Island: Collection Stories

1. The Focus Stories Island: Collection Stories By Alistair MacLeod Resource Insight Study Guides: ‘Island’ by Alistair MacLeod

2. SAC IDEA: • Present the perspective of the mother OR the father in this story The Boat Summary: An older man reflects on his youth as the youngest in a Nova Scotian fishing family. He navigates tensions between his parents, the demands of family tradition, and the loss of his father at sea. • The central character oscillates between the traditional physical labour of his predecessors and the possibilities available to him through literature and the slow incursion of the outside world upon the isolated Cape Breton community. • His mother embodies the stubborn, fearful determination of those loyal to a life of their ancestors, and is unable to fathom her husband’s love of reading, or as they come of age, the children’s. • The father, on the other hand, despite his arduous labour on the fishing boat to sustain his family, instils in his children (particularly the son) a passion for narrative that sees the son considering David Copperfield, The Tempest and other literary works and characters as ‘friends I had dearly come to love’ (p.17)

3. SAC IDEA: • Present the perspective of the mother/father/grandmother/grandfather in this story • Write an epilogue The Vastness of the Dark Summary: On his eighteenth birthday James leaves home, stopping to farewell his grandparents: his grandmother endorses his departure while his grandfather says returning is ‘the only way you’ll be content.’ (p.44) • As James hitchhikes far from everything he has ever known, he begins to realise that people elsewhere are not so different, and that no matter how far one travels, it is never truly possible to escape one’s home, history and, therefore, future • The symbolism of James leaving on his eighteenth birthday – coming of age • For James, becoming an adult is associated with self-empowerment • Passing through each town, he experiences being an ‘outsider’ and reflects on the relationship he has with his family • He comes to the understanding that his family’s mining history, ‘since 1873’ (p.58), will travel with him always – just as his grandfather had told him

4. SAC IDEA: • Present the perspective of the mother/father/grandmother/grandfather/or a cousin in this story • Write a prologue • Write an epilogue The Return Summary: A young boy’s parents take him to visit his father’s coal-mining hometown; his father’s family welcomes them but his mother resists everything about their culture. The boy’s short visit with his family is both ordinary and magical, and there is a sense it will be his last. • While told largely in the voice of young Alex, the story communicates clearly the conundrum in which his father, Angus, finds himself: he is forced to negotiate conflicting priorities. One is his beloved family’s devotion to their landscape and their shared history; the other is his wife, Mary, who is unable and unwilling to relate to such a culture • As a young boy, he has not yet formed the relationships (whether positive or negative) with place and culture that his parents have • However, he does soon experience group belonging for the first time, as his cousins take him easily into their collective, protecting him from others because he is ‘one of our own’ (p.88). This familial connection is one of the things for which his father longs • Note the repetition of the word ‘never’ – suggests this visit to his family will be his only one.

5. SAC IDEA: • Present the perspective of the grandfather OR John in this story • Write a prologue • Write an epilogue The Lost Salt Gift of Blood Summary: A man arrives in Newfoundland, meets a young boy, stays overnight with the boy and his grandparents, reveals he’s the boy’s father, and eventually decides to return to his life elsewhere without the boy. • Although told in the first person, the tone of this story is strangely distant. It contains long passages such as the first two pages, where the first-person ‘I’ is absent, making the narrative seem as though it is in third person • The story is different to many of the others in that the protagonist is a stranger to the community in which it is set. His connection is not through his ancestry but through a possible future: John, his son • Although never stated, the purpose of his return to Newfoundland appears to be claiming his son; but when he sees the community and family of which John is part of, he is reluctant to disrupt this in any way, even by identifying himself to the boy

6. SAC IDEA: • Present the perspective of the grandmother in this story • Write a prologue • Write an epilogue The Road to Rankin’s Point Summary: Calum returns to his family home to die; he visits his grandmother; the extended family push her to leave the remote homestead; she lies, telling them that Calum will stay with her; he tells her he is dying; he finds her dead. • The significant transition Calum faces is not into adulthood, but out of life and into death. • This parallels the story of his ninety-six-year-old grandmother, stubbornly remaining on her family land where she has been, alone, since the death of her husband and the departure of their children many years earlier. She represents a generation of Cape Bretoners who still wish to live as they always have • Calum, residing elsewhere, has returned to Cape Breton to die, suggesting that although he has been an outsider for most of his life, he too wishes to remain on his family land for a symbolic eternity • Much of the story is concerned with the retelling of the past. This is how the structure helps to convey themes and ideas; the focus on the past emphasises the fact that neither Calum nor his grandmother can look forward to a future and, in turn, this reiterates that the traditions and culture of this community are in demise

7. SAC IDEA: • Present the perspective of the daughter OR grandson in this story • Write a prologue • Write an epilogue Island Summary: A woman born on an island falls in love; she has a child to a lover who dies; she becomes the island lighthouse keeper, in the family tradition; she is visited years later by a man claiming to be her grandson and another who seems to be her long-dead love. • ‘Island’ is the only story in the collection with a female protagonist, one of very few written in the third person and one of only two in which the narrative voice does not also play a role as a ‘character’ in the story • Like many of the stories, ‘Island’ explores a character following in family footsteps – the MacPhedrans have been keepers of the light for so long that people know the island by their name, and they, in turn, lose their names, becoming ‘people “of the island” (p.376) and Agnes, eventually, ‘the mad woman of the island’ (p.406). • Transition point – Agnes is the first ever to be born on the island and also becomes the last keeper as the government modernises the technology • Thematic connections with other stories – the demise of tradition and culture, challenges of remote island life, the enduring power of deep love • Foreshadowing is used – the ghost (is it real? ‘of course’ they ‘spoke to ghosts’ (p.376) and the suggestion that ‘truth’ is subject to human error and bias (Agnes’ birth is recorded incorrectly (pp.372-3)

8. A ‘quick write’… • Select one of the six focus stories • Re-read the ending and re-imagine a new ending for the story • Write this alternative ending in full 200-300 words, along with a short commentary explaining your choices and the changes you made • Share your alternative ending with a classmate

9. Another ‘quick write’… • Select one of the six focus stories • Choose to re-tell a part of the story from another character’s perspective • Write this other perspective in full 200-300 words, along with a short commentary explaining your choices and the changes you made • Share your alternative ending with a classmate

10. And another one… • Select one of the six focus stories • Write either a prologue or an epilogue for the selected story • Write this prologue/epilogue in full 200-300 words, along with a short commentary explaining your choices and the changes you made • Share your alternative ending with a classmate