Environmental Ethics - Clothed in Fur

People and the Environment

Environmental Ethics

Clothed-In-Fur

The story I have chosen to analyze is the Ojibwa story, Clothed-in-Fur. In this essay I will address the Ojibwa story, Clothed-in Fur. The entire plot of the story revolves around the man Clothed-in-Fur, finding a wife. He marries many women and when each woman turns into a species he declares where they should live. Another major point throughout this story is how important correct treatment of bones are. I argue that the position of the author is harmful based on my christianity.

This story is about a human boy who went to visit his grandmother. He was annoyed by two maidens who were following him around. He ran away from them by climbing trees and riding away on leaves in the wind. He continued to climb trees and fly away as the maidens followed. He became very tired and decided to hide himself in a ball. When the maidens couldn't find him in the trees, they figured he must be in the ball. They rubbed themselves on the ball until they were bleeding. The blood filled up the ball where Clothed-with-fur layed. His beautiful coat which was made by his sister was filled with blood and he took it to the lake to wash it

On his journey, he ran into a woman and found her a beaver who had skinned and cooked a meal for him. He asked her to marry him and said that “when you have gone, you will hear me speaking to you; you shall speak to me when I speak to you (61).” His wife called out to him many times, and he did not reply. Once he returned to camp, he picked up a stick with intentions of beating her, he struck her once and she turned into a wolf. He continued on his journey and ran into another woman. He gave her a beaver and she like the woman before her, skinned the beaver and cooked a meal. He said to this woman “ When you hear me speaking to you after you have gone, promise me that you will do what I shall ask of you (61).” He left his wife on a trip and told her to put the pack on her back because they were going to move to a different camp. Once he returned he saw that, the wife hadn't packed up the camp but had made a great mess. He picked up a club to strike her and she turned into a raven.

The next woman did the same thing with the beaver Clothed-In-Fur got and build a very poor fire. He yelled at the woman to build up the fire and the woman tried to build it up. He then angered the woman by yelling at her again where she responded “ You kindle the fire (62)!” The next day he left to find more food and instructed the wife to pack up the camp and put the pack on her back. This woman like the others failed to do so, he picked up a club to strike at her when she became a porcupine. The fourth woman he found was much smaller than the others. When he gave her a beaver, she opened it by beating it and ate the insides. He told her like the others to answer him when he spoke to her. When he came back to camp, his wife was not there so he went to look for her. He found her calling out to him with both her legs broken. He gave her a bow string to bandage her legs and she still could not lift the pack. He picked up a club to beat her when a Canada Jay flew up.

I think what the author is trying to get across is the main point of the human-animal marriages. It is a symbol for the relationship between animals and humans. There isn't a mutual relationship and there should be. Humans take full advantage of animals and use every part of them, bones, fur, meat, etc. When humans have so much more to offer than animals can produce. Humans can get things, and materials that animals would not be able to use like tobacco, crops etc. In the Ojibwa culture, reincarnation is possible. This is the idea that once animals or humans die, they can come back as something else with another life.

I disagree completely with the author of the viewpoint that humans and animals should be on the same level. There is a huge difference between humans and animals. God did not create animals to be in