tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post140136936450520911..comments2024-03-27T14:08:51.191-05:00Comments on American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL): Eoin Colfer's THE RELUCTANT ASSASSIN (WARP BOOK 1) Debbie Reesehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14972409006633565859noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-477767615476241152017-06-16T15:23:03.483-05:002017-06-16T15:23:03.483-05:00Debbie, do you think the story could be improved b...Debbie, do you think the story could be improved by changing the book to state, early on, that Chevron is the girl's legal name and <b>not</b> her Indian name? And also that her father was "a very, very big sellout" for giving her that name--or rather, legally changing her name to that, as the story should have him start drinking <i>after</i> her mother's death, and his "beer problem" is a factor in that strange name? Especially since that fake Tecumseh story sounds perfectly like a "noble savage" tale. (Maybe she should, at birth, have been named after her mother or her mother's mother, and that should also be a reason for the name change, as her father should probably have felt very sad whenever he thought of his daughter's birth name.)<br />And there probably should be another reason (written in the book when it is eventually rewritten, as I believe it must be; I rather enjoy what another character named Tibor Charismo/Terry Carter does in that book as it seems to echo some <i>Back to the Future</i> scenes at full blast) why her father picked that name, Chevron. His job at Chevron could have been a major income source for him, and that would make him paranoid (of losing his job to that Texaco owner), as well as grieving, after his wife died. Also, it should be mentioned early in the book that Chevie, as a child, was constantly teased for having the same name as where her father worked back then. Later, when she tells Riley the fake legend, she should also say that the (phony) tattoo tradition was not always followed over the years, and that because of this, her father didn't get the tattoo until after her mother died, to try and raise his morale after her mother died, and that the tradition and his gas station job were (supposedly) merely a coincidence. And she should also say, after revealing the truth to Riley, that she's probably the only Amerindian with such a strange name or namesake, and (maybe?) that non-Indian people sometimes have weird-sounding names as well (Button Gwinnett and ), but that they're <b>never</b> okay to laugh at in any way. Do ye think adding that much extra stuff in the book will, uh, redeem the strange name? Because I have the feeling that that name wasn't intended in, you know, the <i>Soonchild</i> way. I wonder if he intended to be like the name of the (East Indian) title character of <i>Life of Pi</i> (who is named Piscine Molitor Patel, and who, of course, suffers a lot of teasing--and teasing is something which Colfer <i>really</i> should have included in Chevie's backstory in this book). Yes, I know the namesake's reveal reads as if it was originally designed to make people racistly laugh (and it very well might have been; I never would have thought it was even supposed to be "funny" if I hadn't known about such mockery of Native names), but I think it could be made less racist if it were told so, early in the book, that it's an unfortunate name, and that will keep people from laughing at the real namesake when it is revealed.<br />Also, there was something you didn't mention in your review. Some of the people in Victorian England that meet Chevie call her "princess". And I don't recall her criticizing it, either. Goodness gracious.<br />And, finally, yes, I do agree with Rebecca above about "go figure". I thought Chevie was using it to say, "You figure out why" or "Think (hard) about it". (As in a joke I've heard, "We drive on a parkway but park on a driveway. Think deeply about this.") So maybe Colfer knew how well white people used to "enjoy" calling indigenous people "savages". Too bad he isn't, for one, a reader of your blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-34893428999514805732014-12-23T02:03:29.914-06:002014-12-23T02:03:29.914-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.Truth Unleashedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09793982086613109484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-85124121542817346782014-12-20T11:39:57.297-06:002014-12-20T11:39:57.297-06:00That said, though, the rest of what you cite is so...That said, though, the rest of what you cite is so offensive that there's no reason to give the author the benefit of the doubt that "go figure" was meant the way I've heard the phrase used rather than the way you've heard it used.rebeccahttp://diceytillerman.livejournal.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-26417788920337826712014-12-20T10:17:49.214-06:002014-12-20T10:17:49.214-06:00This sounds terribly offensive.
I don't agree...This sounds terribly offensive.<br /><br />I don't agree about "go figure," though. I've always heard "go figure" as a sharply sarcastic way to say "that's so surprising." So I read the character as saying it's SO SURPRISING (sarcastically) that people would take umbrage at the racist term.rebeccahttp://diceytillerman.livejournal.comnoreply@blogger.com