The Birchbark House in Relation to Theorist

The Birchbark House

EDFI 3010

This is a story about a young girl named, Omakaya. Omakaya plays and works through the summer and fall learning the ways of her people. She and her family are a part of the Anishinabe Tribe. They live on an island her people call, Moningwanaykaning, Island of the Golden Breasted Woodpecker. She has two brothers, Pinch who is very obnoxious and rowdy, and Neewo who she has a special bond with. She has one sister Angeline, who is known for her beauty. Omakaya's grandmother Nokomis, helps Yellow Kettle, Omakaya's mother, take care of the children while Deydey, their father is away trading fur. Nokomis, who is very spiritual and wise, finds a Birchbark tree that they will use each summer to build their new house. Nokomis teaches Omakaya to respect the land and the animals. Nokomis is known as a healer, and in the book they hint that Omakaya has the same calling. Omakaya has a terrifying encounter with two bear cubs. Toward the end of the story she ends up becoming friends with the bear cubs. She also befriends a raven, who ends up becoming her pet.

Upon some of the hardships of cold and hunger her family is faced with a sickness, small pox. Everyone but Nokomis and Omakaya gets it, so they help nurse the family back to health, all but Neewo, who ends up dying from it in Omakaya arms. Omakaya falls into a deep depression. Omakaya finally finds her way back to happiness when Old Tallow, the rugged neighbor, tells her the truth of her past. How she rescued Omakaya when she was a just a baby after her whole village died of small pox.

One of the main characters in this book is Omakaya. Omakaya is a very adventurous, brave, and independent girl. I feel she is also very caring and strong when dealing with everything she has to face.

I am going to talk about her in relation to Erikson's theory of Industry. Erikson's theory of Industry states that children develop a sense of industry when they have teachers, parents, and peers who offer opportunities for them to successfully complete a task, learn information and become capable or skilled in a particular areas. The first example Omakaya shows in this stage in this book, is when she is scraping the bear hide. She works so hard on this task all afternoon, in order to please her mother and grandmother. Being that they are so pleased with the work she has done, Omakaya develops competence with herself helping her build self-confidence. The second example in the book of Erikson's stage of industry is when Omakaya's father, Deydey, asked her to help keep the crows from eating the corn crops. She yelled and cracked her sticks as loud as she could. Then her and her sister came up with an idea of trapping the crows with a net. After attempting different ways of using the net they figured out a way of trapping them. They harvested the birds and returned