What influences a person's values? Is it the environment in which they live in? Is it the people they are surrounded by? Or is it the way they are treated? These are all questions to be asked when reading The Rez Sisters. Tomson Highway does a great job in highlighting how the isolation of the Native reserves impacts what the people living on them value. The Rez sisters wish to win big in a $500,000 dollar jackpot, only to be able to afford a proper toilet, oven, or to leave the reserve entirely. So who is to blame for this?
The government is to blame. The problems on Native reserves have been the same and ongoing for hundreds of years and they have barely done anything to fix it. This affects the Native’s needs and wants, and it’s why they only wish for such little things with so much money. They value things that would their life easier instead of a better life altogether, and it’s because of the isolation from the rest of country.
The problems on the Native reserves across Canada have been slowly fixed over the years, but it’s still a topic to be talked about because of the isolation and harsh living environment, because they still have not received the respect and treatment they deserve. There are many other direct issues that the aboriginals face that could affect their values. Poor health, lower levels of education, inadequate housing and crowded living conditions, low income, and high rates of unemployment are all influences on one’s values that could largely affect how they live. All these problems come from isolation from the rest of the country, and blatantly, the government just hasn’t cared to fix it over the last hundred years.
In The Rez Sisters, the sisters don’t wish for a better life, they wish for materialistic things that would make their life better. A toilet to privately go to the washroom, a stove to cook food for the children and families, and paved roads. These are all things they should have been given in the first place, and not things to be wished for. The fact that they won $600 dollars at a $500,000 dollar jackpot, and were still able to afford the things they wished for, proves their values are much different then those no isolated be the government. There are a lot of things you can do with a $500,000 dollar jackpot, and for everyone that doesn’t live on a reserve, buying a toilet and stove is not one of them.
When all is said and done, what influences a person’s values is they’re environment and the way they are treated. The reason The Rez Sisters wished for so little is because they didn’t know what else to wish for, and it lead them to dreaming of a normal life of a properly treated citizen, instead of a better life which they deserve. Will this problem ever get fixed? And if so, how long will it take?
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