379 Blog Post #5 New Historicism

Thomas Kings A short history of Indians in Canada plays on the relationship between the First Nations people and the European settlers. By using the new historicism lense, we are able to dissect this book and expose the historical origins of social concepts such as culture, religion, the individual, and the family. I will be focusing on the short story “The Baby in the Airmail Box”. This short story is one about the 60’s scoop. The story starts off with a baby being delivered to the Rocky Creek First Nations. Confusion arises throughout the counsel as they begin to wonder who would ‘order’ a white baby. This exemplifies how white families would have felt when Indigenous children showed up on their doorsteps to be adopted.

Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal, a lovely Indigenous couple desperately want a baby. They have been approved through the Alberta Child Placement Agency. Ben and Linda work for the agency. Linda does not want to give the Cardinals a white baby because they are “Indian”. This statement made by Linda shows the disrespect and disregard for First Nations as people. Your race does not define your personality or your ability to be a parent. This signifies the mistreatment and the way that the First Nations people were looked at. During the sixties scoop, Indigenous children were taken from their homes and adopted into white families. The purpose of this was to integrate them and raise them into the ‘white culture’. There is an underlying message here that Indigenous peoples do not have the correct values or virtues to be good parents. When we see that Linda does not want to adopt out a white baby to an Indigenous family, we see the deep rooted racism still being present.

Meanwhile, the council is discussing what to do with this white baby that was airmailed to them. They are talking about the baby as if it is an object. Dehumanizing this baby is a reflection of how First Nations children were treated during the sixties scoop. A lot of families adopting First Nations children during the sixties scoop were not fond of the idea just like how the council did not want a white baby. The dehumanizing of First Nations people by the Europeans much like the dehumanizing of the Jews in Nazi Germany was a tactic to weaken the race and culture. The council finally settles on giving away the baby as a prize with a Ford truck at the communities bingo night. Thomas King uses this as another example to show how Indigenous children were given away as if they were objects. The short story continues to point out flaws in the Government system and we can understand the horrific and saddening things that happened to children and families during the time of the sixties scoop.

Thomas King does a great job of twisting the lense to provide us with a different perspective and view of the sixties scoop. Whilst we still understand the severity of the sixties scoop , King uses a sort of satirical approach to show the readers what it would feel like if it were white baby’s being given away and being treated as objects. The sixties scoop is just one tragic government implementation on the First Nations people. The effects of the scoop can be seen by survivors and families of survivors. Though I think the government needs to acknowledge the scoop and formally apologize, it is important to showcase books like this one and educate people about what happened to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.