Critical Essay on Monkey Beach: Gothic Mode and Place in Eden Robinson's Novel

Introduction

This essay sets up to illustrate the significance of place in the novel "Monkey Beach," which is written by Eden Robinson. Robinson seeks to represent the Kitamaat/Haisla reserve scenery as a place of competition between non-native and native through the use of gothic mode, which provides extensive knowledge of the empirical world (Castriciano, p 809). Nevertheless, the use of the Haisla reserve landscape plays an essential role in drawing the audience into the enigmatic and unfamiliar setting in "Monkey Beach." The importance of place selection in the book is to enhance the geographical space to become concurrently nonspiritual and mythical, hence, providing a place where non-native and native knowledge system is presented. The location, "Monkey Beach" is characterized by animals, which play a vital role in literature, ocean, and water as well as nature in general. In that animals represents the link between the living and the death since they are used as messengers and to provide warnings. Therefore, Robinson applies all the natural elements in her novel to intertwine the traditions of the land into the story as well as to promote the emotional development of the characters.

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"Monkey Beach" is a place that is not only a keynote across the novel but also an essential aspect throughout the life of Lisa; something she discovers at the end of the book. It presents a place where characters interact with different settings in the book, hence, portraying cultural values, and promoting the growth of characters. A majority of significant experiences presented in the novel occurs or are experienced on Monkey Beach. For example, it is the place where Lisa gets to see the "g'gwus" while in the company of her brother, and it is the same location where she takes Jimmy to assist him to pull through the grief period (Andrews, P 73). Additionally, she lands at Monkey Beach towards the end of the book and converses with the tree spirits. This denotes that, the beach is significant in the development of this story because it helps Lisa to connect with her native ancestries, and her gifts as well as the healing powers of nature. Therefore, the reader understands that Monkey Beach is used as Lisa's true north since it is the place where most of her experiences in her life take place and also it acts as a catalyst throughout the plot of the story.

Robinson uses a place that has a variety of supernatural and natural images and symbols that links death with Lisa as well as reflecting her growth journey. The author selects a place that has animals to narrate his story by allowing the interaction between the characters in the novel and the animals. In that, animals can represent several different things. For instance, in Robinson's story, animals are used to depict death and provides warning signs through the use of birds such as seals and crows (Castriciano, P810). Therefore, the role of animals as used in the novel is to represent ancestors and spirits. The Haisla community understands that the appearance of animals is a representation of a particular message based on the time and place the animal was seen. As a consequence, the place used in the novel has crows that are used for guidance in the novel; they trail the Hill's home and Jimmy believes they are a sign of good luck. Moreover, crows deliver essential messages to the characters for example, when the crow "spotty" notifies Jimmy that Lisa is in trouble.

"Monkey Beach" illustrates the omnipresence of water and the way it is linked to the land and its people. The presence of water in Monkey Beach symbolizes purity, destruction, transformation, and healing. Robinson uses this strong symbol in the narrative to promote the plot and the setting of the book. The sea, which is characterized by its all-pervasive strength of water, creates both a curse and a blessing in the life of Lisa. In that, it provides the community with food and fishing grounds while it is hazardously erratic in instances where a person is trapped on the ocean or being exposed to the impulses of the weather. As depicted by Robinson, Lisa becomes of age while being surrounded by water hence the reason why she feels comfortable while around it. On the other hand, water has taken away the life of her loved ones such as Jimmy and Mick (Castriciano, P 804).

Additionally, Lisa finds it difficult to understand what the spirits that are connected to the ocean are telling her. This instance presents the ambivalent relation between Lisa and her environment, especially water. Overall, her story depicts the significance of place in the novel; in the sense that water is precious since it is used as a spiritual guide that deserves respect and honor while it can also be dangerously unpredictable. Subsequently, Robinson also uses the topography of the Kitamaat reserve regularly to depict how Lisa's attitude develops and changes as she continues to grow. This implies that the choice of using Monkey Beach has played a critical role in helping the characters to discover their true identity from a young age. It also helps characters such as Lisa to reconcile with her inherent spirituality which is linked to the water along with the unescapably hybridized certainty of her cultural surroundings.

Robinson's book demonstrates the way an originally functioning and maintainable connection between water and the Haisla community can turn out to be conflicted and tenuous. For that reason, the use of a natural environmental setting helps the author to touch on the issue of the effects of regional industrialization. The audience can understand how the Haisla community is suffering from such environmental predicaments. Robinson seeks to extend our understanding of the eco-cultural significance of water as well as the environment which he presents as something that has almost equal to people (Andrews, P 73). The significance of the use of Monkey Beach as the ideal place for this story helps the author to shed more light on the issue of ecological damage with the hope of bringing change to how people interact with nature. The water spirituality of the Haisla community as depicted in Monkey Beach helps readers to understand that water has both spiritual and physical energy since it is the primary element that connects all living things.

Conclusion

To sum up, the plot of the novel, "Monkey Beach" unfolds through the setting of the beach or ocean, which has animals and water. The significance of this setting helps the reader to witness the growth of Lisamarie, who is presented as both the main character and storyteller. The imaginary creatures found in Monkey Beach acts as a link to the supernatural world. The animals are used to provide warnings and as a messenger to the spiritual world. The importance of using natural environment setting is to allow the author to give special gifts to the animals which in return offers guidance to the characters in the book such as Lisa. Lisa is blessed to receive guidance on the challenges that takes place in her life. Therefore, the use of a place that has indigenous environmental features such as animals, water, and imaginary characters plays an essential role in helping Lisa, who is the protagonist in the novel to understand grief and loss, and while on that process she discovers her abilities and strengths.

Works Cited

Andrews, Jennifer. 'Native Canadian Gothic Refigured: Reading Eden Robinson'sMonkey Beach.' Essays on Canadian Writing 73 (Spring 2001).

Castriciano, Jodey. "Learning to Talk with Ghosts: Canadian Gothic and the Poetics of Haunting in Eden Robinsons Monkey Beach." University of Toronto Quarterly, vol. 75, no. 2, 2006, pp. 801-813., doi:10.1353/utq.2006.0246.