Logo Kevin Major
St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
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Teaching Aids - Blood Red Ochre

  1. The novel is a 'time-travel' book. Discuss why the author would have written the contemporary story of David in the past tense and the story from the past of Dauoodaset in the present tense.

  2. Some readers find the movement back and forth between the two stories hard to get used to. The author says that he did not deliberately set out to confuse the reader, yet he did not want to shy away from a particular narrative style just to make things easier for the reader. Discuss whether you think the book's narrative style works, and whether you think there is another, perhaps better, way the same story could have been told.

  3. Look for similarities between David and Dauoodaset. Talk about how adolescence has remained the same, how it has changed.

  4. Think about how the incident upstairs in the steamy bathroom relates to the use of a sweathouse in the Beothuk story. Try to find other connections between the two stories.

  5. Imagine a girl in the spirit of Shanawdithit showing up in your class. Discuss the treatment she might receive from the various groups in your school.

  6. The real Shanawdithit loved to draw. Find reproductions of some of her drawings. Use her style to depict some of implements, clothes, etc. of today.

    1. Obtain copies of the Food Guide from the Department of Health. Use the novel, and other books, to find out what the Beothuks ate. Place their foods within the various food groups. What do you think of the Beothuk diet? How is it similar to ours? How is it different? Did they have a balanced diet by today's standards?
    2. Your teacher will provide you with an outline of the human form. Use the novel and other books to research the clothing the Beothuks wore. Dress the outline with Beothuk clothing. You may use winter or summer outfits, and make the figure male or female. Carefully label your drawing, adding details of what the clothes were made of, what they were decorated with, and so on. [These suggestions are taken from a resource-based unit developed by teachers for Grade Nine students at I.J. Samson School, St. John's, NF]

  8. School.gif - 15.2 K
    Picture of Students at G.C. Rowe.
    1. Write a number of poems on various aspects of Beothuk life. Using a variety of poetic techniques, have the poems reflect the spirit of the people.
    2. Create a mural depicting events in the novel.
    3. Write a short story that shows how David's life changes, continuing from the end of the novel.
    4. Create models/reproductions of various Beothuk items: canoe, snowshoes, pendant, garments, village, mamateek, deer fence. [These suggestions are taken from a resource-based unit developed by teachers for Grade Nine students at John Burke High School, Grand Bank, NF.]

  9. Major has said that he ended the book in the way that he did (bringing the story back to the present-day, to David in his more normal world) to leave the reader with the feeling that the spirit of the Beothuks is still with us. Find out how many in the class are satisfied with the ending. Ask those who are not how they would have ended the book.

  10. The following are statements taken from reviews of the book. Each comments positively or negatively on the book. Use them as a basis for discussion or debate.

    1. The power of the Dauoodaset chapters is manifest in the way Major has used language: the Western films' phoney Indian dialect has been replaced by the use of a vocabulary rich in rhythms, symbol, and an inherent understanding of nature.
    2. In exploring the relevance of Newfoundland's "darkest hour" to our present-day personal and social conscience, his novel adds a dark urgency to the universal, timely, and complex problem of the relationship between the native and immigrant peoples of North America.
    3. Although the book does provide good detail on Indian life and customs, there are few insights into the characters of David and Nancy.
    4. The method of time-travel in this book is undefined, the traveller's purpose is unclear, and you have only a vague idea of the circumstances leading up to the time-travel.
    5. Major tells these stories with a starkness that leaves the reader wondering what might have come to pass had the Beothuks survived.
BOOKS:

Marshall, Ingeborg, The Beothuk of Newfoundland,
(A Vanished People), St. John's: Breakwater Books.

Marshall, Ingeborg, A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1996.
ISBN: 0-7735-1390-6. $45

Pastore, Ralph, Shanawdithit's People,
(The Archaeology of the Beothuks), St. John's: Breakwater Books.

Clark, Joan, The Dream Carvers, Toronto: Penguin, 1995
ISBN:0-670-85858-7 (award-winning novel for young people)

WEB SITES:

Newfoundland Museum: Museum notes #1: The Beothucks
Mary March Regional Museum
Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Page

VIDEO:

Shanaditti: Last of the Beothuks
National Film Board of Canada, 1982. 20 min.

Finding Mary March
(movie) For availability on video, contact Red Ochre Productions, St. John's, NF, ph:709-739-1711 fax: 709-739-0868

Consult the video and film catalogues of your school board and Department of Education for additional material.

For schools in Newfoundland, these include the following:

V0924 Beothuks: A Report by Azzo Rezori 11 min.
V0584 Beothuk/First Newfoundlanders 30 min.
V0395 Shanaditti: Last of the Beothuks 20 min.

(Available from Provincial Information & Library Resources Board, Audio-Visual Library, Arts and Culture Centre, St. John's, NF, A1B 3A3 fax: 709-737-3958 e-mail: jcousens@publib.nf.ca)

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