Coalescence And Its Footprints: An Evaluation Of Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda

Abstract

Joseph Boyden, a Canadian academician and author, published The Orenda in 2013. The story is set at the beginning of the seventeenth century in an area of North America that would later become Canada. It centres on a trio of people who originate from diverse ethnic groups: Christophe, a Catholic priest from France; Snow Falls, a small girl from the Iroquois tribe; and Bird, the village head of the Wendat tribe. The present study explores the interactions of the natives with the French people who are in the native Canadian village in the form of traders, priests, and settlers. Their interdependence among the villagers has collapsed, which generates enmity among the natives. The central character of the novel, Bird, lost his big village in a village raid by his enemies, and it lost the lives of its villagers. He escapes from his village to a remote place with his family and a few others to begin a new life free from his previous mistakes. The study revolves around the relationship of the protagonist of the novel Bird with the French people and their footprints.