Jimmy and Lisa's Fishing trip

Lisa secretly took Jimmy while he was passed out to monkey beach to get him to sober up and to think about what he was doing to himself. I thought that this was very noble of Lisa to do this for her brother. She was looking out for her younger brother that was getting himself into trouble and could possibly be ruining his swimming career. However, things got messy when the boat broke down in the middle of nowhere and they were short on food. I also thought that this was a good bonding experience for the both of them because they weren't getting along very well before this.

Party Friends

Jimmy and Lisa always talk about their party friends. I was wondering if these were people who were cool at a party and you became friends with them or if those are the people who always party with you? If it was the former then why wouldn't you call them just friends? If it was the latter then would you hang out with them outside of a party when you aren't hammered or stoned or would that be too awkward. I was just wondering this because the friends I hang out with are also the friends I party with.

Determination

Lisa doesn't have much determination, instead of trying hard at school, she takes the easy way and decides not to do a lot of her school work and not to study for tests. She also wants to take the easy way out by not doing and extra 4 years of school and skipping university to work in the cannery. Despite the fact that anyone and everyone she talks to tries to warn her not to, she doesn't take there advice and treads on. I believe that everyone needs some determination and that everything should they try hard enough can get good grades. I also believe Lisa needs to set more long term goals and think about the road ahead.

Switching paragraphs

In this novel the author chooses to switch between Lisa's childhood and her present life. I think that this works really well because if the author just wrote about Lisa's childlife of just her present life, the story would become cumbersome to read. I would be much less interested in the lifestyle of a native Canadian. Also, had the author not done this I wouldn't understand much of the book, because in Lisa's present life she refers back to her childhood, so if I hadn't read the childhood I wouldn't be able to understand the novel.

Factual paragraphs

Every few chapters, the author includes a factual paragraph about things, such as "Look closely at the skin on your writs. The blue lines are arteries..." I wonder why the author chose to do this, most of these chapters have little or nothing to do with the rest of the book. I thought that maybe the author wanted to foretell what was going to happen later in the novel, but I checked the book for that and that idea didn't make sense. I think that these paragraphs should have been left out because they just take up space.

Sleepwalk

When Lisa started sleepwalk she would pick things up, stare at them, walk in circles, almost get hit by cars etc...I wonder what she was feeling when she was sleepwalk. I have never sleepwalked or if I have I don't remember so I don't know what if feels like when you wake up in the middle of the street, being brought back to your house by your Aunt. I would think you would be really disoriented because when you wake up you would expect to be in your bed. If you woke up during your sleepwalk you might still think this is part of a dream you are having.

The little man cont.

I know this isn't really the little man but the ghost that Lisa saw at Mrs. Jenkins office. I wonder what Eden Robinson is trying to demonstrate with this occurrence. When the ghost starts talking and touching Lisa she has an out of body experience, like she isn't the one speaking the words, the ghost is. The ghost tells Mrs. Jenkins whatever she wants to hear, nothing more or nothing less. The ghost is like a sub-conscious guardian angel, he helps Lisa so she won't have to many appointments, by saying the right things.

Addictions

When I listen to all the stories about alcoholism and nicotine addiction I wonder how Lisa, who smokes often, can just stop smoking and drinking immediately. As soon as her parents caught her smoking, they told her to stop, and she listened. I think that this is unrealistic because nicotine is supposed to take a lot of willpower to get off of, it is very hard for most adults. Lisa, acts like it doesn't even bother her. She must have an amazing amount of willpower to be able to come off cigarettes for the time that she did.

Lisa and Cheese

Lisa and Cheese have a very interesting relationship. I think that Cheese likes Lisa judging by the fact that he asks Lisa to a date. He even went through the trouble to ask Frank if he was okay with Cheese going out with Lisa. Lisa said "no" to the invitation for the date, and then went ahead to call him some negative words. When Lisa was finished being mad at Cheese they went to a party together, when I thought this whole affair was over, Cheese went on to say he had sex with Lisa. So, now Lisa wants to hurt him because of the embarrassment he has caused.

The little man

I recently was wondering over the significance of the man that appears during Lisa's dreams that supposedly tells the future. I thought that maybe the man was a part of the native culture because Ma-ma-oo talked about it, and said that her mom had it and she said it was an unreliable way to tell the future. But, then I thought if it had a bigger significance. I thought that this man was a way to show the way that smoking and drinking damages your body, but, I realized that she saw the man before she started smoking. I will write more on this topic.

Lisa's Reaction

Lisa didn't really care that Mick died. She actually seemed more mad at him than sad. She never talked about him after the death except for the one time with Uncle George. She should be mourning over the loss of a loved one, a family member and most of all a friend. Mick took her everywhere with him, then when he passed away in a very gruesome way, she acts like he never existed. I believe that there should have been a chapter about her feelings, rather than a little 4 or 5 paragraph clip.

Tab

I believe that Tab leaving to Vancouver had a positive effect rather than a negative one. Tab was the person who got Lisa into smoking. I believe that this book would have been written very differently if Tab didn't exist. Lisa wouldn't be ruining her life (smoking) or mourning over the loss of someone she misses (Tab) if her cousin didn't exist. Tab might be an okay person but she should be ashamed of herself by teaching Lisa how to smoke and getting her addicted.

Frank

Frank is a character that is the leader of the bullies. He beats on everyone and at one point in time he even shoots spit balls at Lisa. Lisa completely changed from being a more or less nice girl to a gang-member. She becomes Frank's friend and the friend of most of the gang. She is a dynamic character because she changes. I believe that this change is for the better because before she didn't really have fun talking and gossiping with all the other girls. Now she is enjoying herself by throwing snowballs at other boys. So, she is having much more fun which is good for a kid her age.

The theme of Monkey Beach

I believe this book is talking about how many Native Canadians have gone downhill since the Europeans arrived. In the news, we only hear about the Natives that murdered, raped, and all the drunks and drug addicts. I believe there is more, in this book it shows many families and people who have problems, but it also shows that there are families who are fine, and are not out committing crimes. For example, Lisa's family.

Monkey Beach Sasquatches???

I don't really know why they included sasquatches into this book. It is more or less irrelevant and doesn't even qualify for a sub-plot. The book just refers to them in one of the chapters. I thought this was a very dull part in the book. It didn't suggest anything about Native Canadians culture. Actually, it might have suggested that Lisa's parents were drunks and they had problems with their kids because they were seeing things. Sasquatches have never had any actual proof of existence, so I think that this should have been omitted from the novel.