7 Scratch
Themes:
Family and Personal Trauma, Being an Outsider versus Belonging, Family and Institutions, Otherness, Toxic Relationships, Religion and Magic
Disciplines:
Creative Writing, Social Justice, Family Therapy
Guiding Questions:
- The chapter opens with a story about catching head lice for the first of many times. Elliot picks up lice from a young cousin at a family gathering, where Elliot is struggling to fit in. How is the idea of belonging to a family connected to the idea of sacrifice?
- Head lice is a dominant motif in the chapter, which Elliot lives with for many years. Do you think it is a metaphor for disease among First Nations in the post contact world? Why or Why not?
- To finally get rid of the head lice, Elliot has to leave her family’s home. Was getting rid of the lice an act of self-sacrifice or survival, or both? Why?
- When Elliott calls 911 during a family fight, she learns that she is an outsider to the world of government institutions. Thinking about the narrative shift in the chapter from young girl to adult mother, how does Elliot’s perspective change in relation to institutions and social systems such as family, medicine, policing, education?
- What are some of ways otherness is outlined in the stories about family and community? How is that contrasted with ways of belonging?
- What are some of the ways that religion and magic are contrasted?
- What are the causes of the toxic relationships in the family? What ultimately holds the family together?
- Hiding is a theme that appears in several ways. How is the theme of hiding used to describe her family and personal life?
- In her approach to writing, how does Elliot walk the line between tragedy and humour?