Medicine Walk

by Richard Wagamese

Medicine Walk CRP.pdf


“Franklin Starlight is called to visit his father, Eldon. He's sixteen years old and has had the most fleeting of relationships with the man. The rare moments they've shared haunt and trouble Frank, but he answers the call, a son's duty to a father. What ensues is a journey through the rugged and beautiful backcountry, and a journey into the past, as the two men push forward to Eldon's end. From a poverty-stricken childhood, to the Korean War, and later the derelict houses of mill towns, Eldon relates both the desolate moments of his life and a time of redemption and love, and in doing so offers Frank a history he has never known, the father he has never had, and a connection to himself he never expected.” (Chapters-Indigo)

Richard Wagamese was an author, journalist and storyteller. He was Ojibway from Wabaseemoong First Nation in Northwestern Ontario and won numerous awards for his novels, poetry and non-fiction writing, as well as for his work as a broadcaster. Taken from his home as a young child by Child Services, as his parents struggled with the trauma from residential schools, Wagamese moved from one foster family to another until he finally left home at age 16. He spent time homeless, struggling with alcohol and depression, before finding peace with his pain and demons. Wagamese passed away in March 2017.

Curriculum Connections

Reading: Reading for Meaning (Making Inferences) The first few pages of the novel do not refer directly to why Franklin is making his journey. Ask students to read pages 1 and 2 then stop and make inferences about who the two characters are, what their relationship is to each other and why Franklin is leaving the farm.

Writing: Reflecting on Skills and Strategies (Interconnected skills) Ask students to write a descriptive passage about a person or a place. Then, have them compare their writing to a descriptive passage from the novel. How could they edit their work and include details like the author?

Oral Communication: Speaking to Communicate (Clarity and Coherence) Sharing stories from the past is an important part of how the characters learn about each other in the novel. Ask students to prepare and tell a personal story, using a structure to help engage the audience

Media: Creating Media Texts (Producing Media Texts) Ask students to use information from the novel and other research to design an infographic to help teens talk to their parent about difficult topics. What advice will they include? How will they appeal to a teen audience?

Essential Questions

What duty do children owe their parents?

Does it take more courage to act or to not do anything?

Discuss criteria for the role of a parent and the role of a child - at different points in the novel which character is filling each role?

Themes

  • love
  • friendship,
  • courage,
  • land has within it powers of healing

Key Quotations

The old man had given him the land from the time he could remember and showed him how to approach it, honour it, he said, and the kid had sensed the import of those teachings and learned to listen and mimic (Wagamese 27).

That particular magic that existed beyond words, beyond time, schools, plans, lofty thinking, and someone else’s idea of what mattered. The kid went to the land. It was all he needed (Wagamese 38).

Well, whiskey keeps things away that some people don’t want around neither. Like dreams, recollections, wishes, other people sometimes (Wagamese 55).

At first he brung me out all the time when I was small. Showed me plants and how to gather them. Everything a guy would need is here if you want it and know how to look for it, he said. You gotta spend time gatherin’ what you need. What you need to keep you strong. He called it a medicine walk (Wagamese 65).

Trigger Warnings

“The purpose of trigger warnings is not to cause students to avoid traumatic content, but to prepare them for it, and in extreme circumstances to provide alternate modes of learning” Lockhart

Some vulgar language and swearing

References to sex, a prostitute and a description of nudity (p. 14-15)

Descriptions of sex (p. 204, 208-209)

The characters live off the land so there are descriptions of hunting, killing and eating animals (p. 35-37)

Discussion Strategy: Talking Circle

Promoting discussion, sharing feelings, being personally accountable for our own feelings and understanding how our words affect others.

Alberta Education; Our Words, Our Ways: Teaching First Nations, Métis and Inuit Learners, 2005, p. 163

https://www.learnalberta.ca/content/aswt/talkingtogether/facilitated_talking_circle_fact_sheet.html

Text to Self Connections

The main character Franklin explains that he learned how to do things by watching the old man, asking questions and then doing the task himself. He worked best when left alone. Think about the way that you learn best and describe what works for you.

Franklin has to make a difficult decision about whether to do what his father asks. If you were Franklin, would you have made the same decision? Explain what you would have done.

Text to Text Connections

Texts where young people find themselves trying to meet the expectations of their estranged parents and trying to determine where their path will lead:

“The Stone Eater” in the iLit collection Modern Morsels: Selections of Canadian Poetry and Short Fiction

“From Earth to Sky: Everything we need is right here” in the iLit collection Strength and Struggle: Perspectives from FNIM Peoples in Canada

Under the Moonlit Sky by Nav Gill.

“Thanksgiving” in the iLit collection Reality Imagined: Stories of Identity and Change

Essays “The Path to Healing” and “Harmony” from One Story, One Song by Richard Wagamese (2011)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1964)

Text to World Connections

Richard Wagamese Storytelling

Strategy from Mini Lessons from Literature Circles

Looking at Characterization (210)

Select passages that describe each character. Ask students what is revealed about the character and how that affects the reader’s feeling. Each student can select a character to focus on and discuss how the author uses narration and action to reveal them.